Saturday, April 04, 2009

A Rule of Thumb for Submissions

Keep your packaging and presentation simple.

I am sharing this rule of thumb because Arthur received a submission yesterday in a 1' x 2' x 2' box. Boxes (larger than manuscript boxes) from people we don't know are always cause for concern, because if you're bribing us, we resent that, and if you're bombing us . . . well, we resent that too. Both Arthur and his assistant were out of the office, so I opened the package up just in case it was urgent, and it contained neither a bribe nor a bomb -- rather, six manuscripts, sample illustrations (from an illustrator the author chose) mounted on foamboard, a screenplay, a marketing plan with merchandising information, and approximately 1,537,832 Styrofoam packing peanuts.

I had to dig through the box, peanuts, and layers of tissue paper to find these materials. This annoyed me. The papers and foamboard pieces were each tied up in bundles with ribbons, so I had to spend time untying the packages to see them. This also annoyed me. The fact that illustrations exist annoyed me for reasons explained at your average first SCBWI conference, and the screenplay and merchandising plan annoyed me for reasons explained in points 10 and 13 of the Annotated Query Letter from Hell. It says specifically in the AALB submissions guidelines that writers should only send one manuscript at a time. And the peanuts went everywhere, so I'll let you imagine my feelings on that.

This does not mean that this submission is dead to us; it will get a fair reading, and if it's fantastic, hooray. But it's starting out with big strikes against it because the author is (1) wasting our time with the fancy packaging and (2) ignoring our guidelines, which makes its burden of proof to be fantastic higher, which does the author no favors. Please: Send one manuscript at a time, your best work, of the kind of material we publish (no screenplays), in an envelope, with a SASE, so we can read and respond to it promptly. Otherwise: annoyance.

(This still was not the strangest large submissions package we ever received; that prize goes to the person who sent us his or her manuscript in a used lobster trap. Thankfully empty. But still.)

16 comments:

  1. I can see your frustration, but from the otherside of the computer, I can certainly see the humor.

    Also, thank you for linking to the Annotated Query Letter from Hell. Now that is a valuable resource.

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  2. Heehee--just want to say "thanx" for the hour of solid entertainment your blog entry and annotated letter provided for my kids. I have a feeling that I'll be hearing about lobster traps and "that woman writer in England" for quite some time.

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  3. A used lobster trap?!

    I'm kind of surprised that Scholastic doesn't have security x-ray it's packages. (Probably b/c I work in a building that does that . . .)

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  4. I'm shocked by how many people attempt to publish their manuscripts without completing any research. Just a few minutes on google will lead you to countless agents, editors and blogs that specify almost all of the do's & don't of submission.
    People are crazy!

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  5. I'll bet there was no SASE, and this person will be upset if those expensive materials are not returned as carefully as they were sent in the first place.

    Or, maybe the submitter is just trying to increase the amount he or she can deduct from taxes for postage costs.

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  6. I think if I was an editor and someone send me a query letter in a lobster cage, I would read the manuscript ASAP... Really!

    I'm disappointed that I didn't thought it first.

    Warm Regards.

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  7. Any author worth their salt should know if you want serious consideration for your manuscript, that trap better be brimming with lobsters, with a bowl of melted butter close behind.

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  8. The lobster trap was at least a tie-in, right? Or was it just the most convenient packaging available? Maybe it was from rural Maine?

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  9. I hope you'll follow through on the story of this "multiple" carefully packaged submission. If it scores, it'll start an avalanche. If it fails big it might stop the upcoming crisis in editorial submissions...for a bit.

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  10. And, do you think it is just a coincidence that both Arthur and his assistant were out of the office?

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  11. Oh dear. Since I am an avid rule follower, I was hoping that you were going to say that you wouldn't give those rule-breakers a good read.

    Sarah Frances

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  12. I feel bad for all parties in this scenario. I have encountered exuberant and non conforming job applicants at work, so I have an inking of the annoyance you must have felt wading through the peanuts. But I also feel bad for the sender--so much passion for the project, so much time invested in the A-Z conception, so much hope packed into that cardboard. Big box - big dream. I've been there. When my first book came out, The Feet in the Gym, I sent Gellman the producer of Regis and Kathy Lee (name at the time) a basket of foot products for him and his new bride. It was complete with a set of gold toe rings modeled in a photo by who else, my husband and me, our feet intertwined. Talk about scary and er hairy. We had a grand time puttin' that marketing ploy together, but talk about nuts. So I know fervor, passion, dreaming and I, for one, hope one of the manuscripts shows promise. Everyone may bark at this, but I'm a sap for the underdog, and, every now and then, thinking outside the box.

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  13. I'm with you all the way Teri...

    maybe because I make all the same mistakes they say not to do, over and over again.

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  14. If the writer, who mailed you the lobster trap, had done some research, he/she would have known to send the manuscript in a squid trap.

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  15. I'm drinking coffee and laughing hard right now!
    ,
    About every other month or so at our illustrators group we have a writer who brings a picture book manuscript and tries to get someone to illustrate it... on spec... for free...
    .
    Hope you are having some lovely Spring weather,
    .
    Marilyn

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  16. Although I've been an SCBWI member for several years, in my eagerness to submit, I committed the cardinal sin of omit a SASE. Is this a total loss? Should I resubmit?

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