First Impressions

Easy ways to sabotage your submission.

Want a quick way to make a poor first impression with an agent or editor? Send a manuscript that’s not professionally formatted.

Consider the sample pages for a YA novel an author sent this morning. A quick glance suggested he wasn’t yet ready for prime time. Before I read … Continue reading

Manuscript Format Gaffes

Make sure your submission is dressed for success.

Once glance at the manuscript told me the author was at best a hobbyist—not serious about the craft of professional writing.

All that without reading one word of his novel.

Even if the story were great, any literary agent or acquisitions editor would begin an evaluation having already counted several strikes against it.

A quick scan … Continue reading