How do you ship your manuscript?

[JoNightshade]

Just wondering how other people do this. When an agent asks to see my manuscript, I print it out and then put it in a tight bubble-wrap envelope and mail it off that way. The pages are all loose. I always feel weird doing it this way. If I were an agent I'd ask people to take their MSS to Kinkos and get it bound for $3 before sending it off.

Is this how everyone does it or am I missing something?

[blacbird]

Never never never never never bind a novel manuscript for submission. Never. Loose pages are just fine, though I'd recommend a manuscript-sized box rather than a tight bubble-wrap envelope.

Agents HATE bound manuscripts. They're a lot easier to deal with as loose pages.

caw

[maestrowork]

Yup, no binding. Rubber-band the thing, put it in a document box (readily available at Staples, etc. or online).

[Julie Worth]

I always put it in a box, unbound. Unless I send them a bound copy, but that's always a mass-market sized POD. (In spite of everything you hear about agents preferring double spaced, loose leaf, in my experience they actually prefer a book that rests comfortably in a pocket to a bicep-building MS.)

[rugcat]

Makes it difficult for them if they should want to make notes on the ms, no?

[Julie Worth]

Makes it difficult for them if they should want to make notes on the ms, no?

Do any agents take notes on the first read? Anyway, I've sent out a pocket sized book with the ms on several occasions, both to publishers and agents, and when I got them back the ms was untouched, but the pocket sized had obviously been read. And when I offered agents a choice, none ever asked for the ms.

[blacbird]

I always put it in a box, unbound. Unless I send them a bound copy, but that's always a mass-market sized POD. (In spite of everything you hear about agents preferring double spaced, loose leaf, in my experience they actually prefer a book that rests comfortably in a pocket to a bicep-building MS.)

You are the first person I've ever heard say this, and it goes against everything I've ever read in guidelines from agents. Unless an agent actually requests such a thing, I'd never send a POD mass-market sized book, or any other bound book for that matter, as a submission manuscript. For precisely the reason Rugcat mentions, among others.

caw

[Julie Worth]

You are the first person I've ever heard say this, and it goes against everything I've ever read in guidelines from agents. Unless an agent actually requests such a thing, I'd never send a POD mass-market sized book, or any other bound book for that matter, as a submission manuscript. For precisely the reason Rugcat mentions, among others.

caw

You'd be suprised how few agents know how easy it is to get a POD printed up, which is possibly why they don't mention it. In my experience, not a single agent had seen a POD submission, and none were aware of Lulu.

But many agents get books that have been published already (eg, by an overseas publisher), and they'll happily read the book as opposed to the ms.

[blacbird]

You'd be suprised how few agents know how easy it is to get a POD printed up, which is possibly why they don't mention it. In my experience, not a single agent had seen a POD submission, and none were aware of Lulu.

But many agents get books that have been published already (eg, by an overseas publisher), and they'll happily read the book as opposed to the ms.

Well, we're going to agree to disagree on this one. I'd bet my house 98% of the legit agents out there would instantly bin a POD that arrived from someone whose manuscript they had requested. There are about 547 reasons why agents want standard loose-leaf double-spaced manuscripts in Courier or TNR 12-point fonts, with generous margins. 546 1/2 of those are violated by a small POD book.

Getting a book already published for some form of further representation is an entirely different animal from consideration of an unpublished manuscript.

Of course, agents instantly bin my standardly-prepared queries, so in my case it probably doesn't matter.

caw

[Julie Worth]

Well, we're going to agree to disagree on this one. I'd bet my house 98% of the legit agents out there would instantly bin a POD that arrived from someone whose manuscript they had requested. There are about 547 reasons why agents want standard loose-leaf double-spaced manuscripts in Courier or TNR 12-point fonts, with generous margins. 546 1/2 of those are violated by a small POD book.

Getting a book already published for some form of further representation is an entirely different animal from consideration of an unpublished manuscript.

Of course, agents instantly bin my standardly-prepared queries, so in my case it probably doesn't matter.

caw

I only have to find 3% to win your house? Hooha! Here's one: http://podbookreview.blogspot.com/2007/06/hard-copy-submissions.html

And, from an interview with Jenny Bent:

Girl: If someone POD'd a book but still wants to pitch editors/agents, should he or she simply send the paperback?

Jenny: Yes, with reviews, sales info, etc.

[Scrawler]

I use nice white boxes I buy from Staples and leave it loose with a few blank pages at the beginning and end.

[RLB]

I use nice white boxes I buy from Staples and leave it loose with a few blank pages at the beginning and end.

Why the blank pages? Just curious.

And I think my favorite agent quote on this comes from Dan Lazar's Publisher's Marketplace page: "Also, no need to send your materials double sealed in bubble wrap. It's paper, not anthrax."

[Anonymisty]

Rubber banded, wrapped in a plastic grocery bag and shipped in a small box or padded envelope.

And that's how my copyeditor sent it to me for my final edits back in May. Except without the plastic bag. :D

[javili]

I am ususally sending MS to people in a different country and there is no mail available. So I email a pdf document to a reprographic shop, they print it, package it, ship it by FedEx or whatever, bill my credit card. I figure it costs about fifty bucks to send a novel to somebody, a little less for a screenplay.

Sucks, huh?

[blacbird]

And I think my favorite agent quote on this comes from Dan Lazar's Publisher's Marketplace page: "Also, no need to send your materials double sealed in bubble wrap. It's paper, not anthrax."

Oh, yeah? Then why are mine always treated like anthrax.

caw

[NicoleMD]

I only have to find 3% to win your house? Hooha! Here's one: http://podbookreview.blogspot.com/2007/06/hard-copy-submissions.html



I don't see how this link is relevant. This person is doing critiques/reviews of POD'd works, not asking for sumbissions for an agency. Or am I missing something?

Nicole

[ChaosTitan]

White document box, bound with one of those monster rubber bands.

[blacbird]

I don't see how this link is relevant. This person is doing critiques/reviews of POD'd works, not asking for sumbissions for an agency. Or am I missing something?

Excellent point.

caw

[Scrawler]

Why the blank pages? Just curious.
I don't know. Maybe because published books have a few blank sheets beginning and end and I'm wishfully thinking? Or I'm afraid if something got spilled on it/it got put on something wet, the blank sheets would soak it up before it got to the manuscript? It's a quirk I guess. :e2shrug:

[blacbird]

But how do you really know they're blank? Do you type on them, "This page left blank intentionally"?

caw

[Julie Worth]

I don't see how this link is relevant. This person is doing critiques/reviews of POD'd works, not asking for sumbissions for an agency. Or am I missing something?

Nicole

A long while back I’d found a webpage of agent interviews, where the question of POD submissions was asked and answered by several agents, but now I can’t seem to find the right keywords. Anyway, here’s what one agent wrote me after I sent him a reading copy: “Thanks very much for the bound copy of [title]. Nice little promo tool! I haven't gotten to your ms yet, due to being very busy at the moment, but this handy reading copy will move you up in the pile!”

[JanDarby]

Just to counterbalance all the boxes a little, I've always used a Tyvek Priority Mail envelope. Free, and if you tape it to size, folding over the edges like wrapping a present, the papers won't shift around, and it's lighter (cheaper to mail), and the agent doesn't have to dispose of the box, just the smaller, lighter envelope.

JD

[Scrawler]

But how do you really know they're blank? Do you type on them, "This page left blank intentionally"?
What is is?
There's a title page, and the last page says something like THE END. The pages sandwiched between have letters all over them, so I know.
It's my quirk and I'm sticking to it.

[Ziljon]

I use a box lined with a piece of 11x17 paper. The big sheet fits up and around the loose pages. Recipient easily lifts MS out of box using the 11x17 hammock.

[Julie Worth]

I use a box lined with a piece of 11x17 paper. The big sheet fits up and around the loose pages. Recipient easily lifts MS out of box using the 11x17 hammock.

This is a fine idea, since your MS may spend months idling in a corner of an office. ;)

[Ziljon]

I also put a magazine in there for my languishing MS to enjoy.

[RainbowDragon]

I am ususally sending MS to people in a different country and there is no mail available. So I email a pdf document to a reprographic shop, they print it, package it, ship it by FedEx or whatever, bill my credit card. I figure it costs about fifty bucks to send a novel to somebody, a little less for a screenplay.

Sucks, huh?

Javili,

Don't forget some entities (prodco's often, agents/publishers maybe a little less than often) accept .pdf files in lieu of paper. When a hard copy is required, why not make friends with someone in the country to which you're submitting who will do it for cost or a few bucks above?

[Jamesaritchie]

I use manuscript mailers because they're made for the job, they contain a return box inside, and they stack easily in an agent's or editor's office.

Under no circumstances would I ever send a bound manuscript of any kind. Frankly, they suck, and what the heck do you do with them if you're the agent? Binding of any sort does nothing to improve the quality of the manuscript, and just makes reading a manuscript painful. It also prevents an agent or editor from passing around sections of the manuscript, which is done a lot more often than many would think.

Agents and editors have reasons for wanting unbound manuscripts, and no reason at all for wanting bound ones.

This one is a no-brainer. Find the guidelines, read the guidelines, follow the guidelines.

[javili]

Oh, yeah? Then why are mine always treated like anthrax.

LOL
It's only until a cure can be found.

[blacbird]

Just to counterbalance all the boxes a little, I've always used a Tyvek Priority Mail envelope. Free, and if you tape it to size, folding over the edges like wrapping a present, the papers won't shift around,

Sounds amateurish and jury-rigged to me. If you use a box of the correct size, the papers aren't going to "shift around" or go anywhere. And the recipient will find the boxed manuscript a lot easier to handle, as sections can be taken out and put back in as needed, which is dam hard to do with any kind of envelope.

Echo what JAR said: Follow the guidelines. It's, like, waaaaaaay simple.

caw

[RLB]

Just to counterbalance all the boxes a little, I've always used a Tyvek Priority Mail envelope. Free, and if you tape it to size, folding over the edges like wrapping a present, the papers won't shift around, and it's lighter (cheaper to mail), and the agent doesn't have to dispose of the box, just the smaller, lighter envelope.

JD

I use the Tyveks for partials. I'm hoping I don't have to go through my whole box of 25...

[job]

(In spite of everything you hear about agents preferring double spaced, loose leaf, in my experience they actually prefer a book that rests comfortably in a pocket to a bicep-building MS.)

I have to disagree here. Overwhelmingly, agents say they want unbound manuscript pages. They don't just 'read' the manuscript -- they work with it and unbound pages are easier to work with.

It'd be easy for agents to ask for bound mss if they wanted them.

Beta readers, now, would probably be delighted with a bound paperback. It's really a great idea for Betas.


Girl: If someone POD'd a book but still wants to pitch editors/agents, should he or she simply send the paperback?
Jenny: Yes, with reviews, sales info, etc..)

This is not Jenny Bent saying 'send me a LuLu-bound book instead of a loose ms'.
This the the agent saying 'If you have already sold a lot of copies of your book as a POD then I am interested in seeing your package and your platform for those sales.'

[Kristin Landon]

Amazon boxes with some Amazon air-bubble packing in the top are just right. So are Fed Ex Tyvek or bubble envelopes, if you protect the top and bottom sheet with 8-1/2 x 11 cardboard (stationery stores). The whole thing is neatly rubber-banded before it goes in the box, because if the packaging bursts, you don't want pages flying everywhere. Ms.-sized rubber bands are now sold at most office supply stores. (They didn't used to be; I know, I tried to find them for ten years.)

I wouldn't send a bound ms. The agent won't be submitting it that way. If an editor wants to buy your book, he or she will need to be able to easily make copies for her boss, and possibly marketing people, before she can get back to you about it. (That's why I protect the top and bottom sheets, so they won't get dog-eared and jam the copier. But I'm a copyeditor and ship dozens of book manuscripts every year, so I may be a bit obsessive.)

[PastMidnight]

(That's why I protect the top and bottom sheets, so they won't get dog-eared and jam the copier. But I'm a copyeditor and ship dozens of book manuscripts every year, so I may be a bit obsessive.)

What do you mean, 'protect the top and bottom sheets'? How do you do this?

[Anonymisty]

I use manuscript mailers because they're made for the job...

Where do you find them? When I needed to send out my manuscript the first time, I went to Office Depot and Staples, but they had nothing suitable except padded envelopes. (Which worked out okay, but I'd have still preferred a nice box.)

[Kristin Landon]

PastMidnight, that's what the stiff 8-1/2 x 11 cardboard sheets are for. They keep the corners of the outer pages of the ms. from wrinkling, tearing, or getting dog-eared during shipping and handling.

Many of the mss. I deal with as a copyeditor have been shipped at least twice already and read through once before I get them. Then they have to be shipped at least three more times (me to publisher, publisher to author, author to publisher) and read twice more. I try to do my part to minimize the deterioration from all this handling, especially since at the end the physical pages probably have to be scanned for typesetting in India.

It seems polite to me to take this kind of care with even a brand new printout.

Anonymisty, I'm curious to know where ms. mailers can be purchased, too. In many years of looking I've never found such a thing.

[Julie Worth]

Anonymisty, I'm curious to know where ms. mailers can be purchased, too. In many years of looking I've never found such a thing.

http://www.papyrusplace.com/

[Kristin Landon]

Thanks! :)