Pitching your novel to a traditional publisher and waiting for their reply needs patience more than any other task demands. You never know when you will get the call and tirelessly writing to every publisher/agent out there without knowing a certain deadline could be daunting. One of the pieces of advice young writers get is traditional publishing is challenging. Unless your writing is amazing you never end up with a publishing deal, they say. Well, it's somewhat true. But, not entirely. Let's not budge. Don't let the fire in us burn out just by listening to what others say.
Every publisher is different and asks for a tailor-made query/cover letter. Its best to have a few things handy before sending out your cover letter.
Most agents ask for:
1. Story blurb
2. Author bio
3. Sample chapters
4. Perfect pitch
Not all the agents/publishers ask for all the things mentioned above, it varies.
Blurb/synopsis
Writing a synopsis might seem tougher than finishing the whole novel. Thats because you have only a few sentences to grab the attention of your publisher/agent. Have a set of blurbs ready - 50-word blurb, 500-word, and also have a chapter-wise breakup of your story. Chapter-wise breakup tells what the chapter is dealing with in a few sentences making it easy for the agent to get an in-depth idea about the whole story. It will be easy for the author, too, to look into your story in small chunks making it easy to add/delete/modify a particular chapter in bits first and blow up that piece into the actual chapter some time later.
Author bio
This section helps the agent to know about you as an author. Its not about writing your whole life history. Just keep it simple with who you are, what you write, what you are interested in and make sure it's precise. Information regarding the number of followers you have on social media and the amount of influence you have over your readers might help agents assess your potential and give a depth to your novel pitch even before he/she starts to read your story.
Sample Chapters
These are the actual chapters that will appear in your book. Again, just like the blurb, these chapters are your space to make your mark. These chapters can make or break an impression with the agent. Readers would want to keep turning the pages and does your sample chapters stand up to that mark is all an agent will look into while reading these. Some publishers ask for the first three sample chapters, some ask for five, some ask for just the first page.
Perfect pitch
Why should a reader read your book? A perfect pitch can come anywhere in the first three chapters but the sooner it comes the better. Your whole story could be said in a line but that should evoke the interest in them to ask for more. That pitch should attract agents to read the entire book. That is how the pitch should be. Even if you think your pitch falls somewhere in the middle of the book, write a pitch that catches the eye of the agent to consider your query.
Cover letter/query
All the above four elements are packaged in a wonderful email called a cover letter. Some agents ask for a cover letter but some dont. While reading the body of the email, you are touching upon what the story is about, details like genre, number of words, the age group that you are targeting, etc. In other words, those tiny details that you are not included in the four elements above but think that they are important can be mentioned in this section. Here, again, is a chance for you to show how enticing your story is and attract your agent to read the sample chapters.
The main elements can either be attached as separate documents in your email or all the text included in the body of the mail - look for what the agent likes and send them accordingly.
Other details
Some publishers ask for details like marketability, unique selling point, age group of target audience, titles comparable to your book, how your book stands out, competitive titles, etc. Make yourself ready to answer all their requirements if you are filling up a submission form on their website. Otherwise, have a separate section containing all these details to be attached in your email or as a document while sending. These details again differ among publishers, give only those details asked by them.
Research
Most publishers have listed out what kind of material they are publishing right now and what they are interested in reading shortly in their websites. If you are targeting a publisher, read their instructions. If you think there is a discrepancy between what they are looking for and your content, it's better not to send it to them. For example, Harlequin has detailed its romance genre into sub-genres like enemy to lovers, medical romance, romantic suspense, love-inspired suspense, etc. Submit your proposal to the exact sub-genre link provided on their website.
Publishers
Some publishers say sending through an agent will increase your chances of accepting yet they also accept unsolicited manuscripts. If you are sending to agents, make sure they dont duplicate your proposal to a publisher you have already sent. Be in constant touch with your agent and clear all your doubts. We don't want accepted material getting declined just because it is duplicated (you sending directly to the publisher and your agent sending it to the same publisher).
If you are keen on traditional publishing and not willing to pay fees upright let your publisher know it. Publishing industry is changing and some of them are charging fees from the author to sign a deal. Those are vanity presses in most cases but there are hybrid publishers too. Hybrid publishers spend some amount themselves while a share has to be spent by the author and take the profit respectively.
Traditional publishers dont take money from the author at any point. But some traditional publishers publish only ebooks or online reads and not paperbacks.
It might be confusing in the beginning to distinguish between them. Keep researching their website and as you keep yourself connected with your circle of author friends you will be informed well.
Every mail you are sending to the agent/publisher is different and utmost care must be taken while writing them. Please don't provide the details that are not asked for. It might be irritating to go through something that's not asked for. At the same time, provide all the necessary details exactly. Its helpful to maintain a record for yourself about the queries for reference later - an excel sheet with all the details you think are important or a query tracker, anything. Just keep recording the number of agents you have queried as it will help at a later time to follow up and keep track.
Keep checking, reading, and researching when it comes to pitching your novel. Custom-make your emails and write them like you are trying to impress yourself giving it the best possible shot you can. Getting accepted by a publisher for the first time is like a dream come true. But you need to burn that midnight oil sending out emails relentlessly to every publisher you think will fit your interests. So, let's gear up, and fill yourself with lots of energy to not give up until you hit the bull's eye!
All the best to your efforts...
Happy pitching!!!
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