How Do I Submit My Manuscript to a Literary Agent or Publisher?

This question is the first question you must ask yourself when thinking about taking the next steps in your publishing journey. The final goal is for your book to be published, distributed, and marketed effectively.

Who do you want to submit your book? What genre does your book fall into? What kind of agent or publisher publishes the genre of your book? Many agents and publishers represent and publish a variety of topics. The challenge with first time authors and writers is getting their attention. For first time authors and writers the best strategy is to focus on literary agents or publishers that have a niche or focus on one specific genre.

Is your book a fiction book, what kind? Fantasy? Science fiction? Romance? Is your book a nonfiction book? What topic does your nonfiction book cover? Dating and Relationships? Starting a Business, Running a Business, Leadership Develop, Baking the Best Cake? All of these factors go into your decision making to developing a strategy to obtain an agent or getting acquired by a publisher. A common question we are asked is that do you need a literary agent to get your book published. We go into detail in our article, Do I really need a literary agent to get published. The step however in your manuscript submission strategy is understanding your book genre. This step is very important and must be very narrow and specific.

For example you might have written the next big Science fiction novel. You send it to different agents and publishers but keep getting rejection letters or emails. You come to find out that these agents represent Science Fiction novels but they specifically focus on Science Fiction novels for adult readers eighteen and older.

When thinking about what agencies or publishers to submit your manuscript to, think about who your book is written to and what someone should read it. Ask yourself why should someone pay money to read my book? What value does my book give to readers, what is my book's mission to readers.

Our writing team helps bring these questions out of the author in our program to develop jaw dropping query letters that makes literary agent’s hold onto their computer screens as if they were enjoying a roller coaster. After you’ve researched some agents or publishers to email you need to craft (or have already written) a Query Letter and Book Proposal. To learn more about How To Write an Agent Acquiring Query Letter Book Proposal you can read this article for more information. You will send your Query Letter to agents based on their submission requirements. Literary Agents and publishers often take between three to six months to respond. A query letter is just as crucial to landing an agent as knowing which agent to submit to. Your query letter is like your profile, the first glimpse of our book and you. If your query letter doesn’t capture an agent's interest your book will not as well. It is vital to write an amazing query and if you are getting stuck or not sure how to write your query letter or how to find the right agent or publisher, send us a message and we can aid you on your publishing journey.

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Do I really need a literary agent to get my book published?