Literary agents receive well over a hundred manuscript submissions every week. Agents have taken the time to provide all necessary submission guidelines on their website. It’s rude and unprofessional for an author to submit a manuscript for review without following every detail of the submission guidelines clearly stated on the website.
For those that don’t know. Submission guidelines are the predetermined guidelines for how to format a manuscript, how to send the manuscript, the agent to send the manuscript to, and the type of manuscripts sought for representation by the literary agency.
A manuscript submission typically requires an author bio, a synopsis, and a copy of the manuscript. The manuscript must follow the submission guidelines, or the agent will reject the submission without reading or giving a second of consideration. If as a grown adult you can’t read and follow simple submission rules, you will not be able to read and follow a contract, which is often complex.
A submission to an agent may be as limited as sending a query letter. A query letter is a request to send your manuscript for review. Agents may request a query letter first as a way to give every submission a reasonable chance without bogging the agent down with mountains of words to read. The submission guidelines will state what is required for a query letter. Typically, a query letter is a page long, consisting of author information and a book synopsis.
If an agent responds to a query letter with any version of, “not suited for our agency at this time.” The agency is politely saying, “no, and do not ever resubmit this story.”
Some agents require the author to send the submission via physical mail, but others require information sent via e-mail. If sending your manuscript via physical mail, be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. If sending a manuscript via e-mail, be sure to send all information in the body of the message. NO agent will open an e-mail attachment, unless the agent specifically requests that the author send the information as an attachment. Attachments are an easy way to hide a virus (on purpose or unknowingly). Agents reserve attachments for after confirming legal identity of the author.
There is only one thing that all authors must do after sending a submission to an agent - wait. The best way for an author to spend the downtime while waiting for an agent is to relax, reset the brain, and edit the story two more times. First, read your story backward. Yes, read your story backward while editing. Second, read your story forward.
A solid rule for ALL writers is you cannot edit your story too much.
