I'm about to send my novel out to different publishers; what should I do first?

Question

Here's the deal: I just wrote my first short novel, and I plan on sending it around soon to various publishers and the like. I don't actually expect to get the book published; I just want to get some attention from the publishers and make a bit of an impact. But since this is my first time doing anything like this, I don't know whether I should prepare any precautions, or do anything before I send the novel out, or whatever.

Answer 1

I'm a freelance writer and photographer. Rather than wasting money on having multiple copies made, you should get a couple of chapters together. No one is going to read the whole book if you are sending it unsolicited. ALSO... it may be better to work with an agent rather than a publisher. An agent will find the best publisher on your behalf, which will free up your time to do some marketing and more writing. Get your hands on a 2008 copy of the Writer's Market -- it has lots of tips on submitting your work. Good luck.

Answer 2

Unless you are sending the novel to very small presses, your first step should be finding an agent. Most major publishers to not accept unagented manuscripts, so the only attention you would gain would be negative attention. If you are sending your novel to small presses, make sure that your manuscript is formatted according to each publisher's guidelines. Most don't want the full manuscript at first. They usually want to see the first three chapters and an outline. Make sure you send them EXACTLY what they ask for. Address your envelope to the correct editor,and for the love of God, make sure you spell his or her name right Send a SASE along with your manuscript if you expect a reply. Before you send you novel out into the world, have at least two beta readers read it-- there may be typos or plot holes that you have missed. You might consider joining a local writing group that will give you honest feedback. Whatever you do, don't rush.

You should also start a spreadsheet for your submission. Log ever publisher you sent it to, when you sent it, and what- if any- response you received. This can be helpful when doing a query follow-up.

Answer 3

Of course registering your book with the copyright office is not a bad idea. It takes $45 and you have to fill out an application and mail these things in with a copy of your work. You can google the library of congress and click the copyright office and read about their guidelines, download forms, etc. I know because I just did this last week.

You can also do what is known as the poor man's copyright. You mail a copy of your work to yourself and DO NOT OPEN IT. If the seal is broken the protection is gone. What this essentially does is serve as proof you have in fact written this story/poem/song/whatever first and are the originator of the idea. I did this a few years ago when I had a short story published.

The truth is, it is very rare an idea is stolen. If you are sending your work to legitimate publishers then you don't have to worry that they will steal it. People of repute in the business know that the moment you put your idea in writing it is protected under the copyright law whether you choose to register it or not.

Seriously, two good books to invest in if you want to make sure you have a legitimate publisher are the 2007 Writer's Market and Jeff Herman's guide to publishers and agents, 2007 edition. There is a standard format for submitting your book and many publishers will toss your book without reading it if you don't follow the format. In addition, some insist on writers following their guidelines when submitting to them. These books I mentioned tell you what those guidelines are.

Answer 4

I actually just sent out my manuscript too, so congratulations! You must feel very accomplished :) First things first, get your book copyrighted so no one can steal your idea! Secondly, before sending it out to publishers, go on their websites and make sure that they accept unsolicited manuscripts. Some places will just throw away your manuscript if they aren't expecting it. Each publishers website will tell you exactly what they require, follow everything step by step to make sure that they'll even look at it. Some publishing companies require a cover letter, while others only require a short summary of your book instead of the whole manuscript. There are others who want a self addressed stamped envelope as well, so be sure to follow their instructions precisely. Don't just send the manuscript out to random companies either! Do your research and make sure they publish books in your genre/style of writing! Hope this helps, and good luck :)

Answer 5

Good luck. Sending the book to publishers uninvited will likely lead to it being put in what's called the slush pile. Maybe, eventually it will get read by an intern who will write their opinion on a 3x5 index card.

Your energy is better spent sending it to a literary agent, though they have slush piles just as big or bigger, they have more reason to go through them.

Another option that has worked for many first time authors is self-publishing, iUniverse and Lightning Source are two places that will help you. Nothing makes a bigger impact on publishers than real-life sales - get a decent ranking on Amazon and they'll call you.

Answer 6

You will get attention - negative attention. You never never never send a manuscript to a publisher unsolicited. You may send a query letter or do whatever their submission guidelines state. If it is a small publisher, you can reach them with a query letter and a synopsis. If it is a large publisher, the only way to reach them is through an agent. A list publishers only deal with A list agents. They don't accept author submissions.

Also, you don't just send something around to a bunch of publishers all at once. It will earn you a reputation in the business that is black as coal. IF a publisher says in their submission guidelines they accept multiple or simultaneous submissions, you may send to a maximum of TWO such publishers simultaneously. Never more. And in the query letter, you must state that you have sent to another publisher at the same time. Many publishers don't want to be bothered with something another publisher is looking at too. It's a waste of their time.

Publishers do not have time to give you a critique. They get literally thousands of queries a week. Your manuscript will go onto a slush pile for rejection. Publishers and agents are very particular about their guidelines being followed and they will reject you immediately if you send them a manuscript.

And since today we have new postal regulations regarding pickup of packages, they won't even return it to you - not even if you send them the postage. They will feed it to the papershredder.

You need to go to Resolved Answers and read some of the wealth of information archived here regarding how to submit a book to a publisher. You also need to spend the 30 dollars and buy a copy of Writers Market. It will tell you exactly the same thing I just told you.

Also, I have said this a thousand times here, People who do not know what they are doing shouldnt give inaccurate information. The WORST thing you can ever do is send away for a copyright. It is considered completely unprofessional and amateur. It says to a publisher or agent you dont trust them and suspect them of stealing your work. When and if you get a contract, one of the first clauses in the contract will be that the PUBLISHER will get the appropriate copyright for you. You legally own the work from the minute you write it - as long as you do not spread it around the internet. As soon as a publisher sees you copyrighted, you are considered an amateur and slush piled. Any professional author will tell you this. There is way too much incorrect information spread around this site. People shouldn't post what they do not know.DON"T COPYRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know how else to get that message across.

And the so called "Poor man's copyright" where you send yourself a copy and keep the envelope unopened is useless in a court of law without further evidence to back it up. There are about 100 different ways to fake that - starting with sending yourself a whole bunch of unsealed envelopes, copying somebody's story, sealing it in the envelope and BAM you own it. A copyright is only as good as the lawyer you pay big bucks to in order to defend it.

If you want a critique, hire an editor. Sorry to tell you this, but your idea is professional suicide in the publishing world. Most of what you read here is from people who self publish - which doesn't make them published authors. It makes them people with enough money to buy copies of their books. I write for a top 10 NY publisher - with an H in the name. That's a totally different league. To give you an idea, it's like the difference between Little League and Major League Baseball. The average sales of a self published book is under 100. Great rating on Amazon, huh? Hardly.

Trust me on this one. If you want more info, [e-mail]. Pax - C

PS - And never send your manuscript to someone on Yahoo Answers who says "let me see it first!". I thumbs downed all the posts with wrong information for you.

Answer 7

There is a book at your local library that will tell you everything you need to know. It's called: "The Writer's Market" and a new one is published every year. The book tells you what publishers will accept unsolicited manuscripts, how to send them, who to send them to and where. It also lists magazines and literary agents who will accept manuscripts. You will want to write an introductory letter. A literary agent may be a better choice for you if you are trying to get your name out there. Good Luck!

Answer 8

Publishers rarely steal ideas from authors, they'd go out of business due to lawsuits. If you're worried about such things, send a copy to yourself in the mail with a date/time stamp on it, if possible and make sure it stays sealed.

Get a hold of a copy of Writers' Market and look at the publishers who publish what you've written. See if they will accept simultaneous submissions (sending it to more than one publisher at the same time) many do not. Also, get a hold of their writers' guidelines (usually online) so that you can avoid sending them something that doesn't fit their needs at all. Finally, I'd check what type of format they want it in, and make sure the copy you send to them is in that format. (Assuming that you've checked it for grammer and typos already.)

Answer 9

Perhaps you should get a "Guide To Publishing" book. I have one that has a huge list of publishing companies, along with what type of stuff they want you to send to them (example: query, 1-2 sample chapters, SASE) It all depends on which publisher you are sending your novel to, but most don't really pay attention to full manuscripts sent to them all at once.

Answer 10

There is no need to copyright the novel. The best thing to do is to follow the directions of each publisher exactly as it appears on their website or in a good guide to submissions. A good place to start is Duotrope Digest.