The Importance Of Following The Guidelines Of Manuscript Submission To A Publisher

You've written your book, researched multiple publishers and decided on where you'd like to submit your work based on your findings. Now what?

It’s been noted recently that many authors who submit their stories for consideration are not appropriately following the publisher requested guidelines for manuscript submission.

At Naughty Nights Press  the guideline requirements can be found on our blog, here: http://naughtynightspress.blogspot.com/p/submission-calls.html

What does this mean for you as a writer? For your story when you send it in to NNP or any publisher for that matter? What happens when you send the wrong format or do not fill out the requested information on the cover letter within the body of the email?

Chances are, it means the acquisitions editor may never see your story. Yes, it likely gets tossed in the trash. 

Why?

Because we have requested these guidelines be followed for a number of reasons, the first and most important one being to make our job easier.

We requested your story sent in .DOC format. Why?

Because any other format does not retain the formatting required on the submission when it’s opened for review in our applications. Period.

We request certain information be included in the body of your email. Why?

Because we need this information to assist us in making a determination as to whether your story is of interest to us, who you are with your multi-pseudonyms and how many manuscripts you currently have open with us, among several other reasons.

We ask that you format your story with certain fonts, spacing, and other formatting. Why?

Because this saves us having to wipe out the formatting on your story and redo the entire thing to fit our typesetting style on the ebook conversion files or settings for print books. It also makes reading through your submission or editing it, easier. This reduces the amount of time required to tend to those issues if you've not followed our request.

What is the risk you take each time you don’t follow our request?

You may get lucky if one of our admin is feeling particularly nice the day he comes across your email, and he may send it back to you noting the concern, what is missing from the submission, and requesting you resend. However, this can still put your work farther back in the “FCFS” (First come, first served) queue that we work on here at NNP. OR, it may get dumped immediately in the trash as the admin have been instructed to do.

Why have the admin members been told to send these unsavoury emails to the garbage?

Because when we make a request for things in a submission, we expect them to be followed. We do not have time to fix things, make allowances, send emails back and forth between the admin and the author to get something done correctly from information that is right there in print on a publicly accessible page.

Because other writers who are waiting their turn on consideration of their works have followed our request to the letter and we don’t feel it’s fair to them to continuously expect them to follow the rules, yet make allowances for others.

Why should these other writers have to wait while you figure out what you should have done before you even hit the send button? What makes you think you are so important that you can forgo the requests NNP has made of EVERYONE who submits their works?

Because a simple thing like following these instructions can indicate to NNP how well you read, comprehend information and can relay that into your works. The process can show us how hard it may be to get you to understand the requested edits on your works. It shows us how much importance you place on attention to detail, and if you will reflect that high quality standard in the manuscript you are submitting.

There are so many factors to our reason for asking writers to follow a few simple guidelines. One of the most important ones, though, is RESPECT. Respect for your acquisitions editor. Respect for your fellow writers. Respect for your work and yourself as an author.

So, the next time you have a manuscript that you have double checked, triple checked, and gone over so thoroughly to ensure there are no errors or omissions that the words are blurring on the page, and you feel you could read your work in your sleep, STOP. DO NOT HIT SEND. WAIT.

Take the little extra amount of time and review the submissions guidelines to see if you’ve followed them as we’ve asked. Be confident that your work will pass the necessary “test” and actually get reviewed for consideration for publication at NNP. And, once you’ve done that, THEN, and only then, should you hit that button.

Once again, here is that special, simple little link: http://naughtynightspress.blogspot.com/p/submission-calls.html

You will find all you need to know at the bottom of the page under our current submissions calls. Additionally, you will find any changes to the requests that we may have made since the last time you looked at our guidelines.

This little bit of extra time you take can be the difference between an acceptance and you wondering what on earth happened to your submission. Give your manuscript the respect it deserves. Follow all requested publisher guidelines.

©2009-2013 Naughty Nights Press Cover Art, Logo™, Banner Design, Blog Hop badges and photography are provided courtesy of Shane Willis of RadAct Photography.  http://radactphoto.com

These images are under copyright and/or trademark and are not to be used , copied, modified or saved in any format or by any method without written permission from the artist, photographer and Naughty Nights Press except for obvious promotional purposes on behalf of Naughty Nights Press.