I finished my novel last month, and now I am submitting it to publishers. During the process of finding the right publishers, I’ve learned a lot, and I’m sharing it with you.
Use a Good Source of Publishers
I didn’t know where to find the names of publishers, so I asked a writer friend what to do and she gave me two links of independent publishers. She suggested that I choose six of them and present my manuscript to them. Here are the links:
Publishers Group West: https://www.pgw.com/distribution-services/publisher-list, and Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: https://www.cbsd.com/publishers/our-publishers/.
I started to go down the list of publishers from Publishers Group West. What I found was a lot of publishers that didn’t accept the type of novel that I wrote, which is a coming-of-age novel. Some wanted non-fiction. Others were looking for fantasy, crime thrillers, adventure, historical, or memoir tomes. I spent hours and hours looking at their websites without a viable candidate. What I needed was a list of publishers who focused on coming-of-age novels or literary genres.
Another write friend told me to buy the current Writer’s Market. What a brilliant suggestion. This book contains 183 names of publishers and pertinent details in alphabetical order. Better yet, on page 855, is a “Book Publishers Subject Index” where I found three columns of publishers interested in literary novels. I’ve been investigating the websites for the companies on this list and, already, I have identified six publishers that are appropriate for my novel.
Find a Publisher that Publishes Your Type of Novel
I already mentioned how I was looking for a publisher interested in coming-of-age or literary novels, but I want to explain this further.
I found out that publishers have mission statements that explain the purpose of their company. For example, one publisher I reviewed has a mission to publish the works of authors from the Midwest. I live in California, so the chances of them picking up my novel is unlikely. Another publisher aims to publish books written about queer subjects. My book doesn’t qualify for this either. I don’t want to waste my time sending my manuscript to someone who doesn’t want it.
Buy a Book from a Target Publisher and Read It
I found a publisher that wanted coming-of-age novels, so I ordered one of its previous publications. When the book arrived, I didn’t like its cover, binding, or even the style of writing by the author. I felt like I would be disappointed if my book looked similar, so I didn’t send my manuscript to this publisher.
I bought a book published by another publisher. Immediately, I liked the cover and the binding. I even noticed how the cover design demonstrated complementary colors since I once taught art in an elementary school.
I read the book from cover to cover, including the book flaps and the quotes from other authors on the back cover. I liked the story and noticed how it was the kind of story that I could write.
I also read the author’s “Acknowledgments” and found out that her story was similar to mine in another way. The author is Caucasian, writing about a story set in a Central American country. I am Caucasian and my story takes place in South America. The author thanked her publisher for agreeing to print her book even though she wasn’t native to Central America, and she argued that an author should not have to be a native to the setting of her story.
I had heard about the argument of cultural correctness, but, as this author pointed out, many novels would not exist today if men could only write about men, women about women, Hispanics about Hispanics, and so forth.
I sent my novel to this publisher with a comment in my query letter that asserted that writing about a setting into which I was not born was part of my inspiration for writing the novel in the first place. I also mentioned that I had read the other author’s “Acknowledgements” and agreed with her. I’m sure this editorial team will be impressed that I went to the trouble to carefully familiarize myself with one of their previous publications.
Read the Submission Guidelines
Unfortunately for busy writers, every publisher has different submission requirements. I searched each publisher’s website to find them. Sometimes, I had to find the submission link at the bottom of the publisher’s page.
Some of them use a program called Submittable that is built into their website. One publisher allowed me to attach my manuscript to this portal and fill in my name and previously published works in the blank fields. Another publisher who uses Submittable didn’t allow any attachments. Instead, I had to summarize my 300-page novel in 150 words, write out my “hook,” and list my previously published works.
Other publishers wanted me to submit via email. One wanted a query letter, a one-to-two-page synopsis, an annotated chapter outline, a market analysis including competitive research, at least two sample chapters, and my curriculum vitae.
I had to do some research for this. For the query letter, I modeled my letter after a sample query letter that I found on page 23 in Writer’s Market. I scoured the publisher’s website to find the name of the main editor and addressed my letter to her. After I wrote it, I had one of my writer friends review it. She thought my version was solid.
For the synopsis, I wrote a 700-word version and had it reviewed as well. My writer friend helped me improve it to add pertinent and alluring details.
My novel has 40 chapters in it, so writing the annotated chapter outline took several days. I listed each chapter and its title and then added a paragraph or two about its content. I must say that this exercise helped me take another look at my novel. Along the way, I made changes to my manuscript to make the plot stronger.
I searched the Internet to find out how to write a market and competitive analysis. I found some excellent articles by the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers’ Conference that explained what this was.
My final market analysis identified my target market as college-educated women between the ages of 20 and 30 who were interested in travel, cooking, gardening, or hiking. I also identified my secondary market as women who were members of book clubs and who enjoyed discussing life events such as the death of a parent or breast cancer. I even described my tertiary market as high school teachers and college professors who require reading for writing assignments.
For the competitive analysis, I identified six books that were comparable to mine. I explained how each of these books were similar, how they were different, and how related the purpose of each story was to mine.
When it came to developing my curriculum vitae, I divided my publications into poetry, short stories, and academic publications. Since I haven’t previously published a novel, I didn’t include this category. I also listed that I have a Masters in English concentrating in Literature and Composition.
The work for this one publisher was so comprehensive that I have used portions of it for other submissions.
Keep Track of Your Submissions
I’m not sure how many publishers I will need to contact in order to get my book published, so I devised a way to keep track of them. On Microsoft Word, I made a four-column table with the headings—Publisher Name, Requirements, Date Sent, and Response Expected. Under the name of each publisher, I typed in either the email of the company or Submittable so I can remember how I sent my work.
I feel that my date columns are extremely important. The Date Sent column shows me when I submitted my work. The Response Expected column tells me when the publisher promises to get back to me. Some publishers do not contact writers if they are not interested, so this column will also tell me when to stop waiting for a response and reach out to another company.
My life’s dream is to get my fictional novel published by a traditional publisher, and so I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.
Tess Perko's Blog 