Are you aware of the importance of Submission Guidelines? Do you always check the guidelines for a publisher before submitting your project? If not, you are probably often rejected.
Sure, there might be any number of reasons for being rejected, but an acquisitions editor at a publishing house doesn’t need a good reason for rejecting a query letter, proposal or manuscript in these days of high (over the top) competition. Just send your material helter skelter, without consideration for that publisher’s submission process or his current needs and your otherwise excellent project might be rejected on the spot.
What is the best way to get your foot in the door with a publisher of your choice? Locate, study and adhere to each publisher’s Submission Guidelines.
Now locating the guidelines is sometimes tricky. I cannot believe how difficult some web designers make it to find the Submission Guidelines (Writer’s Guidelines, Guidelines for Authors…). Have you experienced this in your pursuit of guidelines? I’d love to hear some of your stories.
All I can advise is that, if you can’t easily spot the guidelines link, try logical thinking to discover them. Click on “Contact Us” or “About Us.” In some cases, you then must scour the entire page to locate a link to the guidelines.
If logic doesn’t work, and it does not in way too many instances, just start looking everywhere throughout the site. You may be surprised at where you’ll find the guidelines. And make notes; otherwise, you may never find your way back through the maze to the guidelines again. Yes, they’re sometimes hidden that well.
Once you locate the guidelines, study them. What type of manuscripts does this publisher want? What is his preferred word count? Are they open to submissions year round? How do they want to be approached—via query letter or do they want a full-blown proposal? Some actually want to see the manuscript first. Do they prefer or accept submissions via email?
Some publishers really put potential authors through some rigorous paces. They state, in their guidelines, that they want to receive a proposal including 3 pages of this and 6 of these. They’ll dictate the margin depth, how many words allowed per page and so forth. Some authors adhere to every request and get rejected. Others present their projects in styles of their own and capture the publishers’ attention. I typically recommend to my clients and students that they follow the guidelines as closely as they can assuming that there is a good reason for the publishers’ requests. Secretly, I think that some publishers try to make potential authors jump through their hoops just to see if they can. It’s a sick game they play.
That said, I still adhere to my original advice—never send anything to any publisher without first locating, studying and following their Submission Guidelines (at least as closely as makes sense with your particular project).
For more about locating, approaching and working with a publisher, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html