Submission Tips

How long does my book have to be?

It should be as long as it needs to be to tell your story, of course, but ‘novel-length’ is typically 70,000-150,000 words. Young Adult books might be under that, but 50k is very, very short. To give you an idea of length, the average word count of a novel is around 120,000 words; Pride and Prejudice is 121,860 words long.

What can I do to stand out?

Be brief, be honest, be yourself. And PLEASE follow the submission guidelines. There are a thousand and one gimmicks that people will tell you ‘work every time,’ but the only thing that’s really going to get a manuscript a second look is if it’s a good story idea presented clearly and concisely.

Why don’t you want to represent my book?

For any number of reasons, many of them having nothing to do with the quality of your writing. A partial list:

• It’s too short
• It’s too long
• It’s about X and I don’t know enough about that subject to properly represent it
• It’s not my genre
• It’s just like another book that I already signed

Think about a typical trip to the bookstore. There are thousands upon thousands of books there, and you can only take home a handful. Many of those books are great, but just not what you’re looking for at that moment. Don’t get discouraged, and keep going!