A perfectly clean ms?

aruna · Aug 6, 2010

After a request for a full, I printed out a 453 page ms. After it was almost printed, I realised that many of the pages had a stain on them, a long grey line down the middle of the page. I stopped the printing and then restarted it, from where I had left off, and those pages were clean.
When it was all finished I separated clean and stained pages; more than threequaters were stained.
The stain is very slight. The print itself is just as legible as without it. It's just a faint background line and in no way interferes with the reading of the ms.
I called the manufacturer service centre and they said, either there is a defect with the machine or it need a new cartridge-- the cartridge was 95% empty.
I decided to reprint the whole thing out of respect for the agent, so I went out to buy a new cartridge. It cost £42. I new laser printer -- right there in the store -- cost £65. I bought the printer - its cartridges are less expensive and the old printer is two years old. I went home and thought about it.
I am very serious about environmentalism andtry not to waste stuff. I recycle everything. Here is an enormous waste of paper and ink, not to mention money.
I thought, but haven't yet decided, that I would submit the "damaged" ms and write a letter apologising to the agent, and expaining why I did it. Those are rip off prices for cartridges; I hate being forced to buy into the rip off.
What would you do? Should I ignore the expense -- and I am on a budget -- and print the whole thing out again? Would it be very rude to send it the way it is, with an apology?

Smish · Aug 6, 2010

aruna said:
After a request for a full, I printed out a 453 page ms. After it was almost printed, I realised that many of the pages had a stain on them, a long grey line down the middle of the page. I stopped the printing and then restarted it, from where I had left off, and those pages were clean.
When it was all finished I separated clean and stained pages; more than threequaters were stained.
The stain is very slight. The print itself is just as legible as without it. It's just a faint background line and in no way interferes with the reading of the ms.
I called the manufacturer service centre and they said, either there is a defect with the machine or it need a new cartridge-- the cartridge was 95% empty.
I decided to reprint the whole thing out of respect for the agent, so I went out to buy a new cartridge. It cost £42. I new laser printer -- right there in the store -- cost £65. I bought the printer - its cartridges are less expensive and the old printer is two years old. I went home and thought about it.
I am very serious about environmentalism andtry not to waste stuff. I recycle everything. Here is an enormous waste of paper and ink, not to mention money.
I thought, but haven't yet decided, that I would submit the "damaged" ms and write a letter apologising to the agent, and expaining why I did it. Those are rip off prices for cartridges; I hate being forced to buy into the rip off.
What would you do? Should I ignore the expense -- and I am on a budget -- and print the whole thing out again? Would it be very rude to send it the way it is, with an apology?

If it's just a faint line that's the same on every single page, so clearly a printer issue, and it doesn't interfere with the text, I'd send it as is. Anything with food, coffee, or blood stains, I wouldn't send.

Really, if an agent is going to get bent out of shape over something like that, I wouldn't want to work with them.

aruna · Aug 6, 2010

That's what I think too; but a fanatical voice in the back of my mind insists on perfection!
But the more I thought about it over the night, the more I feel I should send it at it is. I just wanted to hear what others would do. My first reaction was Oh No! I have to reprint this whole thing!

Smish · Aug 7, 2010

aruna said:
That's what I think too; but a fanatical voice in the back of my mind insists on perfection!
But the more I thought about it over the night, the more I feel I should send it at it is. I just wanted to hear what others would do. My first reaction was Oh No! I have to reprint this whole thing!

Send it. It'll be okay.

For some reason, this thread reminds me of when I took the bar exam. I got a horrible paper cut and ended up bleeding all over the exam. I think it may have worked to my advantage. I literally poured my blood, sweat, and tears into the exam, and I'm convinced the examiners appreciated it.

Either that, or they took one look at the contaminated exam and passed me without ever touching it or reading it.

Good luck!

Miss Plum · Aug 7, 2010

aruna, if you decide not to send the damaged pages, just turn 'em over and reuse them? Copies for beta readers?

alleycat · Aug 7, 2010

I would reprint and send a clean MS.

You could recycle or reuse the damaged sheets.

dpaterso · Aug 7, 2010

Smish said:
I'd send it as is. Anything with food, coffee, or blood stains, I wouldn't send.

Gets my vote.

-Derek

mccardey · Aug 7, 2010

I'd agonise and then I'd reprint. And then I'd agonise some more.

Aruna, where I live the cartridge people take the cartridges back for recycling and reusing. It might be worth asking just in case yours do...?

Good luck with the sub!!! And it would be alright to send the marked copy, of course it would; it's just, if I'm honest, and if it's trying to hook a new agent or publisher, I know I'd reprint...

aruna · Aug 7, 2010

Thanks to everyone, and I wish I;d made a poll!
Somebody in a rep point suggested that I reprint only the first chapter, because if it starts clean and like it they won't be put off later; but actually, it does already start clean and only starts to get stained after page 42. And every time I changed paper it starts clean again, which is why I didn't notice till the end, and why there are bunches of clean pages in between.
Anyway, I wrote her a letter of apology and explanation and if she has any sense of humour she'll forgive.
Thanks to everyone; I'll still be agonising but I feel OK about it now.

aruna · Aug 7, 2010

mccardey said:
I'd agonise and then I'd reprint. And then I'd agonise some more.

Aruna, where I live the cartridge people take the cartridges back for recycling and reusing. It might be worth asking just in case yours do...?
..

Mh mccardey, actually, I do always recycle my cartridges at Cartridge World, but still, the price is atrocious. I think I can get cheaper cartridges over ebay.
I also always re-use paper on the back side, but I have so much already I don't need 400-odd more pages.
Anyway, it's going off today.

Mr Flibble · Aug 7, 2010

aruna said:
I also always re-use paper on the back side, but I have so much already I don't need 400-odd more pages.

Your local nursery school would probably love to get a stack of paper for the kiddywinks to scribble/splodge paint on.

mccardey · Aug 7, 2010

Anyway, it's going off today.

Good luck with it!!

spike · Aug 7, 2010

I would have sent a new copy. You wouldn't go to a job interview with a gravy stain on your suit. Unfortunately, that copy of your manuscript is the only thing they have to judge you.

I hate waste and try to be as green as possible. Do you have kids? Mine love to take my old copies for papier mache. Even little ones who are too small to "make" anything will benefit from the tactile and fine muscle experience.

And good luck!

aruna · Aug 7, 2010

I'm rethinking my decision.
I have until Monday.
I feel like a cheapskate.
I don't have (young) kids.
I would be too embarrassed to have bits of my ms flying around a local nursery -- what if they get the naughty bits? :tongue

Oh... there aren't any naughty bits...

This is really a one-off. It's a ms I had given up on and no longer botherd submitting, but I did go through it last year on my MA Crative Writing course and my tutor was very encouraging so I sent it on a new round. This was the only positive response but I don't have high hopes. Other, newer, mss are also making the rounds.

mccardey · Aug 7, 2010

I'm rethinking my decision

A-ha!! Agonising!!!

jclarkdawe · Aug 7, 2010

This is about professionalism. Do you think having a stain that you have to apologize provides you with a professional image? If yes, send. If no, don't.

I'm as cheap as they come, but there's no way I'd send it. Nor would I be impressed with someone who did send something like that. It's great for a beta, it's perfect for scrap, but I would find it to feel like showing up for an interview with the tag of my shirt showing. You just don't do it.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

WendyNYC · Aug 7, 2010

I'd reprint. I wouldn't want an agent to be thinking "she REALLY needs a new printer" or "oh, here's a clean one" with each turn of the page.

Just stick it on the scrap paper pile. You'll use it eventually.

TWErvin2 · Aug 7, 2010

Send clean pages if at all possible. It may cost extra to redo it (in time and materials), but I suspect you've put a lot of time into the manuscript. Give it the best send off you can.

Margarita Skies · Aug 7, 2010

Just curious. A 453-page manuscript, if it were in book form, the final product, how many pages would that be?

Smish · Aug 7, 2010

jclarkdawe said:
This is about professionalism. Do you think having a stain that you have to apologize provides you with a professional image? If yes, send. If no, don't.

I'm as cheap as they come, but there's no way I'd send it. Nor would I be impressed with someone who did send something like that. It's great for a beta, it's perfect for scrap, but I would find it to feel like showing up for an interview with the tag of my shirt showing. You just don't do it.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I guess we're viewing this "stain" differently. If it's a faint line, that's barely noticeable, I honestly don't see it as unprofessional to send it.

But I aim to impress with my writing, not with the perfection of a piece of paper. As I said, if it's food, drink, or bodily fluids, of course you don't send it.

I know you weren't addressing me, but I'll confess that I'm offended by your implication that anyone who would send it is unprofessional.

aruna · Aug 7, 2010

Smish said:
I guess we're viewing this "stain" differently. If it's a faint line, that's barely noticeable, I honestly don't see it as unprofessional to send it.
.

It is indeed very faint; a straight light grey line down the centre.
I appreciate the varying views here; I'm pretty sure that is she gets past page 42, where it starts, she will hardly even notice it.
However, I can't stamd the uncertainty. I don't want to take the slightest risk that she might think it unprofessional.
I'm going to reprint, and send it in immaculate.
Besides, I've got this shiny new printer I need to put through its paces!

Nuklear1 · Aug 7, 2010

I would redo. If the story sells it will more than make up for the extra cost. More importantly you want to get published. I agree with the, "gravy on your shirt for a job interview" analogy.

Smish · Aug 7, 2010

aruna said:
It is indeed very faint; a straight light grey line down the centre.
I appreciate the varying views here; I'm pretty sure that is she gets past page 42, where it starts, she will hardly even notice it.
However, I can't stamd the uncertainty. I don't want to take the slightest risk that she might think it unprofessional.
I'm going to reprint, and send it in immaculate.
Besides, I've got this shiny new printer I need to put through its paces!

Good luck. Hope she loves it!

Jamesaritchie · Aug 7, 2010

I'd reprint, but I don't worry about recycling nearly as much as I worry about a perfect looking manuscript. I admit to tossing my old pages and ink cartridghers in the trask can.

I have found it's often as cheap, or cheaper in the long run, to take a disk down to Kinko's or Office Depo, or a local printer, and have them do it. If they don't provide a clean manuscript, they do it over for free.

shaldna · Aug 7, 2010

you could shred it and give it to someone with a rabbit / guinea pig for bedding.

this is why I love email, and being able to print my stuff out at work on their fancy ass laser printer

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