Yearly Submissions Tally

How many fiction submissions do you receive each month/year at your company?

How many non-fiction submissions do you receive each month/year at your company?

I don't really want to say how many my company gets because that could out my secret identity. But I can give you a range—a very small LDS Publisher might get anywhere from 10 to 100 queries/submissions a year. A medium-sized LDS Publisher gets 200 to 500 a year. In our company we get slightly more non-fiction submissions than fiction, probably 60/40—but the fiction submissions are increasing every year.

Lisa Mangum said DB receives 1500 manuscripts in a year, but I don't know the breakdown for fiction/nonfiction.

If any other publishers would like to chime in with their specifics, go ahead. You can do so anonymously if you like.

Storymakers: Two Panels

Notes from the 2008 LDStorymakers Conference

Workshop: Publishers Panel
Presenter: Chris Bigelow, Zarahemla; Lisa Mangum, Deseret Book; Kammi Rencher, Cedar Fort; Kirk Shaw, Covenant
Submitted by: Shy Submitter

The panel began with each publisher telling us what they were looking for.
Chris/Zarahemla: provocative, unconventional stories that are ultimately faith confirming.
Lisa/Deseret Book: YA, historical with or without romance, beginner chapter books.
Kammi/CFI: stories with potential to crossover to national, with LDS values and themes.
Kirk/Covenant: suspense, romance, historical, historical epic series, good non-fiction (self-help), gift books

Q: There are no LDS agents because they would not make any money. But assuming someone was willing to work for very little, would LDS publishers be willing to work with agents?
A: They all said yes.

Q: What type of content is not allowed?
A: No swearing, graphic violence and sex, no false doctrine, careful with polygamy; PG rating. (All agreed, but Zarahemla was a little more lenient on these.)

Q: What are the differences between the LDS and national markets?
A: A best seller for an LDS book is 20,000 copies sold; national is 100,000. National publishers can potentially sell to the whole world; LDS publishers are limited to the number of members of the Church, 13 million (much less, if you limit it to English speaking). There is less direct competition in the LDS market. National market needs more lead time from acceptance to publication.

Q: What is expected from the author in terms of marketing their book?
A: Chris/Zarahemla: networking, website, readings, bookstore events, especially in home town.
Lisa/Deseret Book: as much as you can do; blog, website, networking skills, available for interviews.
Kammi/CFI: active, working connections and resources, blog, website, radio or TV connections (if you have them), book signings.
Kirk/Covenant: book signings are not a big seller for them; brainstorm with marketing department, articles for magazines, be proactive.


Workshop: Authors Panel on Agents
Presenter: JANETTE RALLISON, 700,000 books sold; agent: Erin Murphy; JEFF SAVAGE, 4 books, 2 Covenant titles released this year, national YA fantasy with Shadow Mountain this year; agent: Jackie Sack @ Bookends, Inc.; BRANDON SANDERSON, national epic fantasy, children's books with Scholastic, published in 15 languages, 2 movie deals, agent: Joshua Bilmes @ Jabberwocky; JAMES DASHNER, 4 Jimmy Fincher books, 13th Reality with Shadow Mountain, currently looking for a new agent.

[Shy Submitter apologizes for not noting who said what; this is the collective wisdom of the panel.]

Agent fees are generally 15% for US rights, foreign rights are 10% to the US agent and 10% to the foreign agent.

Royalties are sent to the agent who takes their fees and sends the rest to you. They also send you a 1099 at the end of the year.

Agents need to have a good relationship with editors and publishers.

Before signing with an agent, check them out. Who are their other clients? Contact them and see if they are happy. How many books do they place each year? Which books have they placed in the past year? What is the average advance they are able to get for their authors?

Check them out: Writers Beware, Predators and Editors have lists of good and bad agents, also some sample contracts. Other helpful sites are Show Me the Money (Brenda Hiatt/Romance) and Locus (sci-fi/fantasy), AgentQuery.com.

Agents contracts can be as short as one page and should cover: how long they will represent the work, how much they will be paid, how to end the contract.

Marketing: Publishers send out ARCs (Advance Reading Copies). Some send 100, some send 1,000s. They may do conventions. Author is expected to do a website, bookmarks, book signings, school visits (children & YA), word of mouth. Join genre groups for support and ideas.

1% of the population are readers; the rest read an average of 1 book per year.

Storymakers: Lisa Mangum, Deseret Book Editor

Notes from the 2008 LDStorymakers Conference

Workshop: Making the Leap
Presenter: Lisa Mangum, Workshop on Friday
Submitted by: Shy Submitter

Five things you can't control:
1. It's a business. We look for what's going to make money. Buying a book in the store is an emotional decision. Buying a manuscript to publish is a business decision.

2. Number of manuscripts submitted in a given year. Deseret Book receives 1500 manuscripts in one year. Of those, 30 are published. [I think this was fiction books?] DB produces 150 products a year, which includes all books, audio, music and paperback reprints.

3. Number of available slots for new authors. DB always has some slots reserved for new authors, but the number varies. In 2006, they published 60 books; 11 were from first time authors.

4. Other manuscripts submitted that are similar to yours. They don't want to publish two books in the same year that will compete with each other. Don't write to a trend. They accept 1 to 2 years out, so by the time a trend is identified, it's over. Be the first of what's coming next.

5. Her mood. It's easier to reject a book when the editor is having a bad day. Sending chocolate won't help. She'll eat the chocolate, but it doesn't change her decision.



Five things you can control:
1. Do your homework. Answer these six questions before submitting: a) Am I in the right slush pile? b) Who is going to buy this? Young girls, women, children? c) How is your book different? Know what's on the market and how your book is different/better. d) What are people buying? Talk to librarians, check best seller lists, etc. e) What is your marketing plan? What special outlets do you have? f) Have I let five honest people give me feedback? People who love you don't count.

2. Follow posted submission guidelines. Please! Make the envelope easy to open. If you want your manuscript returned, send a big enough envelope.

3. Write a killer cover letter. This is your most important page. This is a business letter. Difference between query and cover letter—query is "I'm writing XYZ. Are you interested?"; cover is longer with more detail, informative. Including some proposed back cover copy is fine. 80 to 85% of the titles are changed, but DO put a title on it.

4. Showcase your talent. Include your writing credentials, writing organizations you belong to (like SCBWI), what you've written even if it's not published, show us you have more than one book in you, that we can get a book a year out of you.

5. Deal with your rejection letters. Any type of personalized comment on a rejection letter is good. They only detail what's wrong if it was a close call. Keep writing, keep working because you can't imagine not doing it. "Don't worry. Don't hurry. Don't stop."

Other miscellaneous things:
It takes about two years from acceptance to published book.
They respond in 10 to 12 weeks; you may call or e-mail after 12 weeks.
If you've done significant rewrites, you may resubmit.

Storymakers: Kirk Shaw, Covenant Editor

Notes from the 2008 LDStorymakers Conference

Workshop: Ten Ways to Get Your Story Noticed
Presenter: Kirk Shaw, Workshop on Friday
Submitted by: Karlene Browning

(I have 10 things on my list but they don't match up well with the 10 things in the syllabus, so if someone else wants to add to this list, please feel free to go right ahead and do it.)

First, he said that if we attended the conference, we could use his name and submit directly to him, skipping the slush pile entirely. He said he's looking for: gift books, 32 page children's picture books, suspense, action, romance, historical epics, YA and childrens (chapter books). He stressed that they needed to be a good read and DYNAMIC.

1. Cover letter—Do research to make sure they publish your type of book. First paragraph should include word count, genre and subgenre (ex: not just "mystery" but "who-done-it cop story"). You can also say it's similar to a particular author. Don't use modifiers. Be objective: "this is what my book is." List credentials if you've been published before. (Credentials = it's printed; you've been paid for it.)

2. Openers for your book—Do NOT start with eating, sleeping, dreaming, flashbacks, anything sedentary or far away from your story. DO start with interest and action.

3. Formatting your manuscript—Follow publishers guidelines. Use MS Word; do not use WordPerfect.

4. Proofread—Make sure your manuscript is your best work. Have it proofed.

5. Dialogue—Don't use heavy tags (ex: "Don't go into the woods," she whispered breathlessly.) Avoid dialogue tags when you can. Give each character their own voice, so they could be recognized without the dialog tag.

6. Be fresh—Give us a twist on the setting, plot, etc.

7. Characters—Avoid polar characters who are all good or all bad. Give them unique voices. Give them unique names; don't have them all start with the same letter.

8. Conflict—You need meaningful conflict that moves you toward your end goal.

9. Writing Style—Watch for your pet words and phrases. (Ex: actually, suddenly, however.) Use sensory experiences. Show, don't tell. Be consistent in your narrative style.

10. Climax—Your entire story should aim toward the climax and move you that direction in some way.

How Long is Too Long?

This question was taken from a recent comment on a post from last year. (Thanks for reading through the archives.)

I've been working on a book for 2 years now, and am thinking I'm getting close to submitting a first draft to a publisher. After reading this, and all the comments, I'm now thinking I need another four years before I'll be to that point…

What can I do to keep my motivation?

Part 1—How long do you need to work on your novel before submitting? The answer, of course, is: as long as it takes to get the story right.

Having said that, however, I have a few more comments. First, if it takes you six years to write a novel, and you've only been working on the one story during that time, as a publisher, I'm going to think twice about accepting your book. Reason being, if I publish your book and readers like you, they're going to want more ASAP. If it takes another six years to get book two out, readers will forget about you and we'll have to start all over again to establish a fan base. If you want a career as a novelist, you should plan to produce a book every year or two.

Now, first books usually take longer to write because you're learning your craft. We understand that. And if you're going to be a "one hit wonder," you may still be published if that one hit is good enough. Just keep in mind that part of my decision making process in accepting a book is if I think I'm going to be able to create a "reproducible commodity" of sorts. (Okay, I know that phrase is going to get me lots of hateful comments. Fine. Go ahead. Give me your best shot.)

If you've been working on a book for two years, get yourself into a good critique group right away and get that thing polished up and submitted this year!


Part 2—What can I do to keep my motivation?

Readers—jump in and help our new author out. What do you do to keep yourself motivated when you're either dragging in your work-in-progress or you're waiting to hear back on submissions?

Font Choice

I've been looking at publishers' websites and noticed that some publishers like their submissions in Times New Roman and some of them like Courier. Is there a reason why they prefer these different fonts, or is it just a personal thing from publisher to publisher?

One reason is that all computers (PC and Mac) have these two fonts, making it easy to convert files. Sometimes when a document is opened on a computer that doesn't have the font it was written in, it can go all skeewampus.

The other reason has to do with estimating final page count.

Courier is a fixed-width font, meaning all letters take the same amount of space. It gives you a uniform number of spaces per page making it easier (according to some) to estimate a final page count.

I prefer Times, however, because it is easier to read. I haven't found that it's any more difficult to estimate page count from Times.

Branded for Life?

So if you take notes on submissions received and say I sent something to you when I first started writing and you put in your notes, "Writing needs work (or it sucks) or whatever" Does that mean I'm branded for life with that publisher? I think they would still look at the work but would a first negative impression make it harder later on?

No. We realize that writers change and (hopefully) improve over time. Those notes only effect where in the reading pile your manuscript lands. Let's say I get 5 mss one day—two are in my log, one with a "good" note and one with a "needs work" note; the other three are new authors. My assistant reads the queries and weeds out topics we're not interested in or those with so many grammar/technical errors that we know we'll reject. The rest go in the pile with the "good" note on top. The "needs work" note and the new authors get sorted by our topic interest level.

The only time a bad note brands you for life is if you were extremely rude and obnoxious* about a previous submission and my note says, "I don't care if it's the next Harry Potter, I will not work with this person!" (Out of the hundreds in my log, there are only two with this note.)

*Extremely rude and obnoxious means the author blasted me with e-mails/letters/phone calls after rejection, calling me names and telling me I'm the spawn of Satan for rejecting their book.

Rejection Etiquette

I have a burning question that I would be most grateful if you would help me with. I recently received a polite rejection letter, in which I was told in sum: “We are very selective, your submission came close but not close enough, feel free to keep us in mind with future projects.” I originally filed it away with a sigh, thinking it was a typical form letter. But then I started thinking (or over analyzing) that maybe his mention of future projects is at least the start of a bridge.

I am now chewing on the possibility of sending a reply thanking him for reviewing the manuscript, and briefly describing my next project. I’m thinking it would be better now, while he remembers who I am, then when the new manuscript is done and I’m back in the slush pile. But is that too presumptuous? If not, would it be appropriate to send it via email, if the rejection came via snail mail? (And no, he didn’t include his email address in the letter, but it is on the website.)

Thanks so much for the service you provide! It is a confusing world out there.

The mention of future projects might be part of their standard rejection letter, or it might actually be a positive indicator. In our company, we don't open that door unless we mean it.

If you like this publisher, then yes, send them your next project—when it's done. Sending an e-mail now for a project that isn't ready to submit won't do you much good because they'll forget anyway. (We don't log our thank you e-mails, only our submissions.)

If this publisher is like us, when a new mss comes in the first thing we do is check our log to see if you've submitted to us before and read our notes. If the notes say, "liked her writing but project wasn't what we were looking for" then you'll move up to the top of the slush.

As to whether to communicate via e-mail or snail mail, if they indicate a preference, respect that. If they don't, then it probably doesn't matter. If their e-mail is listed on their website, then they're open to receiving communications that way.

Electronic Submissions

I notice that more and more publishers are starting to accept electronic submissions from new authors. Do you think the days of paper and postage will soon be a thing of the past?

Maybe. I personally think all queries should be done electronically. Saves time, money and desk space. Full manuscripts are a different story. They are hard to read on a computer screen, causes headache and eyestrain. There's also the issue of computer viruses. It seems that no matter how good my virus protector is, I still get those nasty things—and sometimes I get them from author submissions. For those reasons, I think some publishers will continue to ask for paper submissions.

I haven't tried it, but I've heard that the Kindle is easy on the eyes and that you can easily convert documents to read on that. That could be a solution for the eyestrain. Anyone tried it?

Basic Submission Package

If the guidelines don't specify what's expected in a submission package, what is the norm?

This is what I like to see and it would probably satisfy most publishers who don't specify what they want.

• Query letter—1 page


• Outline/synopsis—a chapter by chapter breakdown of the basic plot line; 2 to 3 sentences per chapter. And yes, I want the ending.


• First three chapters


• SASE (I actually prefer to reply by e-mail but some publishers prefer the letter)

You can read more details here.

A Few Submission Guideline Links

I keep hearing about checking the publishers' websites for submission guidelines. I'm not that computer savvy. I went to a couple of sites and I can't find it. Help!

I'm in a good mood, so here you go. If your publishing company is not on this list and you want it added, put your info in the comments section.
Cedar Fort
Covenant
Deseret Book
Mapletree
Millenial Press
Spring Creek
Wind River
Zarahemla Books

I'm Not Testy; I Have a Positive Self Image

Found in the comments section of yesterday's post. I moved it here because a lot of people do not read comments and he has a legit concern, complaint. A lot of first time authors ask these kinds of questions. (Although most of them do not call me "testy" or refer to my treatment of their ideas as bull-dozerish.)

Why is that editors get so testy when an author dares to tread upon their creative world and suggest a cover design or a title, but they drive their bulldozers all over the author's creative world like so much ado about nothing. I know. Covers are what they pay your for. Editing is what they pay you for. But for heaven's sakes, will there ever be an editor humble enough to recognize that an author just may have a good sense about a cover that will market their book well. Or that an author just may have a better title than the marketing guys across the hall. Probably not!

Anonymous

When I went back to the comments to copy and paste them, I discovered that Robison Wells had answered the question—and he is dead on. Here is Rob's reply.

Anonymous, I like to compare it to royalties. There's a reason that authors only get 5-15% of a book's cost: it's because the author is only one piece of a very large puzzle. It's a vital piece, certainly, but it's still only one piece.

If an author has as much good marketing sense as you stated--if they know that their title/cover/marketing ideas are great--then why not just self-publish? Richard Paul Evans is the perfect example: he was a professional marketer, and he's made gobs of money.

Besides, most publishers are very willing to discuss titles and covers (though they'll almost all maintain veto power), but they don't want to look at those ideas during the submission process. You, as the author, are asking them to make a very big investment in you; the least you could do is show a little professionalism and respect submission guidelines. There will be PLENTY of time to discuss titles and covers and illustrations once your book is accepted.

I would add a few things, based on my 26 years in the industry as a professional (I just love that word) editor and/or publisher:

1. If you submit a good title, we will keep it! We kept the author's original titles on the last two books we published. Others titles I tweak by one or two words. Sometimes I'll reject the original title, but have the author send me a list of alternates. Usually I can blend that into something really good that the author is happy with. But creating titles that sell and writing a story are two entirely different skill sets and some are just really, really bad.


2. I have never, in 26 years, seen a book cover created by an author and sent with the manuscript submission that was anywhere close to usable. They are usually way too dark, use clip art and dated fonts, and don't have an appropriate balance to the design. If you don't know what I'm talking about, or you don't know why these would be a problem, then don't try to make your own cover.


3. I have, a couple of times, had an author who was also a graphic artist. After their books were accepted, they very professionally asked if I would take a look at their ideas. Of course I did. These two covers were wonderful. One we kept exactly as it was. The other we had to tweak a little to fit in the bar code. The point is, they approached me about it after acceptance.
   


4. The publisher always retains veto rights. As Rob said, if I am going to invest thousands of dollars in you and your book, I need to control that investment in the way that my experience tells me works best. If title and cover art are deal breakers for you, then by all means, self-publish.
   


5. You're assuming that the author will not like my title/cover art better than what they've created. Most of our authors love what we do with their books—even if we don't use any of their suggestions.
   


6. I never, ever bulldoze my authors' creative world. I'm not investing in a one book deal. I want this to be an ongoing relationship. I want my authors to be happy. At the same time, I am not going to let an author sink a book due to personal preferences. We test our titles and book cover designs on our target market and run them past at least a dozen design, marketing and publishing professionals before we finalize something.
   


7. And one last comment: You, as an author, have to invest a certain level of trust in your publisher. You have to believe they know what they're doing, that they will make decisions based on what is best for your book, that they are current on what is hot in the market, and that their years of experience are more valuable than yours. If you don't trust your publisher enough to title your book or design your cover, then you're with the wrong publisher.
   

Have I answered your questions?

10 More Things Not to Do When You Submit a Manuscript

Here's another list of things not to do when you send your manuscript (based on true-life examples from manuscripts that I have received in the past 30 days):

1. Do not single space. I know I've said this before, but apparently I have not stressed it enough. I CANNOT read, let alone edit, a manuscript that is single spaced.

2. Do not leave large spaces between paragraphs and type [Insert illustration here]. Especially for a book intended for adults.

3. Do not send illustrations with your adult-audience book.

4. Do not tell me in those big gaps [See illustration # whatever] and expect me to go looking to the back of the book and hand count the illustrations to get to the page number you want me to look at.

5. Do not 3-hole punch the manuscript and send it in a 3-ring binder.

6. Do not put your manuscript pages in sheet protectors and send them in a binder.

7. Do not design a cover and send me a color print out of it. We won't be using it and I don't need your sample to visualize what the front of your book could look like. I'm a professional. Visualizing covers is what they pay me to do!

8. Do not print your manuscript double-sided on the paper.

9. Do not send your manuscript, then call me two weeks later and ask if you can bring me a new copy because you've re-written a significant number of scenes. If I've already started reading, you've wasted my time. If I haven't already started reading, I'll think you're a nut case.

10. Do not drop by my office (without an appointment) and ask if I've finished reading your manuscript yet, and when I say no, ask if you can "borrow" it back for a few weeks because your daughter-in-law wants to read it and you don't want to spend all that money on paper and ink to print out another copy and you don't mind at all looking through my huge stack of manuscripts to find yours.

Sometimes I think I'm a wonderful person simply because I never resort to physical violence.

Behind the Scenes Acceptance Process

Can you tell me what happens when you receive my manuscript? Do you have a first reader that sifts through all the manuscripts and then passes on his/her picks to you? When does a manuscript go to outside readers? Do all publishers use committees to decide the fate of a manuscript? Who has the final say? Do you follow the same procedure with all manuscripts?

I have an assistant who does a pre-read and sorts them into piles--ones I will probably want to read and ones that I will probably reject. We've worked together for a long time, so she's pretty accurate at guessing what my response will be. If she really likes something, I put it at the top of the pile.

I go through the rejection pile first because those are pretty obvious and there's no need to keep those authors waiting. I write my own rejection letters--most of them are form letters, but sometimes I offer suggestions on what to improve.

The manuscript goes to outside readers if the in-house staff likes it enough to consider publishing it. We need to make sure it will appeal to a fairly wide spectrum of readers.

If they're smart, publishers have some type of committee giving them input. Who is on that committee depends on the size of the company. It may be the readers or it may be a group of employees, or it may be an official committee which includes the finance and marketing departments.

Who has the final say? Depends on the company. It could be the head editor, the president, the marketing VP, or a majority vote of the committee. In my company, it's usually a unanimous vote of the committee.

We follow the same procedure 99% of the time. Sometimes we'll publish something that has a majority vote, but not very often.

How Not to Query

I received a query letter this week that I want to share with you because it's an example of everything not to do. Most of you will know this already, but occasionally I get an e-mail from a blog reader that lets me know that some still need basic instruction. And that's okay. That's what I'm here for.

I am not going to poke fun at this letter because it's clear they are trying their best. It's not full of ego and attitude (my cue to poke as much fun as I want). Even though I'm fairly certain they will never stumble across this blog (they're not LDS), I have changed the details so that even they won't recognize themselves.

Handwritten:
John Doe
123 My Street
My Town, XX

5/15/07

XYZ Publisher
My PO Box
My Town, UT

To Whom It May Concern:

I Am Currently Looking For A Publishing Company, For My Book, "Car Maintenance for Women"

This is my First Book, I will Appreshute Any INFORMATION You Can Give Me, Such as Proof-Reading, Typesetting and Such.

I Am Looking Forward to Hearing From You.

Sincerely,
John & Martha

1. It's handwritten. That is not appropriate. If you've written a book, surely you have a computer and could use that to write the letter. If you've handwritten your entire book, you will need to hire someone to type it before you submit. They can type your queries as well.

2. No phone number. No e-mail address. No SASE. You have not made it easy for me to respond to you. It will now cost me approx $1.50-4.00* to reject you (postage, materials, payroll; $1.50 if my assistant does it, $4 if I do it myself). It upsets me when I have to pay to reject a query I should never have gotten in the first place. Sometimes, I don't reply.

3. My name is not "To Whom It May Concern." If you don't know my name and can't figure out how to discover what my name is, "Dear Acquisitions Editor" is a better choice. However, if you're writing non-fiction or historical fiction, I will assume that either you do have research skills but are too lazy to use them, or that you don't have adequate research skills, which calls your manuscript content into question. Not a good place to start.

4. I am an LDS publisher. It states that clearly on our website and all official materials from us. I don't know of any resource list that we are on that doesn't also state that. The title of the book makes clear that it is not an LDS book. Again, if you didn't do enough research to determine if we even publish your type of book, see #3. (Now, Car Maintenance for Mormons...uh, never mind.)

5. If we publish your book, why do you need information on proof reading and typesetting? We take care of that in-house. If you're talking about cleaning up your manuscript before submitting, it would be unethical for us to refer you to someone. Also, you never need to typeset your own book.

6. Spelling and punctuation mistakes in your query are not a good sign. Either you were not careful or you don't know any better. Both options mean that your manuscript will require too much editing for us to consider it. Also, if you had typed your query using any of the standard word processing programs, the spell and grammar checks would have cleaned that up.

7. Who the heck is Martha? Co-author? Include her name at the top and mention that you are co-authors in the letter. Spouse? Leave her off.

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant. If you've never done something before, there's no reason why you would know how to do it correctly. However, there is every reason to do a little research. Go to the library, pick a book--any book--on how to query and/or submit a manuscript to a publisher. One book, one afternoon of research, would mean the difference between being considered and an automatic rejection.

*41¢ postage, 6¢ letter, 1¢ envelope, 1.50 payroll (counting taxes, etc.) or $3.33 (what my company considers my time to be worth, even though they don't pay me that amount)

Book with CD?

I have created a soundtrack for my book. Would it be useful to send in a CD of the soundtrack with the book? Should I list the songs and artists at the end of my book as notations for inspiration?

I thought this would make a Funny Friday question. But let's pretend for just a minute that it's serious.

I had to think about this for awhile. I've never had this happen with a submission (which is why it won the Never Heard That One Before question in last month's question contest). I have, on occasion, talked with people who had self-published a book and a CD of original music to go with it. The concept was good, but the marketing created problems.

For a manuscript submission, my answer is: No.

If you're talking about original music that you've created yourself, unless you are a professional musician with a studio, chances are your soundtrack would not be the level of quality that we'd want. If we'd even want a soundtrack with the book. So, no.

If you're talking about songs you've collected that are already in existence and you've put them on a CD intending the reader to listen as they read, to help create the mood--sort of like a movie soundtrack--then again, no. THIS IS AGAINST COPYRIGHT LAWS!!

And no, do not put the list of songs and artists at the end of the book.

Submit your book as a stand-alone product. After it's accepted, you can mention you have a CD (of original music) to go with it. If the publisher is interested, they'll let you know.

Second Dates--How Soon is Too Soon?

If an author has several manuscripts ready for submission, how should they handle that? Should they send in the first one, wait until the contract has been signed, and then submit the second? Should they wait until the first book has come out? Or can they submit the second one sooner than that? Is it all right to submit #2 immediately after getting a rejection for #1?

If the books are part of a series, submit the first one and in your query, briefly mention that this is intended to be a series and book #2 is almost complete.

If the books are unrelated, wait until the contract is signed. Then tell your editor/publisher that you have a second book ready and ask when they would like you to submit it. If you're a first time author, they're going to want to see how the first book sells. If you're an established author, they're going to want you to churn them out quickly--1 to 2 per year, if possible.

Some authors are too prolific for the size of their publisher. When this is the case, you'll want to make sure there is a clause in the contract that if they reject a title, you're free to submit to other publishers at any time.

If book #1 is rejected, no, don't immediately (as in the next day) send #2. If the publisher has given an indication of the reasons for rejection, evaluate book #2 within those guidelines. If their reasons have to do with genre, market, or other things specific to the publisher, you'll need to determine if #2 is a better fit for them. If not, submit elsewhere.

If they've talked about structure, technique, plot, characterization, etc., you'll want to rewrite book #2 to clean it up based upon their suggestions before submitting it.

If they've said, "We love this, but it's not right for us. Send us something else ASAP!" then you can send #2 right away.

If You Call a Rose an Onion, It Will Stink

I worked for an LDS publisher who claimed you had seven words or less (preferably less) to grab a reader's attention. The title was one of the key reasons buyers picked up a new book and we spent hours retitling purchased manuscripts.

Now I wonder--how important is a title during the submission process? Does a title ever grab your attention and cause you to lift a manuscript out of the 'slush pile'? How do you feel about those manuscripts which are submitted simply as "Untitled"?

Seven words, huh? That sounds about right. And you're right, a good title piques interest and will get a buyer to take the book off the shelf. I've toyed with the idea of hiring someone solely to generate titles. That would be nice. But in reality, it's a group effort. We often run a list of titles by our readers and employees and see which one appeals to the most people.

As to how important your title is to the submission process--not very. Yes, sometimes an interesting title will invite me to read that mss first, but it's the story and the writing that make the final decision. It's a somewhat different skill set required for creating titles and for writing stories. Kind of like the difference between writing a novel and writing poetry. I never turn down a book based on its title. And I always reserve the right to change the title--it's in my contract.

I have used author's original titles before. Some of them are great. Sometimes I've tweaked them a little, or used them to start the brainstorming process. Sometimes they're really, really bad--but a bad title is better than no title.

I really hate mss submitted as "Untitled." A title brings focus to a story. A story without a title says to me that you don't know enough about your story (bad news) or that you're too lazy or that you're expecting me to do all the work. My experience tells me that Untitled manuscripts are going to need lots of editing in other places as well.

So--brainstorm titles. Test them out on your friends and family. Pick one. Put it on your manuscript and submit. Keep your list of brainstormed titles so that you can offer other suggestions when the publisher asks for them. (Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't.)

Too Funny Not to Post

Normally, I do not post on Saturdays. I like to pretend I have a life. But the truth is, I eat, breathe and sleep books and publishing. So, I was surfing today and found this link on Miss Snark's blog. It is dated 5.11.07 and titled Slushpile. (You might be able to go directly to it by clicking here.)


(And before you tell me how to link directly to that post, it doesn't work on Miss Snark's site.)

Six of One...

If you had to choose between a manuscript that had a great story but was poorly written (needed a lot of editing) and a manuscript that was written beautifully but the story was mediocre, which would you choose?

Neither. Because I wouldn't be able to sell either one (as is) and it would be stupid for me to invest the time, energy and thousands of dollars into something that would not be profitable for me.

However, if it was a really good story, I might give them notes and ask them to work on it--but that isn't usually enough to bring it to publishable standards. (See yesterday's post about rewriting.)