Question about submitting overseas...

If you submit by snail mail, always include an SASE. If you're submitting overseas, you have to buy international reply coupon (IRC) for the return envelope (unless you have friends/relatives in the UK that can send you postage). They're expensive.

I would also include my email address in the cover letter.

The other option to IRCs is to go to the website of the country's post office and buy the appropriate stamps to stick on your self-addressed envelope. Living in Australia, I finally bit the bullet and did this with US stamps and then ... silly US mail upped the postage costs. So now I stick 2 80c stamps on my SASE and grumble. On the plus side, US mail thinks I'm a philatelist (is that the word for stamp collector?) and sent me a lovely brochure. I'm a sucker for pretty pictures.

So, to answer your question seriously, my best advice would be to hop on the Royal Mail site and buy some international postage stamps from them to stick on the SASE. But failing that, your local post office should be able to sell you an IRC to include with your self-addressed envelope.

Jenny

International subs.

Stamps.
U.K. The Royal Mail: www.royalmail.com (Sheets of 100 only for £30 +pp.)

May I politely ask if you have checked formats, paper size and presentation for these British agents?
Are you using A4 sized paper? Have you followed the agents' guidelines in detail?

Yes, always include your e-mail address but get used to sending an s.a.e. with UK stamps

Please don't let the agents think you are applying to them because you've failed at home! Give them a good reason for using them.

Stamps.

For a simple letter reply without an enclosure of three chapters you need one first class stamp.
Go look at the Royal Mail website. See how the stamps are sold.

pdr said:

May I politely ask if you have checked formats, paper size and presentation for these British agents?
Are you using A4 sized paper? Have you followed the agents' guidelines in detail?

Click to expand...

Would a British agent expect a submission from the USA to be on A4? I don't know if it's even sold in the US.

It's a courtesy, don't you think?

American agents expect submissions on the usual American sized paper, which is not found any where else in the world!

Repeat the courtesy for British agents. Be polite enough to give them what they usually expect.
Isn't A4 your usual photocopy paper size?

A4 is the standard photocopy size for most countries outside North America. A4 is 210x297mm (roughly 8.27×11.69 inches). I've not seen it in any of the main office stores here but you may be able to order something on-line.

Good luck trying to buy standard A4 in the US. It's only millimetres different from US letter--that will be close enough.

Just a thought - but if you're ever submitting by e-mail overseas, don't forget to change the paper size so it will print out correctly.

Thta is important to remember--if your software doesn't list A4 you can do it as a custome size. It's also a good reason not to use soft formatting--if the text is flowing then the change won't matter too much.