So, you've wrote the next Harry Potter. You know it's the best thing since...well sliced bread and you are sure that it will look great sat on the shelf of your local bookstore. You can invite your friends in and say "Hey, I wrote that," and all your friends will buy a copy and they'll all tell their friends. Then you can spend that 6 figure advance your publisher has sent you saying "here, have a million or so, write another when you've time. By the way, the gala lunch in on Friday in Rio. Can you fly over darling..."

Now just hold it JK

Before you start stuffing paper into the mail-box...

It's not that easy to get published, but with a little care and the proper business like approach it can be done. Let Uncle John tell you the secrets of publishing so you won't make some elementary mistakes and join the ever burgeoning ranks of no-hopers.

Are you kidding me?

Nope, put you baby that you've sweated blood over, your characters that you've got to know and love or hate into the dark recesses of a drawer. and then l;ock the drawer or stand a wardrobe in front.

You must not touch that manuscript.; Not for at least 2 weeks.

Why?

Because your story will have weaknesses. Every story does.

If you were bored or tired when you wrote the first scene of chapter 5 it will show in your writing. It will show to an agent and it will show to the editor at your publishing house. So leave your manuscript alone for 2 weeks. Resist the urge.

You need to get the emotional attachment you feel for your story out of your system.

It's opening day.

Take your manuscript out of the drawer and read it with the eye of a professional proof-reader. You are looking for weaknesses, plot,story,bad dialogue and language errors, particularly adverbs, the words "and" and "but" Get rid of them all. Put a red mark through them. Now re-read. Correct spelling. This is crucial. Spellcheckers wil pick up mis-spells but what happens if you've typed. "Their were three digs on the parch at Sally's house" ?

If you haven't spotted the mistake above then you should consider doing something else or buy a dictionary.

Remember, a book doesn't have to be perfect. If the perfect novel had been wrtitten then there would be no need for any others to be published.

So, having got my manuscript as good as it can be, I can rush off and post it?

Not yet O' impatient one. You have a few things to do before you get to the mail box...

Do I need an Agent?

In general I would say yes.

An agent will represent your interests. Their job is to represent authors. They take the headache out of the publishing process. Here's what Agents are supposed to do for you.

Pitch your book to publisherts.

Negotiate rights with publishers. the rights to your book belong to you. As do film rights, television rights, international rights and reprint rights. An agent will represent you and make sure that if a publisher decides to accept your manuscript for publication, then you will not get ripped off by signing a clause which robs you of your rights.

Agents take a commission on all money you earn, ususlly between 10 and 15 percent. It is in the Agent's interest to get you the best deal possible because the more money you make, the more money they make.

Simple huh?

Agents get hundreds of unsolicited manuscripts a week (as do publishers) and 99 percent get rejected. Chances are yours will too if you make elementary mistakes You need to give your manuscript the bes chance possible out in the big bad publishing world.

So how do I submit to an agent or publisher?

You don't, not yet. Firstly, you need to find one.

Writers Market or The Writers and Artists Yearbook gives details of agents and publishers who may be accepting submissions. These agents and publishers all have submission guidelines.

Read them.

Also, in the listings, the agent or publisher will have details of the genres they represent and the authors they have on their books. Only consider agents or publishers who deal with the type of book you have written.

DO NOT send your manuscript to an Agent or Publisher who does not deal with your type of book. Send a horror story to an agent who deals in romance novels and it will come back unread and it's no good putting in your covering letter something like ^I know you don't normally take this type of work but if you miss out on this, you will be missing out on the greatest book in the universe"

If the agent doesn't deal in your type of book,

a. They won't have the contacts with the appropriate publishers.

b. They probably hate your type of work anyway.

They won't even read your manuscript so don't waste their time or yours by sending a manuscript to the wrong place.

Nearly there. It's submission time.

Yiou did read the submission guidelines didn't you. Did you see the bit about "Query letter in the first instance"?

You have to write a letter nexplaining who you are and what your book is about. You have to pitch your book to your prospective agent. Many agents and publishers are doing this in order to cut down on the number of submissions they have to wade through. If your writing skills aren't good enough to convince an agent that your manuscript is worth reading then they won't ask to see your manuscript.

If an Agent or publisher says "No unsolicited MSS" they mean it. Return postage or not, you will never see your beloved manuscript again and it will serve you right. READ THE GUIDELINES. If you take nothing away other than this I will be happy. So many authors don't. If you do you will be ahead of 99% of the other hopefuls.

How to write a good query letter and synopsis is a hub for the future will have to be a hub for the future as this one will end up like toilet paper already.

And now the dreaded word "Synopsis", a word which strikes fear into even the most seasoned author, a word which reduces hardened veterens to mush.

A synopsis is a 1 page description of your novel. Imagine it's the back cover of the paperback version of your novel. they synopsis needs a plot outline and yes, you must reveal the ending. It must be written in the third person.

Why do I need to reveal the ending?

The Agent needs to know that you've actually finished the novel and also needs to know that you can make a decent plot decision and conclude your novel in a logical way.

Will the Agent or publisher steal my copyright?

In a word, NO.

Besides being unprofessional, they lay themselves open to copyright theft and that is expensive to defend.

A publisher or agent wouldn't last very long if they did that. they wouldn't have an author left on their books. So you don't need to go slapping copyright notices all over your work and covering letter, synopsis, envelopes and manuscript boxes. Agents and publishers know copyright belongs to you and they will want to work with you in the future if you are good enough so don't worry about the copyright issue.

On the top of your manuscript put The title of the book, your name and page number on every page. Accidents do happen and manuscripts do get seperated and end up in a heap on the floor. Agents and editors are only human.

DO NOT staple, tie or otherwise imprison your work. Publishers read pages 1 page at a time, turning it upside down after they've read it. Keep them separate.

Prepare your manuscript on 100gsm good quality paper. NOT 80gsm copier. If you can't even be bothered to buy a decent paper to submit your manuscript then you don't think much of your work. Why should they?

When you print out your manuscript, use the header command in Word or your favourite word processing package and put in the information above.

Name, Title Page Number.

Then set your spacing to double space, in Word this is under Format>Paragraph. Select all in the edit tab to reformat the whole doccument.

Set your margins to 1 inch. Set your font to 12pt courier. This looks like typeface and is what agents and publishers are used to reading. The reason for the spacing is so that editors can write in the spaces if they feel the need to.

Check the ink cartridge in your printer. If it is running out, replace it. You want your work crisp and clean when it reaches the agent's office.

Buy a proper plastic document envelope. Put your manuscript into it in page order. Don't trust the collate on your printer. Check.

While you are at the stationery store, get yourself two Foolscap envelopes. An A4 plastic doccument wallet will fit inside comfortably and not damage the manuscript.

Go to the post office and explain that you are calculating postage, weigh your package including both envelopes and your manuscript plus covering letter and synopsis. Buy stamps to cover twice the postage weight.

Stuffing the envelope.

Print off an address label and affix it, together with the correct postage to one of your envelopes.

Fold the return envelope in half width-wise and put it in the envelope so the stamps are showing to the top. When the agent opens your package, they can see that you have enclosed the return postage instantly.

Put in your plastic manuscript envelope containing your work into the outer envelope. This goes on top of your return envelope.

On top of this goes the 1 page synopsis and on top of this goes your covering letter.

Ok ready to seal the envelope.

Double check.

Have you forgotten anything?

It's easy in the excitement of the moment to forget something.

ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK. It's the last chance you will get.

Print off an address label with your prospective agents name and address. Affix this and the correct postage toi the envelope then seal it.

Post your submission then get on with something else. Get on with writing your next book. It will be months before you hear anything. Try to forget. there's nothing more you can do. Sure, you may get rejected but at least you know that you have given it your best shot.

If you do get a rejection, don't fret, just tidy up the manuscript. Replace any scuffed pages and re-submit to someone else.

Keep writing. Keep submitting and above all...

GOOD LUCK