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Writer's Digest Handbook Of Magazine Article Writing by Michelle Ruberg (Editor)
Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript by Cynthia Laufenberg
by Terrie Lynn Bittner
The very hardest manuscript you’ll ever submit is the very first one. It’s hard because you have never done it before and you’ll be giving up something when you do, even though you’ll also gain something else. Will it get
published? Will it get accepted? What will happen to your writing career when this manuscript goes out the door?
Up until now, you’ve fantasized that one day a letter will arrive from the publisher of your dreams proclaiming your book the next Harry Potter, and offering you a million dollar advance, and they’re sorry they can’t send more, because you certainly deserve it. Admit it…that’s what you’re dreaming.
You know, of course, it won’t likely happen that way. Instead, more than likely, the first manuscript will come back with a rejection letter. It almost has to, you know. Otherwise, all the other kids...um, authors…will hate you. You won’t have paid your dues, joined the Rejection Club, or gathered a tale to tell reporters. “I got 200 rejections on this manuscript, but I never gave up, and now that it’s a best seller, I’m vindicated.” If you don’t get rejected, reporters won’t know what to ask you and won’t be able to spin their favorite inspirational story. So you have to get rejected, preferably lots of times.
However, even though you know rejection of first manuscript is a rule, you still don’t really want it to happen. You don’t want to have your fantasy come crashing down, and to have to realize you are just like every other wonderful writer in the world. Even the first Harry Potter novel was rejected twelve times before being accepted. You don’t expect any less, do you? Well, yes, of course you do. Who doesn’t?
So, knowing the first rejection will hurt your feelings and make you doubt yourself for a little while, how do you make yourself seek out actual rejection?
The first step is to set deadlines. “On this date, I will stop editing this story. On this date, I will write the cover letter. On this date, I will stop editing the cover letter so it doesn’t take longer to write than the story did. On this date, I will fill out the dreaded self-addressed stamped envelope, and put it into another envelope with my story.”
Then write on the calendar the exact date it is going in the mailbox. Because the only deadline I had for my first submission was the mailbox one, made by a friend who was determined to get me moving, it took me a full month to go through each of those steps. Don’t take a full month. Give yourself two days to do the cover letter and one day for each of the other steps if you need them.
If it helps, tell someone your deadline and ask them to call you and help you get all the way to the mailbox. My hand literally shook as I placed that envelope in the box, so if you need a friend to talk to as you do it, don’t feel bad.
The next step is to make a list of five to ten more places to send it when it comes back. Just tell yourself it is coming back so you won’t be surprised when it does. It was all part of the plan, right, so you could be like JK Rawlings. The minute it does, reprint it, redo the cover letter, and send it all back out again. Twenty-four hour turnaround maximum.
The next step—after you make the list, not after it comes back—is to start writing another story. Set a goal to get one story a month into the mail at a minimum. By the time the story comes back, you’ll be able to say, “Oh well, the other two that are out are better anyway.” It takes away the sting. Play a game. See how many manuscripts you can have circulating at one time. The more there are, the less each one individually matters.
Don’t think too much about the ones that are out. Soon enough, if you’re taking your craft seriously, one will be accepted and you can start telling your rejection history story to the world.