Submissions to literary agents

You may be writing just for fun. It's an engrossing and enjoyable thing to do. You may not consider publishing your work. You could just share your work amongst your family and friends. This is a wonderful thing to do. Your thoughts may be passed down generation-to-generation. Brilliant!

However, you may also decide to take the next step and try to get your work published. The usual route is via a literary agent. On the whole publishers do not accept submissions directly and rely on literary agents to filter out unpublishable - or unprofitable - work. Remember publishing is primarily a business. What you write needs to be interesting enough to sell in relatively large numbers. Your novel needs to have a prospective audience who are prepared to put their hands in their pockets.

MyNovel will first of all help you to prepare your manuscript for submission to an agent. Subsequently MyNovel will help you to keep track of the submissions you have made.

Preparing and printing your manuscript

The are several things to do to prepare your manuscript:

1. Add a cover letter - using the generate cover letter command
2. Add a synopsis - using the generate synopsis command
3. Add a title page - using the generate title page command
4. Ensure your manuscript is formatted properly - for more information see working with the word processor.
5. Print your cover letter, synopsis, title page, and the first three chapters - see printing and exporting.

Post your manuscript off, remembering to include a self-addressed envelope, so that your work can be returned in the eventuality of an unsuccessful submission. Don't be disheartened, you will get a few rejection letters. Keep going, keep submitting, ensure your work is flawless (spell-checked, grammar-checked, proof-read by your friends and family), keep scouring over it time and again, keep pruning out unnecessary stuff, keep polishing it until it is perfect, and you will be published in the end.

Submitting your work and keeping track

MyNovel includes a submission recording system, so that you can keep track of which agents you have submitted your work to already and the responses you have had. The MyNovel website also provides a list of potentially receptive literary agents. For more information see keeping track of your submissions.