Maureen Lang

THE MECHANICS

After you've completed your novel, it's time to try marketing it. Notice I said completed. It's very rare that a publisher will offer a contract to a writer for an unfinished project based only on a proposal/sample if that writer doesn't already have some kind of name or track record. Same with agents.

So by completion you've already tightened and focused your plot, made sure your character's goals, motivations, actions, reactions, inner and outer conflict all pass the logic test, prayed your way through the spiritual element if you're writing for the Christian market. You've gotten honest input from objective writers who have some experience critiquing, or entered contests to gain unbiased feedback from judges. And of course you've polished away every typo and grammar problem. You think your book is as close to perfect as you can make it.

Since you've already read a gazillion of the type of books you're writing, you've looked on all the spines to see who publishes the ones you like best. If you decide to look for an agent, you might look on the Acknowledgements page to see if a specific agent is mentioned. Or check the latest Writer's Market Guides or Literary Marketplace at the library for publishers and/or agents. Also take a look at my Links page for a few sites on Agent listings and tips on how to contact them. There is also a link there to Preditors and Editors, a site devoted to letting authors know which places to avoid. Now you know who's buying/selling the kind of fiction you're writing.

Then check for any Writer's Guidelines on the website of the publisher or agency you're targeting. There you'll find the best advice available—whether they want a query letter first, introducing yourself and your project, or if they want a proposal right off the bat and what constitutes a proposal. If they take submissions directly from authors (a few still do), some like specific fonts, some don't care as long as they're 12 point and easy to read. Just make sure you follow their guidelines because if you don't that's the fastest way to get your work returned unopened, unread, time/postage/paper wasted.

If your favorite publisher only accepts submissions from agented authors, you're not out of the ballpark yet. Perhaps they will look at something if you query them first. A query letter basically asks permission for you to submit your proposal.

Or consider going to a writer's conference where you can meet editors (and agents) face-to-face. This is expensive, often requires travel costs and will take you away from home, but it's become one of the best ways to market your stuff these days.

Look up "Writer's Conferences" on the web or check out writer's magazines listing such things (Writer's Digest, The Writer, etc.). Sally Stuart's Christian Market Guide offers a great guide to conferences. Find a conference that has a faculty you'd benefit from most, with the agents and editors you'd be interested in submitting to. Chances are you'll have a lot in common with other attendees and get to meet some favorite authors, too.

Plus, many conferences include a critique on anywhere from 10 to 30 pages or more. Some charge a nominal fee for this, but it's usually worth it. You get a one-on-one meeting with an author or editor in a related area of interest who will have read your stuff in advance of this meeting. It's a great way to guarantee getting some tailored feedback.

Whether you attend a conference to make connections or find a publisher who will accept proposals directly from authors, you must make sure you've gotten the basics down first. The formatting must be right if you want your work to be read. Your pages should be uniform with approximately 1 to 1 1/2" margins all the way around. Remove the "widows and orphans" by going to the tool bar under "Format" and choosing "Paragraph" then "Line spacing and page breaks" to un check the widows and orphans option. This will give you the same number of lines per page without big gaps at the bottom of some pages.

The only thing that should be single-spaced is your cover or query letter, and sometimes the synopsis (summary of the story). You'd be amazed at how often a new writer brings a manuscript to a critique group with narrow margins and single spacing.

Remember, editors and agents are busy people who use their eyes all day. That means don't use fancy, hard to read or small fonts on anything—letters, proposals, or manuscripts.

By the way, if your proposal slips off the pile on the editor's desk along with a bunch of others what's the easiest way for that overworked editor to get it back to where it belongs? Headers! Your info should be on every page, with at least your last name, the name of the project, and the page number, perhaps even contact info.

I heard an editor speak recently who told this horror story. A writer had submitted a proposal and the first reader recommended it as something to consider. But in the process of the proposal going from one office to another, it became separated from its cover letter. When the editor finally did look at it, she loved it and wanted to see more, too—but it had no header! They have no idea who wrote the book, what the title is, or any way to reach the author to tell them to send more. It may still work out if that author does a thorough and explicit follow-up, but who knows since the editors don't even have a title? At the very least, a lot of time has been wasted. And what kind of assumptions might be made by the editors about this author's organizational skills? Don't let this happen to you.

But hold on. Are you REALLY ready to start marketing your work? I can't tell you how many times I've seen authors send off their projects too soon. We're so excited about our work, it's the best we can do TODAY and we want to get started on what will undoubtedly be a very long process. So we rush off what is, in essence, a rough draft.

Just remember, you'll be a better writer tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. Don't rush things!