Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Part Six - Practices of a Published Author by Debra Glass

Research Your Market

Once you’ve defined what you write, you will have to research the publishers you wish to target to find their submission guidelines. It is extremely important to submit your manuscript exactly according to the publisher’s submission guidelines. Anything that is out of the ordinary is likely to annoy an editor and you’ll receive a rejection without them ever having read your work. It doesn’t matter if you’ve written the next Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Some publishers require 1 inch margins. Others want 1 ½ inches. Some want double spacing and Times New Roman font. Others want Courier New 12 point font only. Writing for the word count is also important. If your story is only 90 thousand words and the company publishes 120 thousand word novels, your story will be rejected on the basis of insufficient word count alone.

Know the line in which your book will fit. Many houses have different lines that have subtle or not so subtle differences. If you target a particular line and send in a manuscript tailored to that line, an editor is going to see that you have done your research and you will make a more favorable impression.

Find out if the house you are targeting accepts agented or unagented manuscripts. Do they want emailed submissions or snail mailed submissions?

If you research your market beforehand, you will save yourself time and money in the long run and if you’ve written a well-crafted story tailored specifically for the publishing house for which you want to write, you’ll make a winning impression on an editor.

DEBRA GLASS is the author of over fifteen books of historical and paranormal romance, non-fiction, and folklore. The recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters Alabama Screenwriter Award, she went on to win the NSAL Empire State Award for excellence in screenwriting. She received nominations as favorite erotic romance author with two of her books earning nominations as best erotic historical romance of 2009 from The Romance Studio. Two of Debra’s historical romances are currently finalists in Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Ink contest for published authors.

Debra is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Professional Authors’ Network, and Passionate Ink. She is also a member of RWA's Heart of Dixie chapter. She lives in Alabama with her real life hero, a couple of smart-aleck ghosts, and a diabolical black cat.

For more information about Debra and her books, click HERE.

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