Why You Shouldn't Use Submissions Services

There are many submissions services out there and they will do just about anything for you, so long as it's related to submitting work to publishers, and you pay them for their efforts.

They'll send out query letters by email or post; they'll print up your submissions package if you want to send it by post; they'll provide a list of agents and editors for them to go to; they'll even write your query letter for you if you're happy to pay extra.

There are plenty of things they don't do for you, though. They won't target the best agents and editors for your work; they won't write you a mouthwatering, irresistible query letter; and they won't be able to show you that their service is effective because in most cases, a query sent via one of these services won't even get read. You don't believe me? Then perhaps you'll believe some well-respected industry professionals.

From Jessica Faust at Bookends Literary Agency:

I stop reading when... the query is sent through a query service, your husband, your grandmother, your daughter, your lawyer, your doctor, or your dog (and yes, it has happened). Nearly instant reject. I’ll read the query, but I go in skeptically and you darn well will have to knock my socks off and throw them across the room before I can be convinced you can actually do the rest of the work on your own.

From Janet Reid, Literary Agent:

These are the very few things that make me stop reading: 1. The query isn't from the author. That includes query writing services, cover letters from your assistant, free-lance editor, etc. You have to write and send your own
query letter.

Bolding mine. There are plenty of other similar comments on the internet if you want to go and look for them; but I've not been able to find a single agent or editor speaking out in favour of them. Don't waste your money: write your own submissions and send them out yourself, and remember: there are no shortcuts worth taking.

WordHustler Asked If I'd Be Interested....

I do not recommend the use of automated submissions services: writers need to target their submissions, and have to check their submissions packages for errors and omissions before they send them off. And yet such services continue to appear, and some of them are extremely pushy in their approach.

On Monday I received the following email from Anne Walls of WordHustler.

Hi Jane-

I recently found your blog and have fallen completely in love with it.

I wanted to drop you a line to tell you about my company and see if it was something you were interested in mentioning on your blog, since we, like you, are dedicated to helping writers demystify the publishing industry.

My company, WordHustler (http://www.WordHustler.com), is the world's first online submission management platform for writers. My partner John Singleton and I are two writers who grew tired of the traditional method of submitting work to publications, literary agents, publishers, writing contests and more, so we invented a way to do it better and more cost-effectively.

Writers upload their manuscripts to their free WordHustler accounts, select markets from our free database of 4,500 agents, publishers, contests, and publications, then we take care of all the physical printing and shipping of manuscripts for them.

Coming in 2010 we are launching a Digital Submission System to handle email submissions as well.

Something that really may mean something to your blog readers is the fact that we solve the hassles related to International Shipping and postage. WordHustler even offers a Virtual Office service, where we receive your physical correspondence from markets (SASEs, etc), then scan and email the results to you.

Over 5,000 writers from all over the world have already used us to submit their work, saving themselves time so they can do what they're supposed to be doing: WRITING. Our goal is to make the submission process easier and more organized for writers AND the markets who receive their work. In fact, Bnet.com called us "The Match.com for the publishing industry."

I'd love to chat more with you about WordHustler and hope it's something that interests you and your readers. We've also got a blog with lots of interviews with writers, agents, editors, etc as well as tips on writing query letters, etc that you can find here: http://wordhustlerink.wordhustler.com/

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to speak with you soon!

Best,
Anne

Anne Walls
Founder Creative Director WordHustler.com - One Click to Destiny
http://www.wordhustler.com

It's good of her to say such kind words about this blog but it's odd that she claims to have only recently discovered it, as she left comment-spam here early in September 2008; crowbarred a link to Wordhustler into the comments to my Essential Reading post on the same day; and left similar links on various other blogs, which all now appear to have been deleted.

So irritated was I by her actions that I began a thread about Wordhustler over at Absolute Write and everyone there came to pretty much the same conclusion: WordHustler is probably not something the serious writer should even consider, because it just doesn't do anything that writers can't do perfectly well for themselves.

WordHustler offers a publishing directory and a print-and-post service. The writer decides who to send a query, partial or manuscript to, and downloads it all to WordHustler; and then WordHustler prints out the work, and sticks it in the mail. And it charges a premium to do so. I cannot see the value in that.

Sorry, Anne. I'm sure you're well-intentioned, but next time you start a writing-related business you might consider offering a service which offers real worth to writers, and promoting it in less intrusive ways than you've used here.