Pitching your new book

Let your potential publisher know how you plan to get your name out there.

• Will you do book signings, contests, chats, online signings, book club readings or placement into independent bookstores.
• Do you have a website? And / or a blog?
• Do you participate in Twitter and Facebook?
• Do you have any special groups that you know, who would be interested in this type of book?

This is called a promotional plan and a platform and more and more publishers require it. But in any way, it is always an asset. There are also a number of things that you should not do when submitting a manuscript:

• Never send a manuscript without a query letter or synopsis. Publishers like to get an idea of what the story is about before plunging into a novel.
• Make sure that the publishers guidelines are followed to the letter.
• If the publisher specifies that all submissions should be double spaced in Times or New Roman font, save it as an RTF file. Do not send something that is single spaced in a gothic font, saved as a PDF.
• Do not tell the publisher how wonderful your work is, or how much you think he or she will enjoy it. Stick strictly to the facts.
• Do not write the publisher over and over again asking if they have yet read your manuscript.  Most publishers will list an average response time. Only after that time has passed should you contact the publisher for an update.
• Make sure that your document is appropriately labelled with your name, pen name, title of the book, word count and your email address. When manuscripts are sent by email, your document is often saved in another location. This manuscript could quite possibly be passed to various staff within the company in order to find the line that best fits your title. If there is no identifying information on the Manuscript itself, a publisher cannot respond to you.

When you are submitting your work, remember to be professional, be kind, be respectful and be patient. The publisher is working hard to review works and put out the best quality pieces to our public.  As an author, it is your job to follow some simple guidelines when submitting a manuscript in order to allow the process to go smoothly and your work to be accepted.

.

.

.
Hyper Smash