While this might seem like an obvious statement, I do have to mention this briefly today. Editors and agents all have specific submission guidelines for what they want. Your job is to follow those guidelines.
I think, unfortunately, there are far too many authors out there that seem to limit their "submission research" to tracking down the name and address of an editor or agent. For some, they do take it a bit further by finding out if they take their genre (i.e. historical, paranormal, etc.). But for many, that is where things stop.
I had a submission I was reading yesterday, that I have to say, I was very excited about when I first received the initial project. In fact, I ended up requesting a full from this person. But... here is where the bottom dropped. as I read the project, it was very clear the author had not read the submission guidelines for this particular house they wanted the story to go to. The guidelines were very clear and needless to say, the story itself did not live up to this standard.
I want to stress, editors and agents do not just put these guidelines in to see if you can jump through hoops; nor do they create the guidelines to "limit" your creativity. They have done their market research and they know what sells with their readers.
So what is the message here? If you want to play their game, you need to learn their rules.
Have a great weekend!
Scott
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