A question about sending off a manuscript. - Writers Forum

Saltydoghayden · 02-13-2005, 06:06 PM

I'll soon be sending of a manuscript to a publisher, but what i want to know is how i should set out the chapters? of course I have organized my novel into chapters. i am using microsoft word. Should I start each chapter on a new page?

by the way, does anyone know of any other good Word processing programs or is Word the best?

thanks

Nimbus1944 · 02-14-2005, 08:27 AM

Try Googling manuscript publishers submission to find some publishers' suggestions on that. Some of them look for a "letter of inquiry" first, and spell out what should be in it.

Examples:
http://www.fsgkidsbooks.com/editorial.htm

http://www.mazdapublishers.com/Manuscript.htm

Double-spacing, page-break for chapters, etc. are probably general rules.

Word is good as any. (I once did a book where the printer was going to scan my paper submission and make a PDF file out of it for the xerox-type printing process. Instead, I did the PDF directly,at home, on MS Works. Came out fine. They should all work that way!)

mammamaia · 02-14-2005, 08:45 AM

word is the only thing you should use, as anything else won't be compatible with everyone you submit to... and some may want email submission either from the git-go or later, when in the editing phase...

as for chapters, you don't have to begin each chapter on a fresh page, but can if you want... it saves paper if you just put a line break between the end of the previous chapter and the new chapter heading... it should be done with # in the center of the page and no empty line spaces...

if you want a good ms format guide, email me and i'll send you bill nunn's... or you can google for it...

hugs, maia

demonic_harmonic · 02-14-2005, 06:26 PM

word of warning: if you have any maps, pictures, graphs, doodles, or pictures you want to be in the text, don't send them with the manuscript. they don't want to see these yet, they want to see your story.

yes, double space, 12 point font, all that good stuff.

ugh, i dread printing out my story when it's done in double spacing. that's ALOT of ink and paper...

Saltydoghayden · 02-14-2005, 07:17 PM

but wouldnt it be good to include pictures and artwork to show that more effort has been put into the piece?

thanks for all the info thus far everyone.

demonic_harmonic · 02-14-2005, 08:38 PM

no.

they don't care what pictures you are going to put into it. they are concerned with the the words of the story itself.

you will actually make yourself seem unproffesional if you send pictures.

Saltydoghayden · 02-14-2005, 09:41 PM

Im looking into publishers that i might send my book to and what I need to know is whats all this unsolicited stuff mean? Some publishers say they dont accept unsolicited material. Does that mean they dont consider books that they havent requested? and if it oes, then how do i get around it?

thanks.

Talia_Brie · 02-15-2005, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltydoghayden

Im looking into publishers that i might send my book to and what I need to know is whats all this unsolicited stuff mean? Some publishers say they dont accept unsolicited material. Does that mean they dont consider books that they havent requested? and if it oes, then how do i get around it?

thanks.

You write to them first, and provide what's called a 'query letter' (look on Google) telling them who you are, what you've written, and asking them if you can send something.

They then respond with their submission guidelines and away you go, or they say, 'we don't represent authors of that style of fiction,' or 'we are not currently accepting new submissions', or something like that.

At least that's my understanding.

mammamaia · 02-15-2005, 07:30 AM

Quote:

"but wouldnt it be good to include pictures and artwork to show that more effort has been put into the piece?"

...definitely not, unless the magazine has asked for photos to accompany an article... otherwise, you'll be seen as an amateur if you send any artwork... and for books that call for it, publishers almost always want to assign their own artists/illustrators...

...always read the submission guidelines for whatever venue you're submitting to and don't do anything they say not to, or your work may not even be looked at...

Quote:

"Im looking into publishers that i might send my book to and what I need to know is whats all this unsolicited stuff mean? Some publishers say they dont accept unsolicited material. Does that mean they dont consider books that they havent requested? and if it oes, then how do i get around it? "

...yes, 'unsolicited' means exactly that... and how you get around that is to have an agent submit your ms or query the publisher first...

...in re tb's advice on the query/guidelines, it may be that way in australia, but in the states, it's best to do your homework and find out which publishers/publications publish the kind of work you have to offer by checking the listings in writers market and other sources and get the guidelines there and/or from the firm's website on your own...

...it's always wise to get the name of the editor who deals with your genre, and address the letter to them personally... NEVER send a 'to whom...' or 'dear sir' kind of letter, as they'll go immediately to the bottom of the pile... if no name is mentioned in the listing, call and ask the operator which editor handles your type of novel... and get the correct spelling of their name!...

...then, you send a query to all those who accept unagented work... writing an effective query is vital, as that's what will get you an invitation to send your ms [or not]... for a novel, you could send a short but compelling synopsis along with the query and ask if you may send the full ms or sample chapters and a chapter outline... sometimes the guidelines will say to send all of that with the query...

...i help a lot of writers with their query letters, so if you need assistance, just drop me a line... hope this answers your questions...

hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

Spudley · 02-15-2005, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

word is the only thing you should use, as anything else won't be compatible with everyone you submit to...

I feel I need to point out that that the above is not entirely true.

Firstly, almost all word processors, including Word, support RTF files; it's a standard file format. RTF doesn't support all of Word's fancier features, but it does do all the basic document formatting you'd expect, and it is fully compatible with just about everything.

Secondly, most word processors at least make an attempt at loading and saving MS Word documents (they have, as Maia points out, become something of a de-facto standard). I can tell you for certain that OpenOffice loads and saves Word files just fine, and I know other programs can do the same.

So what I would say is this: Use Word if you like it, but don't feel like you're forced into it - if you don't like it, there's nothing to stop you trying out the alternatives.

mammamaia · 02-15-2005, 07:51 AM

point made, taken... m

demonic_harmonic · 02-16-2005, 11:10 PM

i still have to use microsoft WORKS not WORD... i HATE word. sometimes it will think it knows what i want to do and wont stop doing some annoying little thing and its terrible. if i want a few lines between two paragraphs, sometimes it will do that to all the paragraphs and there is no way to change it. or one time it was doing some crazy corretion where the two words were something like:

his head and it would change it to hi shead, and then tell me i spelled both words wrong. i was like... you know what... grr...