Are You Ready? by Jim Hart

When I receive a query that I find interesting my next step is to ask the writer to send me their proposal. At that point three things can happen:

1) The writer sends their proposal

2) The writer asks if they can send their synopsis, samples or manuscript

3) The writer ignores the request and sends sample chapters or the manuscript

Lately it seems as if options #2 and #3 are most popular. And that leaves me with three choices:

1) Ask again for the proposal

2) Respond that I am not interested in pursuing this project

3) Delete the e-mails and move on to something else

 

What this communicates is that:

1) The writer doesn’t have a proposal

2) The writer doesn’t know what a proposal is

3) The writer doesn’t have a clear understanding of how to get their book published

The simple point of this blog is this: don’t send a query unless you already have your proposal complete and ready to send. Without a book proposal an agent, or editor, will not be able to make an informed decision on what step to take next.

This is a challenging time to get a book published. And yet there are so many tools available, and information is so easy to find, that anyone can learn the steps needed to try and get a book published. The Hartline Literary Agency clearly spells out what we would like to see in a submission: http://www.hartlineliterary.com/guidelines.html

During the last two weeks I’ve participated in two free webinars, from two different organizations, and I gleaned a few more pieces of valuable information involving proposal writing and book launches. Did I mention that they were free? They only cost me two hours of my time. And of course the hosts of these webinars also had a product to sell at the end of the webinar. But you know what? I’m OK with that because I already received something of value for free, and honestly, the products being offered were competitively priced. If I was a writer with a manuscript to pitch, I probably would have purchased at least one of them.

Writers who fail to learn all that they can about the business of publishing, beginning with the query and proposal process, are just setting themselves up to fail. There are no shortcuts. For some of the authors that I’ve encountered over the past month it would have been far better for them to take another couple of weeks, or more, and:

1) Learn more about publishing

2) Research our agency

3) Have a completed proposal

So before you send your query, ask yourself: “Am I ready?”

Why Are There Submission Instructions? by Linda S. Glaz

We handle very little sci-fi/fantasy/spec fiction of any kind. And we definitely DO NOT handle anything that has profanity or graphic sexuality. We each also have particular genres that we prefer to see. We ask that authors follow our non-fiction or fiction guidelines and then submit to us.

And yet…I continue to get erotica, fantasy, erotic fantasy…well, you get the picture.

We also spell out exactly how we would like submissions to come to us. In a proposal with specific information included as well as sample chapters…the first three sample chapters. And still, I get the first chapter, the last chapter, and the “one that’s really good”!

Editors and agents spell out what they want to see for a specific reason. We can move through them much more easily if they all are in a specific format. They is nothing that hurts the eyes more than to be on submission 20 for the day, and have it come through single-spaced, Arial-10pt. At that time of the day, I’m lucky to still be able to see double-spaced, Times New Roman-12 pt. But at least my eyes are used to it, so I can still see well enough to do what I think is a good job responding.

It is never good or professional to send proposals to all of the agents in one agency, even worse to blanket the entire industry of agents with the same email. All of us listed for each other to see.

When a professionally done proposal per agency guidelines is sent to one agent at a time (and I’m fine with authors sending out multiple submissions; I wouldn’t want you waiting before sending another), we can take those proposals more seriously. A well done prop gets your foot in the door. The more professionally done, the better.

Think about whether or not you would want your instructions followed; it opens the door immediately. And even if the writing isn’t quite there yet, an agent will probably be willing to have a second look if you followed the instructions the first time.

Do your homework. Know what the agents are looking for. Don’t ‘assume’ anything. If you follow the guidelines on agency sites, the chances are you are already ten steps above most.

Good luck, best wishes, and follow those instructions to a ‘t’.