Sending Novel to publishing agent!

Lexus1976

Hi,

I'm half way through my novel and am planning on submitting it to a publisher!

Need some advice..

What exactly do I need to send to the publisher...i.e. how many chapters, do I need to send anything else?

Should I send it to a publisher or an agent?

Do I need to have the book finished before sending a draft?

All comments greatly appreciated

6th

Been looking at this myself recently and the advice seems to be similar from everyone.

From Mercier (just an example):

* Send a synopsis, cover letter and author CV to the Editorial Department, Mercier Press/Marino Books, Douglas Village, Cork, Ireland Email: publishing@mercierpress.ie
* No full manuscripts please.
* Please ensure that you keep a copy of your submission - do not send us your only copy!
* If you wish your submission to be returned please include return postage. Please note that only Republic of Ireland postage is acceptable, for all other countries please include international postage coupons.
* We endeavour to reply to your submission in no less than 6-8 weeks.

DublinWriter

Coulpa points:

1. The advice from the Mercier site is dead-right. Just sumbit a one page summary if you are initially approaching a publisher directly.

2. Agents can be very useful. I've no doubt Celica Ahern wouldn't have gotten published and gotten the deal she did without the talents of one of the best agents in the business.

3. Peer review. Try and get a couple of people you trust to give you their *honest* opinions of your magnum opus.

4. If at first you don't succeed, etc. JK Rowling was rejected by something like 30 publishers before she had her first Harry Potter book published.

smcgiff

You're not going to like what I say Lexus1976...

Don't do it! I know the need for feedback is urgent, but you need to be patient.

What I mean is - Finish the book first – Then send in at least one chapter, preferably three (preferably three consecutive chapters), as well as a synopsis and a good cover letter. That's the general advice I'd give.

Reasons:- Even if they like the one page synopsis, they are not going to offer you a contract without seeing three chapters. They will not go from reading a one page synopsis to inviting a full MS submission – so, your 3 chapters will need to ready anyway.

Now, suppose they like your synopsis or three chapters and they ask to see the full MS. If you say to them the book is only half finished, they will politely tell you go away and will promptly forget about you. Also, I will guarantee you that having finished the last half your first half will need to be changed, perhaps significantly to tie in with finalised second half.

Because publishers are so inundated they have admitted they look for reasons to reject a book as soon as possible – harsh but that’s the truth.

To answer your original question – you need to research every single publisher/Agent you wish to submit separately and comply EXACTLY with their submission criteria.

Now – best of luck!

luckat

There's a good book called From Pitch to Publication, which you'll get in your local library; this will answer all your questions.

If you're looking for an agent, take note that there are some unscrupulous people working under that title.

Useful sites:

The Association of Authors' Representatives - these are (if I remember right) all people who've sold at least 10 books, and generally these are good guys:

http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=9693 >

The "Preditors & Editors" site:
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

r3nu4l

DublinWriter wrote:

I've no doubt Celica Ahern wouldn't have gotten published and gotten the deal she did without the talents of one of the best agents in the business.

Of course, the fact that Daddy is who he is probably helped just a teensy bit - btw Nice sig

I agree with pretty much everything said so far OP. I would like to echo smcgiff by saying that you should finish the work before submitting a synopsis. Hard to do but you may find that more publishers will be interested if the manuscript is already a full draft rather than at a half-draft stage.

Both Peter Robinson and Lee Child have said to me that I should be prepared to have at least 100 pages of my draft MS trimmed by the Publishing House Editor over successive drafts so make sure your manuscript is at least 100 pages before submission .

Good luck!

Memnoch

Hi,
Glad to see you are working on your book. Here are a few things I've learnt so far through research....

1) Finish the book. By finish the book I don't just mean finish writing what you have. Because that is simply the FIRST draft. If this is your first serious attempt at a novel then it's unlikely your first draft will be polished enough to impress any publishers. So once you've finished it's time to go over everything with a fine tooth comb. Do this at least 2-3 times. Make sure the story is coherent, the scenes make sense and there are no errors of grammer or spelling. When you are satisfied that the book is AS GOOD AS YOU CAN MAKE IT, then and only then stop editing and re-writing.

2) Beta readers, find 2-3 people you trust to read it and give you honest feedback. One of them should enjoy the genre that you write in, and if you know someone who has any skills in English that would be a big bonus as they can help catch problems with prose or language.

3) Take this feedback and do a final edit.

4) Research a list of literary agents and publishers. The easiest way to get the most basic info is the Writers Handbook 2007. This has a list of publishers and agents. (There aren't many in Ireland - agents anyway). Look up these agents/publishers. Do they represent successful authors? Check out their website etc. Make a list of people you want to submit to.

5) Find out the correct guidelines. By this I mean manuscript formatting, (Courier New 12 with Double line spacing is standard). Learn how to write a good query letter and synopsis, these aren't as easy as they sound. Many writers find writing a synopsis and query harder than writing the actual book.

This process requires patience but if you want to be successful it's imperative you do ALL of the above. Publsihers and agents recieve dozens of submissions every week, if your's looks unpolished and unprepared they won't even bother to read it before throwing it in the bin.

A couple of rules to remember.

1) Money always flows to the author. Any one charging you for anything is a scammer.
2) Start at the top (publishers and agents) and work your way down when submitting so you can get the best possible deal.

A great website I've found where lots of published authors tend to post good advice is www.absolutewrite.com/forums. I'd advise you to check it out, where you can find all this info and more. There are a few really good threads on the art of writing

Good luck!

r3nu4l

Memnoch wrote:

1) Money always flows to the author. Any one charging you for anything is a scammer.

The only exception to this of course being that if you have an agent he/she will expect a cut on completion of a deal If they look for money before that then they probably aren't worth it in most cases.

Memnoch

yes agents take a cut, but that is from the check the publisher sends you. A comission is not the same as charging you. Sorry if I wasn't more clear about this in my post.

Memnoch

I forgot to add step 6 to my post above.

Once you've sent your manuscript out, it's time to start work on the next book. Don't wait till the current one is accepted for publication before you do this.

smcgiff

Memnoch wrote:

I forgot to add step 6 to my post above.

Once you've sent your manuscript out, it's time to start work on the next book. Don't wait till the current one is accepted for publication before you do this.

You forgot to add step 7.

Ring up the Agent/Publisher at least once a week from the time you drop MS into the post. They love that you're showing an Interest!

P.S. Hopes sarcasm detectors are in working order.

Zillah

What kind of cut do agents usually take?

smcgiff

Zillah wrote:

What kind of cut do agents usually take?

Differs on whether it's home or international sales. Home sales are usually 10%. But I can't imagine any potential writer that would begrudge a good agent this and more.

Memnoch

varies from 10-15% for home sales and 15-25 for international.

A good agent is worth every penny.