Tuesday 8 July 2008

Submission Worries

  • Have I got my word-count right?
  • Have I used the right method for counting my words?
  • Should I start each chapter on a new page?
  • Should new chapters start half-way down the page, or just three or four carriage-returns down?
  • Should I centre my titles, or left-justify them?
  • What size font should I use for my titles?
  • Do editors prefer submissions in Courier or Times new Roman?
  • Why can’t I use a different font?
  • Should I use a pseudonym?
  • How do I make it clear that I use a pseudonym?
  • Can I quote other people in my book?
  • Should I have a website?
  • Should I have a blog?
  • Which is a better promotional tool: FaceBook or MySpace?
  • Should I put my work in a folder when I submit, or would a box be better?

All of these are valid questions. None are worth worrying about until you’ve actually written something worth publishing. Really.

2 comments:

Angela Ackerman said...

lol, so true. I've heard tho that a blog presence can be helpful in negotiating better PR monies, if one can show a large following, it encourages a publisher to put a bit more cashola into promotion...or is this a myth?

Jane Smith said...

Angela, I'm not sure that blog comments translate directly into a bigger PR spend, but they can come in useful, especially in selling non-fiction where you blog on a subject which is similar to your book proposal.

They're not obligatory, though: as always, the writing is the main thing, blogs and websites are subsidiary.