To ponder or imponder.

[E. G. Jensen]

OK - So you have your shiny new manuscript and you are now ready to submit.

You log on to a publisher's web site. You see a list of editors. It goes from Top Muckety Muck, to the young, lowly, fresh-out-of-Grad-School new person. There are probably several editors in-between.

Let's say they give you the option of submitting to any one of them.

The top editor has a lot of experience and might be more able to recognize your genius. However, the new editor is fresh, hungry and trying to make a name for themselves.

Or, maybe that is not true.

The top one might get many many submissions from famous writers and yours will only be one in a huge pile. The new editor might be afraid to rock the boat, and trying to be safe.

Which one do you submit to?

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I look at what authors/books they've agented and choose the one who agents books most like mine.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Yeah, this is a hard decision for me with agents as well. The top agent (usually the owner) in the agency is a big seller with big names, but the intern is looking for more people. If they both represented my genre, I started off sending to the big guys (with big hopes), but now I usually send to the interns or newbies because not only are they eager and probably very capable, they also have the resources of the entire agency.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

The new guy might be looking for new authors for their client list, and might be more willing to give you a shot. Whereas the top brass might only want what they know will sell.
See which editor deals in which genre, usually on the bio page and contact that specific person.

 

[E. G. Jensen]

It's always a good idea to do as much research possible about each editor. Sometimes they make it easy. Sometimes they are purposely vague about who does what.

 

[Fran Connor]

It is always a difficult call and something of a Catch 22. The ones willing to take an unproven author may be desperate for clients and not very good. The ones who take very few unproven clients probably have a very good track record. Whatever you do, check them out first through Editors and Predators. Their lists and evaluation of agents/publishers is not exhaustive and not always correct but it is a good start. Make sure you check out how their clients are doing in the Amazon ratings. In the end, you have to make a judgement call, bite the bullet and accept that you are going to get a lot of rejections if you are applying to bona fide agents/publishers whether they are small or mega. I'm sure you know that you should never pay anyone for a reading fee or for publication but I have added this in case some newbies to this game of writing read this. If you are really confident that what you have is going to gain from having an agent who will get you a good publisher who will get you into bookshops/libraries and most outlets with a great publicity department then go ahead and submit to the big guys and little guys who pass muster. The scatter gun approach is not a bad way of proceeding providing you let the agent/publisher know that you are submitting elsewhere. I don't see any point in having an agent or publisher who is not going to give me any more than I can achieve myself through self-publishing. If you go down the self publishing route make sure you have a professional editor/copyeditor to keep you out of the dross pile. Good luck and our old friend Percy Verence usually comes up trumps. Fran Connor

 

[Emurelda]

Like @Robinne Weiss I would look at which agent/editor is a best fit for my MS regardless of their experience.

They all have a process that they go through. But you are correct it is a tough one.

 

[Carol Rose]

It's always a good idea to do as much research possible about each editor. Sometimes they make it easy. Sometimes they are purposely vague about who does what.

Pretty sure any vagueness is not purposeful. What would be the point of being so vague on purpose? No one would submit to them. Unless they're not taking unagented material, which is usually stated on a publisher's website somewhere, assume you can send the manuscript directly to an editor there. Which one? It depends. Their website isn't the only place to research what they're looking for. Most of them have blogs. You may have to go hunt for them and read the posts. You can also check Publisher's Marketplace but it costs money to subscribe. There you'll find what agents and editors take, recent acquisitions, etc. You can also see if they have a Twitter account. A lot of them these days tweet about what they're looking for. Look for their list of authors and check in the books themselves to see if there's an editor or agent listed. Find the authors' websites and look for the same.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Researching any agent or editor should include checking their Twitter and Facebook activity + LinkedIn and their personal blogs, as they often state what they're looking for on these venues. Their profile on the agency's or publisher's site is difficult to change, so what they were seeking two years ago might not apply now.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

The scatter gun approach is not a bad way of proceeding providing you let the agent/publisher know that you are submitting elsewhere.

Almost every single agent these days already expects that you are sending your queries out to other agents, so, unless they ask for a simultaneous submission note in your query (and I have had one ask and to put that in there), there's no need to include that.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Interesting, but I would pick one who has an interest in the genre of my novel. That said, some websites are poor in that whilst they may list what there interests are, sometimes individual agents don't! Such a basic flaw you'd think, but it applies to some big agencies.