Top Five Ways to Impress a Publisher

1. CC: Your Submission to Multiple People. Nothing proves how serious you are about publishing your manuscript quite like copying all your favorite publishers on the same email. Once they see how many people you’re contacting at the same time, they’ll want to contact you right away to make sure they get to you first.
2. Use a Form Letter. Busy writers don’t have time to research publishers or editors. Instead, create a universal query letter you can submit to anyone you think might be interested in your story.
3. Embellish. If you’ve been published before, make sure to mention that you’re a best-selling and/or award-winning author. Publishers are too busy to look you up online to make sure it’s true. They don’t know you. They’ll trust you.
4. Follow your personal preferences. Industry standards stifle the creative process. If you prefer typing in 14-point Comic Sans script on a single-spaced document with half-inch margins, go for it. Publishers will recognize your creativity.
5. Contact them frequently. Publishers are busy. Smaller house might only publish 4-10 books per year, but larger houses publish hundreds. It’s easy to understand how your manuscript might accidentally disappear beneath another email, so you’ll want to email them again. You might even need to call them to make sure they’ve received and are reading your masterpiece.

These five tricks will help you stand out among the other manuscript submissions and make a name for yourself in the publishing world.

Good luck!

*If these tips made you cringe, congratulations! You couldn’t be fooled. For the REAL top five ways to impress a publisher, sign up for my newsletter today, and you’ll have the list delivered to your inbox this weekend (April 3, 2021—if you discovered this post too late to get that newsletter, contact me and I’ll make sure you get a copy).