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Submitting Your Writing 101

Not sure how to go about getting your work out there? Whether you’re submitting your writing to a competition, magazine, or journal, or pitching a book-length project to an agent or editor, here’s a primer on submitting your work. Much of it applies as you pull together an application for a creative writing program or arts grant as well.

 

The starting place is this big question:  

When should I submit?

We write that project and then we rewrite it again and again. When do we know it's really finished? Writers ask me that question a lot, and you know, I just don’t have an easy answer.

 

But I will say that most writers who come to me for a developmental edit feel their work is further along than it actually is. We often feel we have a finished draft when, in reality, it’s still in the discovery draft stage.

 

You would think that with experience, and as we master craft, we just “know” when the time is right to send our project out there. But that’s not the case. Even after thirty years of writing, editing, and teaching other writers how to write, I’ve handed projects over to my editor and agent too soon, and they’ve told me so. The fact is, we become blind to our work.

 

So, I’ll start with the best piece of advice I ever got from my own mentor Jack Hodgins: the number one mistake apprentice writers make is to publish too soon, so don't jump into publication.

 

Especially in the current (and changing) publishing climate, this is a piece of advice worth listening to. Apprentice writers are quick to publish their work online, before they have the skills down or before the work is fully developed and polished. And then it’s out there. 

 

If you publish a project too soon, you may lose your chance to make it something great.

 

If you publish too soon, your project simply won’t find an audience.

 

So, even though it’s a big investment, consider hiring an editor to help you shape and refine your project. We offer a developmental editing service on this site that includes teaching notes you can apply to future projects. Professional development grants from national and provincial arts councils can often be applied to working with an editor.

 

There are publishers out there who will publish a story or book before it's fully developed. But if a book doesn’t get attention and the sales figures reflect that, it’s that much harder for an author to get the next book out there. This is true for the established writer as much as the newbie.

 

And, of course, if you send a book project to an agent or acquiring editor before it’s really ready, you likely won’t get another shot with them. They are unlikely to take another look at it when it is ready.

 

Consider that if you start querying agents and editors before your manuscript is ready, and they do, in fact, want to see it, you may be in a position of scrambling to pull it together. In that situation, you won’t be giving them your best work, and, again, you may lose this one shot at publication.

 

For most works of fiction and memoir, you have to finish that manuscript before you try to land an agent or publisher. So, of course, we take a huge gamble and make a massive investment when we choose to write a book. There are way more writers writing books than there are agents or publishers who want to take them on, so there is no guarantee your project will find a home.

 

The approach to a non-fiction book is different. Depending on your background and the nature of the book, you may be able to sell a non-fiction project before it’s written, especially if you have a large and established audience on social media.

 

Some children’s publishers will take a book project with only a synopsis, outline and sample chapter. You’ll see from the Orca Book Publishers’ submission guidelines that this is sometimes the case for them.

 

Make sure your work is ready

 

Okay, so how do we make sure our work is ready to submit?

 

The first step here is to gain distance. Here’s a blog where I talk about ways to gain distance, which includes shelving your manuscript for a time. Part of the process of writing is letting things stew on the back burner. When you come back to your project for the final revision before sending it out, you’ll have a fresh perspective on your manuscript, and you'll see what further changes you need to make.

 

One of the best ways to gain distance is to get feedback. Getting the help of a beta reader is a necessary step in the revision process, one you want to take before handing your project over to an agent or editor. Here's a link on the importance of using beta readers in revision. We offer a beta reading service on this site.

 

Also, before sending your work out there, make use of revision checklists that can help you root out problem areas.

 

The truth is, our writing is never going to be “perfect.” At some point we just have to let go and try to find a home for the story. 

 

Okay, so you’ve polished your manuscript and it’s the very best it can be. What’s next?

 

Do your homework

 

If you’re working on shorter pieces, short stories, poetry, or non-fiction work, track down writing competitions, journals, and magazines that take submissions. Here are a few links you may find useful:

 

• A guide to writing prizes for Canadians from CBC Books..

• A list of Canadian journals open to submissions from CBC Books.

• National Magazine Awards guide to writing contests.

 

If you’re submitting a book-length manuscript, my advice is to start by seeking an agent before submitting to publishers, so track down agents who represent authors working in your genre. Your agent will get a percentage of earnings from the book, but it's worth it. Many acquiring editors won't look at a manuscript unless it comes to them through an agent. And an agent does far more than just sell your work. Here’s “How a Literary Agent Can Help” from CBC Books. 

 

But if you don't land an agent—and chances are you won’t—don't sweat it. According to TWUC, 80% of writers in Canada are not represented by an agent. Scroll down on that TWUC link to see a list of Canadian literary agents. It’s a pretty short list. So, competition for agents is very high.

 

Here’s how to improve your chances of landing an agent. One of the ways is to have a strong social media presence. The same is true, of course, when approaching a publisher.

 

If you don’t land an agent or want to submit directly to a publisher, track down publishers who publish in your genre.

 

Here’s TWUC link on how to find the right publisher for your manuscript.

 

And here’s CBC Books on How to Find a Publisher. 

 

Okay, so you’ve done your homework, found competitions and journals to submit to, and agents and publishers to consider. What’s next?

 

Read previous submissions

 

Before you put that submission package together for a competition or journal or for agent or publisher, take the time to read the previous year’s winning work, the writing published in the most recent edition of a given publication, or the books agents represent or that publishers publish. You want to make sure your submission is a good fit. There’s no point in submitting to an agent or publisher if they don’t accept the genre you work in.

 

Also, while the panelists on a prize jury will change from year to year, and so will the tastes of the jury, a given prize does tend to attract and award a particular kind of writing. Here’s a list of CBC literary prize winners as an example.

 

Having said that, it’s fresh writing with a unique perspective that’s likely to catch a prize panelist’s or editor’s eye and make them fight for a story. So, find ways to make your work stand out. Make it your own.

 

Follow submission guidelines

 

When you enter a competition or submit to a magazine, and especially when you submit to an agent or publisher, follow the submission guidelines carefully. I can’t stress this enough. 

 

Keep in mind, your manuscript may not be read simply because you exceeded word count or didn’t format your manuscript according to submission guidelines.

 

If this seems unfair, consider that the guidelines are there for a reason. The agents, editors and panelists are reading a lot of manuscripts. Handing in a manuscript that hasn’t followed the guidelines demonstrates to these very experienced people that you are a newbie. They are likely to put your manuscript to the side and turn to a more professionally presented manuscript that follows their guidelines.

 

Here’s “How to Format a Short Story Manuscript” from Scribophile, and "How to Format a Book Manuscript" from Reedsay. But, again, make sure you follow the guidelines for the particular award or magazine you’re submitting to, as every one is a little different.

 

Here are the submission guidelines from the CBC Literary Prizes as an example of what to look for when submitting to competitions.

 

Here are The Walrus’s submission guidelines that offers an example of how to submit both fiction and non-fiction to a magazine.

 

And here’s a link on submitting to literary journals in the US. The advice here also applies to submitting to literary journals in Canada.

 

If you’re applying for a Canada Council or provincial arts grant, be doubly careful about guidelines and always provide a sample from the project you are applying for. Again, I can’t stress this enough. It’s very hard to assess your project if the jury doesn’t have that sample. Here’s the Canada Council guide to getting a grant to give you an idea about what’s involved.

 

And here’s a link to the guidelines for Westwood Agency. As you’ll see here, some agents are no longer taking submissions, or only taking certain kinds.

 

Many publishers don’t accept manuscripts year-round. They put out open calls, so watch for those, usually on their submissions page.

 

Some publishers, like McClelland and Stewart, want the whole manuscript submitted, while some want only a synopsis, and some want a synopsis, outline and sample chapters.

 

All of them will want a query letter describing the project.

 

Write a query letter

 

Query letters sell your manuscript to an agent or publisher. But the letter is short—very short—so you only get a few words to do it.

 

Here’s how to write a darn good query letter and a complete guide to query letters. As you’ll see in this last link, here’s what’s in a query letter:

 

• Your project’s title, word count and genre.

• Your premise, what the book is about.

• Your bio, focusing on why you’re the person to write this book.

 

I suggest including comparison titles (“comps”): books like yours. Comps give an agent or publisher a clear idea of what genre and subgenre your book fits into, and they will use these to sell your book. Here’s why comps are important, from Penguin Random House.

 

And it doesn’t hurt to say something nice about the publisher or why you want to work with this agent.

Wrap it up with a thank you.

 

Again, keep it short and simple.

 

Write a synopsis

 

When submitting your query package for your book-length project, you’ll also likely be asked to send an agent or publisher a synopsis. Here’s how to write a synopsis. As the author of this link does, I suggest keeping your synopsis short. Agents and publishers are very busy people. Unless they ask for something more in-depth, keep the synopsis to one or two pages.

 

In the synopsis, outline your plot beats, demonstrating you have a clear story arc with a logical causal chain. One thing needs to lead logically to the next.

 

Keep the language simple and direct, but at the same time, allow for the tone and emotion of the project to shine through.

 

I highly recommend having someone review both your query letter and synopsis before sending them out. I offer this service on my site. See the clean sweep for more.

 

But while the query letter and synopsis may get a manuscript request, it’s the manuscript that will sell itself. So, we’re back to making the manuscript the very best it can be. 

 

When submitting, whether to a magazine or journal or an agent or publisher, consider multiple or simultaneous submissions, where you send the same piece to multiple publications at once. You want to make sure that you say you’re doing this in your cover letter, and that you’ll contact the editor should you publish the piece in another publication. Check submission guidelines first, though. Some publications don’t accept simultaneous submissions.

 

Okay, once you’ve submitted your project, what’s next?

 

Wait. And wait. And wait.

 

It can take a long time to hear back, especially from a literary magazine as the editors are often volunteers, other emerging writers like you.

 

It can take even longer to hear back from an agent or publisher. Many publishers state right in their guidelines that if they’re not interested in your work, they won’t contact you.

 

This may seem unfair, but both editors and agents don’t just get dozens of manuscripts a week, but hundreds. They can’t possibly read all these works, so they’re assessing them very quickly, often from the first paragraph of your query letter. This is why your query letter and synopsis, and that sample or manuscript really has to shine.

 

Waiting is often the hardest and most frustrating part of the process. My advice is to stop thinking about that story and get on with your writing or get other work out there.

 

And after all that waiting, we may very well face rejection. Let’s take a moment to look at that.

 

Find ways to weather rejection.

 

The reality is, if we submit, we will face rejection. There are simply way, way more writers submitting work than there are places for it.

 

I'd like to say that over time rejection gets easier, and it does to an extent. As I've built confidence, through mastery, I find I'm less likely to be bowled over by rejection and much more likely to laugh it off. But it still hurts.

 

These feelings are hard, but I wonder if they aren't also necessary to the process of seeing the writing anew, to looking at it with a different perspective. It's another act of distancing.

 

So maybe we can learn to view rejection as an opportunity to distance ourselves from our work, so we can improve it.

 

And given how overwhelmed editors and agents are, take the small wins. If you get feedback along with your rejection email, celebrate that! And use it to make your work better.

 

If there's a single piece of advice I can offer after pounding out more than twenty books, and experiencing many rejections, it’s to stay focused on the process. Write because you love to write. Don't worry about getting published or getting on the bestseller list. Don't worry about what other people think (except in the effort to make your writing better!). Write because you're passionate about the subject or because you can't do anything else other than write. Write because at the end of a writing day you feel the deep satisfaction that comes with mastery. Or write to reach that meditative state where you lose hours and your sense of self. 

 

Whatever the reasons you write, write for yourself, not for anyone else, and you'll weather these emotional storms that come with rejection.

 

Here’s a few tips for dealing with inevitable rejection.

 

Celebrate!

 

Writers talk a lot about rejection. But I think it’s equally, if not more important to remember to celebrate our successes. 

 

I admit I’m not very good at this. When I have a success, I’m already on to the next project and don’t take the time to mark my achievements. 

 

I’m trying to learn how to do that for my own mental health. So, I’m purposefully celebrating even small successes, like finishing my writing goal for the day.

 

This is something we can do for the other writers in our community. We all know just how hard-won those small (and big) successes are. Let’s make a point of helping other writers celebrate theirs. And remember to celebrate our own!

 

 

 

Resource Categories

Blogs on Craft

On the Building Blocks of Fiction

Tips on how to craft vivid scene that allows the reader to experience events right along with the characters.

On Finding Your Big Idea

Insights into the writing process and what a writer's day really looks like, as well as perspectives on research and writing from real life.

On Getting to Know Your Characters

Advice on the many ways you can make your characters come alive on the page for both you and your reader.

On Deciding on Point of View

What is the best perspective from which to tell your story? Writers discuss how they made choices on point of view and voice.

On Choosing Your Situation and Setting

Writers talk about how they use situation and setting to build story and convey emotion.

On Developing Conflict and Structure

From how to work in different genres to finding the real story, writers offer good advice on building conflict and structure.

On Revising

Tips on how to gain distance from your work and to how to re-imagine your next draft.

On Publishing

Writers offer practical advice on the business of writing and promotion, and on the importance of finding a writing community.

On Making a Living as a Writer

Writers offer words of wisdom on living on less.

On The Writer's Life

Writers talk about their life as a writer.

About Gail

Gail's novels have been national and international bestsellers and two have been short-listed for the Giller Prize, among other awards. She works as a developmental editor and mentors writers from around the world.

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