submissions

Relevant Credits vs TMI in Queries

March 25, 2010

If I’m an unpublished author and I don’t have any relevant credits, what should I put in that paragraph in the query where authors list their previous publications and qualifications? I covered this a while ago in my post on query letters, but it’s come up again recently and I thought I’d give it its [...]

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Trust Issues

March 18, 2010

* Should I register my manuscript for copyright before I send it out to publishers, to keep them from stealing my ideas? * I know you only accept digital submissions. However, I can only send this by snail mail because I am concerned over internet privacy. As creative people, we’re all cautioned to protect our [...]

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Phrasing a First Impression

March 1, 2010

When you’re submitting a query to an agent or a publisher, you already know that making a good first impression is key. Remember that agents represent and publishers publish. It’s in your best interest to request a result appropriate to the venue you’re querying. It sounds obvious, but as a submissions editor I receive a [...]

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Slush Rush Wrap-up

January 25, 2010

Initial responses have now been sent on all the queries I received during the Dragon Moon Press open submissions period. If you have not received either a rejection or a request for a full manuscript, I did not receive your query. Make sure you check the address posted in the submission guidelines and try again. [...]

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Query Critiques

January 14, 2010

An excellent manuscript will outshine a not-so-great query letter, but your query is still your first chance to make a good impression so it should be as polished and compelling as it can be. I’ve offered a lot of advice on querying on this blog, and will continue to do so. Demonstration is a helpful [...]

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Patience, grasshoppers…

January 11, 2010

Several times on this blog and in interviews elsewhere, I’ve mentioned that publishing looks like a very slow-moving industry from the outside. Your editors and publishers look calm, unruffled and unmoving on the surface, even when they’re paddling furiously underneath. Today I finished up ARCs for Cold Magics by Erik Buchanan. I have two signed [...]

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Urban Fantasy, Podcasting, and Rhetorical Questions

December 17, 2009

…and more! Kimi Alexandre of the urban fantasy Tale Chasing podcast put up a great interview with Laurie McLean, an agent with Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents. Kimi asks some great questions, and Laurie shares a wealth of knowledge on a range of topics, including the definitions of urban fantasy and its sub-genres, how the bestseller lists [...]

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Call For Submissions

November 12, 2009

It’s time for an experiment. Dragon Moon Press will be opening its virtual doors for submissions for the month of December, 2009. WHAT WE WANT: Completed 80,000-100,000 word novels in the following genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Gentle Horror, in any flavor or variety. WHAT WE DON’T WANT: Children’s, middle grade, YA, nonfiction, biography, short stories, [...]

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Query Letters: What Not to Do

October 12, 2009

Last week I wrote about query letters, a topic near and dear to every writer’s heart… and often a source of much anxiety. Monday’s post was about the preparation, Thursday’s was on the actual components of a query, and today I’ll follow up with the little details. Because queries are such a source of anxiety, [...]

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Components of a Query Letter

October 8, 2009

This week, I’m talking about query letters. Not a coincidence, since Michell Plested posted our great discussion on query letters and submissions on Monday. Please go and take a listen if you have a chance. First, before I get into the actual parts of the query letter, a note on formatting guidelines. Formatting guidelines exist [...]

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