Tips on preparing your manuscript for publication?

Answer 1

First, prepare it. Make sure you're saying what you want to convey; that is, begin to tell a story, tell the story, and then stop. When it's possible, back away from the manuscript for a day or two and come back to it with a fresh eye; I'm done some writing myself, and sometimes I'm amazed at what I find wrong besides some spelling and grammar. (Tip: DO NOT rely exclusively on SpellCheck; the computer doesn't know what you're trying to say, and you do!)

As for a publisher, I would recommend self-publishing. The large publishing houses by and large do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, and vanity presses require a large capital outlay (for at least a thousand books) and then the marketing is up to you. With the publisher I have, AuthorHouse, the marketing is still up to you, but your work is print on demand; in as little as four months (or even less, depending on how you choose to pay), you can have in your hand a book designed and ready to read as you've decided it will be, courtesy of your input and their Creative Design Team.

I have two through them already and I'm working on the third now. AuthorHouse is really worth checking out, and I've found them easy to work with. Feel free to check it out for yourself, and don't hesitate to say I referred you (for my full name, check my 360 page). Have a great weekend, and good luck with that great new book!

Answer 2

It depends greatly on the kind of work you're doing. I'm assuming for the purposes of this question that you haven't signed with a publisher yet.

For general information, look at a book called the Writer's Marketplace. This also has good info for deciding where to send your project for publication.

Or, if you're looking to send something to a particular venue, say, a fashion article for Vogue or Seventeen, or a sports article for Sports Illustrated, you can usually look at the masthead (where the editors are listed) for information for finding out where to look for their requirements. Alternatively, you can call the publications and ask them to send you something called "guidelines for authors" or "guidelines for submissions." Recognize that some magazine publications and book publishing houses will not look at your work if you don't have an agent (refer to Writer's Marketplace for more info on that. Also, there's a pretty good book called "How to Get Happily Published" by Applebaum).

Hope this helps. If you're actually talking about how to edit, lay out and proofread your work, then ask that question, because this is a completely different topic.