Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Don'ts of Book Submission

These are tips shared at a writing conference. You may read the full article [here].

1. Don't send your full manuscript off the get go. Only send what's requested in the particular agent's guidelines. (They almost always can be found online.)

2. Don't respond to a rejection letter or ask "why." Just move on.

3. Don't be rude or disrespectful—rejection isn't personal, it's just part of the business.

4. Don't submit to one agent at a time. The industry is slow so it's unrealistic for agents to assume you haven't sent it to other people (unless an agent asks for an exclusive read).

5. Don't resend a query or manuscript a day or two later with a note, "I found a mistake in my proposal and fixed it." Once it's sent, it's sent.


2 comments:

siakohneh said...

hi...i admire your publications. you churn out works that are the best in quality and aren't printed in newsprint. that's just cool. i've collected all of Bob Ong's works, among others. i just admire the fact that you do not sacrifice quality for quantity and even students can afford you books! by the way i have a suggestion guys. can you please get Igan D'bayan, the painter and columnist from Philstar, to release a book compiling the best of his articles and illustrations from the above-mentioned newspaper. i used to cut out his articles since way back in college. a lot of people i know do the same thing. i'd be one of the first in line to buy it. thanks.

provie said...

oo, gusto ko mga authors nyo. ang hindi ko alam paano ako mapapabilang doon. please help? thank you!