Always, always, always we’re looking for great stories and
good writing. We may from time to time look beyond typos, lack of control and
an obvious ignorance of the publishing world if the story is excellent and the
writing superb. Alas, the latter is very rare and often due to talent. There is
also a business side to publishing and we need to know that every writer, even
the talented ones, can engage with that. Just think: you have made your script
the best it can possibly be and we ask you to change it. There is no way we’ll
believe you capable of doing that if you can’t follow a few simple guidelines
and adhere to a few general rules.
Give us what we ask
for
If we ask for three chapters and a synopsis, give us that.
We don’t need four chapters just because your chapters are short. If you can’t crystallize your story into a 500 word synopsis you’re probably not sure what
you’re doing anyway and that will show in the text.
Format your work to
industry standard
Unless otherwise stated, double space your work. Indent all
but the first paragraph of a section. Do not put an extra line space in front of
a paragraph. Use a standard font – Times New Roman 12 point or Arial 10 point
are favoured. You might use the automatic paragraph set up in Word to do this.
However, beware that you may need to change this to something more manual for some
publishers at a later date. Format left, ragged right, please.
Other presentation
etiquette
Create a title page. The top left had corner should include full
contact details – name, address, telephone numbers and email. The title, your
name and the type of book should go in the middle, centred, and the rounded number
of words in the bottom righthand corner. Note, if you use a pseudonym use that
in the middle of the page and your real name in the contact details.
It’s good practice and useful for you to include your name
and the title of the book, perhaps shortened, in a header and the page number
and number of pages in the footer. Again,
you can set this up automatically in Word.
However, if you’re entering a competition there is often a
requirement that your name doesn’t appear anywhere on the script. In this case,
if you include it they’ll just put your script in the bin. You will have wasted
the entry fee.
Never staple or bind your work. Hold it together with a paper
clip or if it’s a hefty script, sandwich it between two pieces of thin card and
hold it together with a large elastic band.
Business-like cover
letter
Make your cover letter informative and to the point. Give us
a two line summary of your text. Tell us the three or so facts from your CV
that are the most relevant for this work. Tell us what to do with your script
when we’ve finished – bin it or post it back.
If the latter, remember to include return postage. (Of course, these days,
many publishers accept electronic submissions.) Don’t give us the impression
that you have a one-size-fits-all query letter.
Avoid being quirky here and in any synopsis unless you can
do it extremely well and convincingly. Most of the time it just irritates us.
Near-perfect script
Make your script as mistake-free as possible. The odd typo, punctuation
mistake or clumsily structured sentence may be forgivable but a host of them is
not and actually prevents us from seeing your work clearly. Be particularly
careful about how you set out dialogue. This is incredibly easy to get right
but it is amazing how many people make serious errors in this area. Read you
work out loud and get someone else to check it before you send it out. It may
even be worth paying someone.
It’s all about the business of writing. Take yourself seriously
and we might too.
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