When to submit your novel.

Oh, the jitters we get just thinking about putting our baby in the mail. So when is our pride and joy ready to submit?

Here’s a short list of thing to be done before you take that giant step for romance kind.

1.Finished the book
Most publishers and agents want to know that the book is completed. You don’t get to sell on an idea or proposal until they are sure you’ve got one book done.

2. Have you done your homework?
Do you know what type of book you’ve written? If you aren’t sure, go back to some of the earlier post on this blog that discuss genre.

Do you know which publishers publish the type of book you write?
No point sending an inspirational novel to Harlequin Blaze unless you really like collecting rejections. The easy way to do this is to go to a bookstore and look for the similar books to see who published them. Write down a list and take it home. Check the publisher’s guidelines on-line to see how they want submission.

If your target is an e-print or on-line publisher, finding their guidelines is simple, as well. Just go to their websites. Most have a link to How to Submit.

3. Have you had your book proofread by someone else to catch those pesky typos like
from and form that spellchecker won’t pick up on? You want thousands of people to
buy your book, so why won’t you let someone proof it? Fear that they won’t like it?
Okay, I understand that, but you’ve just got to suck it up and plunge in.

4. Make sure you have the correct name for the editor or agent you are submitting to.
Nothing makes a bad impression like seeing your name misspelled on a query letter.
If you aren’t sure who to send it to, pick up the phone and call the agency or publisher
and double check. They will tell you which editors are acquiring.

Okay. Are we there yet? I think so. Send that baby out into the world. Success is out there waiting.

Let's here some of your submission stories. What was it like that first time? What mistakes did you make, if any? What would you do differently?