Pay Attention To Constant Publishing Changes

I'll keep this one short and sweet today.

As we know, the publishing world is always changing. This doesn't just mean what is hot and what is not. but it also involves what people are accepting and not accepting, personnel and so forth. Yes, keeping up with those changes can be difficult, but it is not that hard!

Before you start sending out those submissions to editors and agents, take some time to do your homework and a good batch of research. You may end up adding in a day or two in terms of your submission plans, but in the end, it will be well worth it. This is especially true for those of you who use secondary sources such as the Writer's Guide to Literary Agents and those websites such as Agent Query and Query Tracker. While all of these sources do their best to keep things up-to-date, you have to remember those running those resources are not changing their material daily.

Consider the following:

REVIEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FROM THE SOURCE: This one is key. Go to the source (this will be an answer for almost all of the suggestions today). What editors and agents are looking for is constantly changing. They adjust as their line-ups of authors change. They adjust if a particular genre is hot or not hot. They also adjust how they take submissions. This might be due to a new software, or a new acquisition process. Here at Greyhaus, I changed over to get all of my submissions into one email folder. There are two ways to get in contact with me at the agency. One for general information and one for submissions. Send it to the wrong one, I might not read it.

VERIFY PERSONNEL: This business is always changing. Trying to keep track of editors and agents can certainly be nightmarish. You just saw Editor X at the last RWA Conference and they worked for one company, but sometime, during the last 8 months, Editor X is now with a new publisher, or simply decided to call it quits. Your submission just ended up in the slush pile.

VERIFY ADDRESSES: This goes for both snail mail and email addresses. This is also connected to where editors and agents might be located. This is again one of those times to "go to the source". Make sure your material is going to the right place. Remember, there are many email addresses that a webmaster simply forgets to close. Your email is now sitting on some server and will eventually disappear when the webmaster gets to cleaning up the server. It will not be forwarded.

The point of all of this is simple. You just spent a lot of time and energy on your story. Maybe it is the best dang thing out there. Screwing it up with something this easy is not going to make your day! Trust me on this one!