SUBMISSIONS
Your book is finished and you want to find a publisher. What do you do? You have worked hard to write the very best book you're capable of at this stage of your writing career. You have done the necessary research. You have made sure the story makes sense and is readable, by using proper grammar and punctuation. You have typed or printed a final 'clean' draft in standard submission format, as previously described. You believe the story is compelling enough that others will beg to read it. What is your next step? You must find a publisher who publishes the type of book you have written.
Here is one thing you can do: visit your local book store and find other books like yours. Look inside to discover who the publisher was. Make a list of those publishers, then verify that they are still in business and accepting new submissions. Books in Print (found in the Reference section of your library) lists all books currently in print, as well as the name of the publisher. In some cases, you may even find the name of the editor; however, editors move around frequently, so they may no longer work for that same publisher.
If you find a company that publishes what you have, it's usually acceptable to phone that company and ask the person who answers the phone if so-and-so editor is still with the company and accepting submissions. (Never phone an editor directly, unless they ask you to!) You may explain that you have written a book you would like to submit to that publisher and ask for the name of an editor who might read it. Chances are, you will be told who to send it to.
The important thing is to submit your work to a specific person, if possible. Books that come in 'over the transom' may remain in a 'slush' pile of perhaps thousands of books. It can take weeks or months for a first reader to find your manuscript in the stack, and by that time your subject may no longer be timely. Remember that a well-written, well-presented manuscript will stand out in a stack of other submissions, and some authors do get discovered this way. But why risk it if you don't have to?
(The Haunted Igloo was submitted to a major publisher over the transom and was lucky to be discovered that way; however, that isn't the best way to submit a manuscript and I don't recommend it. Fortunately, the book struck a cord with a first reader, who then passed it on to another editor.)
Another option for finding a publisher is Writer's Market, published annually by Writer's Digest Books. The book may be found on most library reference shelves and usually only previous years may be checked out. If you do a lot of writing and submitting, it may pay to buy your own copy every year. (Some schools welcome gifts of outdated Writer's Market, due to their helpful articles on basic information about writing, written by published authors and editors.
Writer's Market lists thousands of markets in all categories, complete with submission requirements, addresses, and names of acquisition editors.
Having found an editor who may read your work, you must now get your submission package ready to send. Request the publisher's guidelines, which explain their submission policies. Publishers differ in how they will accept manuscripts, and some will not read complete manuscripts at all (the guidelines will tell you this). In many cases, you will need to submit only a proposal, or query, describing what you have written and asking for permission to send it. You may also be asked to send a query plus sample chapters, usually the first two or three.
Query letters should be professional. They should briefly describe the book and your qualifications for writing it. This is not the place to write your entire life history, by the way. Nor should you say that you have not been previously published. If you have published before, by all means mention it. Your work must speak for itself. If your sample material gets read and the editor likes it, it makes no difference whether or not you've been published before (except, possibly, in the contract negotiations). Authors have to start somewhere.
Cover letters should be brief--no more than one single-spaced page on business stationery. Editors are busy people. They do not have time to read long letters of introduction from unknown writers. Keep your letter brief, no more than 3-4 short paragraphs. Editors want to know what the story is about (just a few words), why you're qualified to write that particular story. Do not make long-winded explanations here; it's the story that's important.
Make sure your grammar, spelling, and punctuation are perfect. This is an editor's first impression of your writing, so do not prejudice her (or him) against your work before she reads it. If your cover letter is sloppy, she might rightly assume that the manuscript is also badly written. Your time, as well as your postage, will then be wasted.
Your submission should consist of the material the editor has requested in the guidelines, and you MUST ABSOLUTELY enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.) for it's return. If you neglect this step, you may never see your manuscript again. Most publishers will not spend their own postage returning a manuscript they did not solicit in the first place. So, get your package weighed at the post office and affix the proper amount of stamps to the return envelope--and no loose stamps, please. Manuscripts going to other countries may require International Reply Coupons (IRCs) obtainable at your post office.
Envelopes come in various sizes. Inserting a smaller S.A.S.E. into a larger envelope makes a neat submission. One or two pages may sometimes be folded and slipped into a regular #10 business envelope, with a #9 for return. But larger manuscripts are submitted loose--NEVER bound, except in the case of scripts--and should be packaged securely. A typing paper box makes a nice neat package.