Over-obsessing submission quality

jclarkdawe · Feb 24, 2008

Now let me say that I got lucky and don't recommend part of what went on here.

But so many of us over-obsessive the format stuff that goes on with our submissions. Margins need to be 1.0001" on the top and bottom and 1.4999" on each side. Font needs to be 11.9999 to 12.0001 and in type face version 2.1000, not 2.1001. If your first three letters are the wrong letters, forget it. Blow any of this and you're dead in the water.

Now, ideally we do follow all of these recommendations. And depending on luck, sometimes I'm sure things get rejected for such arbitrary reasons. I know I've rejected things for arbitrary reasons.

But despite rumor to the contrary, agents do have some level of human in them. This afternoon (which is Sunday, but apparently not a day off) I received the following email from an agent. I'm not telling who the agent is, but the agent does have a proven record of successfully selling books.

I really love this and would like to see some more. Just a few things. First your file came as a repetition so I kept being looped back. Second, you really need to get rid of the dialogue with the doctor. It feels forced and awkward. What I love about this work is that it’s life (so far) seen through the eyes of the person dying. It’s touchingly written and as said, I’d love to see about 25 pages. Could you resend from page one and make sure that the file is correct? I look forward to the read. Regards,

Let me discuss a couple of points:

I really love this and would like to see some more. Just a few things. First your file came as a repetition so I kept being looped back. Bottom line is bad proof-reading. Somehow the file got screwed up and repeated itself. It's not bad, but the end result the writing sample makes absolutely no sense. Query, however, got through fine. The problem occurs about 1,000 words into the writing sample. Second, you really need to get rid of the dialogue with the doctor. It feels forced and awkward. This is the first 400 words. When I posted the original first chapter in SYW, there were quite a few comments that I needed something to get people into the book. So I developed this dialog between the doctor and the protagonist. Apparently in this agent's view, wrong, wrong, wrong. But the interesting thing is that she's willing to ignore the first few pages because she's hoping there's some good stuff in here. What I love about this work is that it’s life (so far) seen through the eyes of the person dying. It’s touchingly written and as said, I’d love to see about 25 pages. Could you resend from page one and make sure that the file is correct? I look forward to the read. Regards,

As I said, apparently agents (at least some of them) are human and willing to accept that we are human as well. Two major whoops and an agent who's near the top of my list is still willing to look at this.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

sunna · Feb 24, 2008

Well, that makes me feel a hell of a lot better, because I just found a few really gouge-my-eyeballs-out stupid typos in the MS I sent back to an agent, and I've been pounding my head on the keyboard ever since. So thanks for posting that.

And congrats and good luck! That sounds very encouraging. :hooray:

Shady Lane · Feb 24, 2008

I once sent a query that had a sentence repeated, word for word. The agent requested a partial and a synopsis.

The synopsis I sent her was an earlier version that had major grammatical and spelling errors.

She requested a full.

johnzakour · Feb 25, 2008

Most agents are human and realize that writers are human too.

cethklein · Feb 25, 2008

Exactly. I can promise you that everyone here has submitted at least one manuscript with errors. As long as these errors are sparse you should be fine. Having every other sentense using the wrong punctuation or a ton of typos is bad but a few overlooked errors won't kill it to a good agent. The work itself will stand on its own.

lostlore · Feb 25, 2008

Jim, this is a great post.

A friend of mine recently asked me to read and comment on his new book, which was being shopped by his agent at the time. I stopped counting after five typos in the first few chapters, couldn't believe it, don't recommend it to others, wouldn't do it myself, but -- he did have representation and the same typo-laden file I was reading was being presented to publishers.

In your case, the agents sounds so human and nice to deal with. Wish I could find one like that who's interested in traditional literary fiction.

Andrhia · Feb 25, 2008

Very encouraging indeed. This will go a long way toward disarming the obsessive-neurotic fear I think many of us share regarding being rejected because we used Courier instead of TNR.

Of course, we can still worry abut being rejected because our main character has the same name as the agent/editor's ex...

Thanks for posting this. (And good luck!)

juneafternoon · Feb 25, 2008

Wow that's really nice to know. Good luck on this Jim! You deserve it given how much you help all of us with our queries

Phaeal · Feb 25, 2008

CGs on the successful query.

Still, until getting all the mechanics right becomes a liability, I'll keep obsessing about it. Gotta obsess about something!

Hopcus · Feb 25, 2008

Thanks for the comforting post and good luck with the partial!

Over-obsessing submission quality

jclarkdawe

Feeling lucky, Query?

sunna

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

cethklein

lostlore

Andrhia

juneafternoon

Return of the Jedi

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Hopcus