Scott Pack’s How to Perfect Your Submission

Followers of this blog will know that I don’t do book reviews — it’s something that I just don’t do. However, I’ve noticed that the list of recommended books is growing. Hence, I should probably at least explain why those books are on the list. Some are obvious, like the dictionaries and style guides. Some are…not so obvious.

So, let’s start with one of the first books I had put on that list. I’m talking about Scott Pack’s How to Perfect Your Submission.

There’s a reason for the standard manuscript format

In this day and age, many submissions are handled through email. Agents and acquisition editors will often look at the submissions sent to them on an electronic device, commonly a computer or tablet screen. For many submissions, the initial contact is contained in the body of an email (no attachments). If additional materials are asked for, agents and editors expect things to be in the standard manuscript format. Yet, agents and editors will still look at those added materials using electronic devices.

So, if everything is now electronic, why must we format our manuscripts using a format that was devised back in the day when everything was printed? Well, believe it or not, the standard manuscript format is very specific for a reason.

Pitching Blog Posts

The Value of a Synopsis

When one completes a manuscript, it’s vindication that you can do this. Then the hard work begins. I’m not going to kid you: querying for agents and publishers is a hard road, one that many turn away from.

Writing the manuscript is hard. Editing it into something worth reading is harder. Writing a query letter is harder still. And the synopsis is a nightmare. Let’s face it: compressing a full-length novel into one page is a frightening task. Not all agents want a synopsis, but most publishers do. So if you are fortunate enough to snag an agent without needing to write a synopsis, you will eventually need to write one.

During my preparation of my own submission materials, I struggled to bring my synopsis to under one page, like so many other writers, but I did it. Working out where to send queries is a different problem, and not one I’m going to address for this post. However, I have noticed that submission packets have a huge variation in requirements.Read More→