Fanfare! Full Manuscript requested!

[Richard Sutton]

Huzzahs, in extremis!!!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I love your optimism but no party yet! I have to get them to like the rest of the MS. That bit I'm realistic over. If they reject then I know that the letter works but the book doesn't. I just want to get an idea about the book now.

But if the covering letter has opened the way for request then I just need to hunker down and get the book fulfilling any promises I've made.

Congratulations on your exciting news. Something that you've done has worked, but don't go thinking that your book is at fault should they show no further interest. We all have to remember that manuscripts are accepted or rejected as they happen to be right or wrong for that particular moment in time. I've read many a sad tale of authors doing major re-writes of their story, at the suggestion of the agent or publisher, only for it to be rejected. This even happens to famous authors, including Lawrence Block, whose Spider, Spin Me A Web I'm currently reading. He had a book rejected by a publisher, so tried another who accepted it unchanged and it became one of his highest selling titles.

 

[Emurelda]

It has taken me this long to download MS 2013.

Now I have the remaining evening to make sure it is in the correct format. Going through chapter by chapter, line by line, word by word and then I'm going to call it a night around 6am!!

Kids have been relegated to daddy time. I flatter myself I know!

 

[Emurelda]

Congratulations on your exciting news. Something that you've done has worked, but don't go thinking that your book is at fault should they show no further interest. We all have to remember that manuscripts are accepted or rejected as they happen to be right or wrong for that particular moment in time. I've read many a sad tale of authors doing major re-writes of their story, at the suggestion of the agent or publisher, only for it to be rejected. This even happens to famous authors, including Lawrence Block, whose Spider, Spin Me A Web I'm currently reading. He had a book rejected by a publisher, so tried another who accepted it unchanged and it became one of his highest selling titles.

That's a good point. But I think maybe re-writing a character in or adding comedy, stuff like that I can sort of see what might need improving. But at the moment - I've got what I've got and can't do anymore than that.

In the back room am going to put the query letter for all to see. Maybe it will benefit others.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Congratulations on your exciting news. Something that you've done has worked, but don't go thinking that your book is at fault should they show no further interest. We all have to remember that manuscripts are accepted or rejected as they happen to be right or wrong for that particular moment in time. I've read many a sad tale of authors doing major re-writes of their story, at the suggestion of the agent or publisher, only for it to be rejected. This even happens to famous authors, including Lawrence Block, whose Spider, Spin Me A Web I'm currently reading. He had a book rejected by a publisher, so tried another who accepted it unchanged and it became one of his highest selling titles.

True. Acceptance of the submission of the full MS is as capricious as the query letter itself... only infinitely more exclusive... You're kind of taking a shot in the dark, and hoping you not only hit your target, but that it ricochets and hits your other target.

River Tam could do it. #mathkills

 

[Nicole Wilson]

True. Acceptance of the submission of the full MS is as capricious as the query letter itself... only infinitely more exclusive... You're kind of taking a shot in the dark, and hoping you not only hit your target, but that it ricochets and hits your other target.

River Tam could do it. #mathkills

River Tam did it with her eyes closed. #spoiler

 

[Jason Byrne]

River Tam did it with her eyes closed. #spoiler

Fair point, but I'll need all the help I can get.

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Congratulations!
I recommend Open Office - it's free, and certainly saves as .doc documents.

 

[Emurelda]

Congratulations!
I recommend Open Office - it's free, and certainly saves as .doc documents.

I did use this for the MS but when I opened documents up saved as .doc files they didn't translate well

I am not risking this for such an important document. Money comes and goes. Goes and...goes

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Not sure why you have problems Emurelda, I have 8 novels in Open Office, all also saved as DOC files and perfect in every way. If you follow the standard format guidelines expected by agents and publishers, you should have no troubles.

 

[Emurelda]

Not sure why you have problems Emurelda, I have 8 novels in Open Office, all also saved as DOC files and perfect in every way. If you follow the standard format guidelines expected by agents and publishers, you should have no troubles.

Not sure either but haven't got time to risk it for a broken biscuit

 

[Alistair Roberts]

No risk if you have several saved copies. Actually, if you want, send me a chapter and I could look to see why you might have problems?

 

[Emurelda]

No risk if you have several saved copies. Actually, if you want, send me a chapter and I could look to see why you might have problems?

Thanks @Alistair Roberts ..as soon as I've finished with completing it I will do that. Thank you.

 

[Emurelda]

Best of luck Since they've asked directly. I'd tell the truth, and say you'll let them know immediately if you get a full MS request elsewhere.

And sign with your full name and no blooming initials

Oh I forget to say - I used my full name. No initials honest. They assumed I was male. It doesn't matter - it proves my name is unisex. YES!!

 

[Jason Byrne]

Oh I forget to say - I used my full name. No initials honest. They assumed I was male. It doesn't matter - it proves my name is unisex. YES!!

What about adding a middle name — would that make it clearer?

 

[Emurelda]

What about adding a middle name — would that make it clearer?

Erm...I'll pm you may maiden name...in short, no

 

[Emurelda]

Do I want to make it clearer. We're all the same Male/female...no difference really.

 

[Jason Byrne]

It would to me, but I have a great big old streak of vanity.

 

[Emurelda]

It would to me, but I have a great big old streak of vanity.

Lol...not sure how to react to this. I understand though what you mean. But it doesn't bother me. I just hope they like the story - man, woman, ghost..whatever

 

[Jason Byrne]

Lol...not sure how to react to this. I understand though what you mean. But it doesn't bother me. I just hope they like the story - man, woman, ghost..whatever

I can own it! And I hope they like it too.

 

[David Steele]

Outstanding!

That's got to say volumes about your quality level.

Brillaint news!

 

[Lex Black]

This is fantastic! Congratulations!

 

[Kitty]

Firstly @Emurelda huge congratulations. Getting a full request is a massive step forwards. Keeping everything crossed for you that it works out.

Secondly you asked a couple of questions about submission etiquette.

Since they have asked if you have submitted elsewhere answer honestly. Agents expect people to be sending out queries in batches, and you can tell them that you will let them know at once if there is any other interest.

However I don't agree with @Jason Byrne's suggestion of offering them an exclusive if they haven't actually asked for one. I'm really not keen on agents asking for exclusives to be totally honest. But if they do ask for one and you are able/willing to agree to it then make sure you set a time limit. 6 weeks as suggested is not unreasonable.

The very best of luck with this. I took a peek at your query letter and it looks really good.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Congratulations!
I recommend Open Office - it's free, and certainly saves as .doc documents.

I used OpenOffice from the start, for my writing. My Acer computer, bought as a bargain at Tesco, didn't come with MS Word installed. As I've always found Word to be unnecessarily complicated anyway, I decided to go with freeware. Even Smashwords' Mark Coker recommends using older versions of Word, favouring 97 I think. I was happy with OpenOffice, until I went to submit to a literary agency and it requested that files be in docx type - which OO didn't have.
I found that LibreOffice did, so I downloaded it, converted my writing sample and emailed it. Then I noticed that all of the files on my desktop and hard drive had been changed to show that they were now LibreOffice - they'd all been hijacked, which had me panicking!
A bit of research showed that the original open-source office suite organisation had been taken over in 2011. It was Oracle OpenOffice for a while, before being donated to the Apache Foundation when it was renamed Apache OpenOffice. As work on developing it was largely discontinued, some of the key volunteers left to set up their own version which they called LibreOffice. Both versions still exist today, though Libre is updated more often.

http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/ope...hats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/

 

[Emurelda]

Outstanding!

That's got to say volumes about your quality level.

Brillaint news!

Thanks for the confidence boost. I hope so, but I think there is a balance going on there. After all many much better works have been rejected. Not because of their quality. I am not going to assess anything yet but when I used to look at game submissions the relevancy to the market was the main factor and how far the designer thought about the fun aspect and playability factor. You'll know this yourself @David Steele as a fellow games designer

From a literary agents perspective there will be a similar string of factors that they assess. Ticking most boxes is key for us.

 

[Emurelda]

Firstly @Emurelda huge congratulations. Getting a full request is a massive step forwards. Keeping everything crossed for you that it works out.

Secondly you asked a couple of questions about submission etiquette.

Since they have asked if you have submitted elsewhere answer honestly. Agents expect people to be sending out queries in batches, and you can tell them that you will let them know at once if there is any other interest.

However I don't agree with @Jason Byrne's suggestion of offering them an exclusive if they haven't actually asked for one. I'm really not keen on agents asking for exclusives to be totally honest. But if they do ask for one and you are able/willing to agree to it then make sure you set a time limit. 6 weeks as suggested is not unreasonable.

The very best of luck with this. I took a peek at your query letter and it looks really good.

That's an excellent point. Why give something away for nothing when there has been no request? It might even come across as desperate and unprofessional. I don't know, maybe. Say no more, say no more. I will take this on board.

It's funny we've had lots of practice on query letter my next challenge is to create a simple response just answering the email as per request, no more no less.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh I forget to say - I used my full name. No initials honest. They assumed I was male. It doesn't matter - it proves my name is unisex. YES!!

Good! Initials are alienating. My sister's name is Hester. Our maiden name was Kearns. Her best hand writing, back in the day before it was all computers, didn't prevent her from getting a job interview invitation once, addressed to Mr Hector Mearns.

You could always add Ms. Mrs. whatever, in brackets after you name on emails.

 

[Emurelda]

Good! Initials are alienating. My sister's name is Hester. Our maiden name was Kearns. Her best hand writing, back in the day before it was all computers, didn't prevent her from getting a job interview invitation once, addressed to Mr Hector Mearns.

You could always add Ms. Mrs. whatever, in brackets after you name on emails.

Yep, I don't like initials AT ALL. It just seems impolite to sign oneself like that. My rule is this; if I write the persons full name I sign of with my full name, if I write Dear Mr/Ms/Mrs then I sign with Mrs....I keep it consistent.
But because I am not entirely sure if the recipient likes Ms/Mrs I don't put it, I just write the full name and follow my simple rule. But in my response I might sign off with a bracketed (Mrs).

However if I don't mind being considered either mr/mrs I don't bother embarrass them by correcting the minor error, especially if the chance of meeting is remote.

 

[Jason Byrne]

Firstly @Emurelda However I don't agree with @Jason Byrne's suggestion of offering them an exclusive if they haven't actually asked for one. I'm really not keen on agents asking for exclusives to be totally honest. But if they do ask for one and you are able/willing to agree to it then make sure you set a time limit. 6 weeks as suggested is not unreasonable.

That's a good point. I figured exclusives are kind of a necessary evil, so why not, but "because you don't have to" is a good why not. Thanks @Kitty.

 

[Frances Gow]

Emurelda - very well done and the best of luck!