Question about Memoir Proposal

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DonnaReed

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Greetings All,

I've been reading for a few days, and there's a wealth of information here.

Many thanks to all those who contribute.

I'm working on my proposal and would like to know if I should double line space.

I assume I need to double space my sample chapters, but what about the rest like the book overview and marking and promotion and such?

Does anybody know?

Also, anybody familiar with memoir agents in New York City.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 

AdamMac

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Hi Donna.

My agent in New York told me to double space my chapter excerpts but leave the cover letter, market information and other pages single spaced. Not sure if that's the industry standard but it makes sense to me.

Adam
 

Cathy C

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I agree. Double-space the sample, but leave the others single spaced. I don't know any memoir agents, but I'd suggest that you pick up a copy of Writer's Market (or buy an on-line subscription, which is more up to date). There are a lot of agents listed in there. Good luck with it!
 

DonnaReed

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Thanks all for the info.

Cathy C, I took your advice and subscribed to Writer's Market.

There are very many agents in NYC, several have a link for their guidelines.

I didn't know they take two and three months to respond to manuscripts. I'm gonna lose my mind waiting to hear from them...*smile*

I've given myself a one week deadline to send query letters. I'm completing my proposal, and I've been playing with my first two chapters editing and revising long enough...I think

Well...uh

maybe I should give them one more once over...*lol*
 

WriteRead

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From "Nonfiction Book Proposals", by Elizabeth Lyon, Ch. 15, "The Perfect Proposal: From Final Edit to Contract Offer", p. 241-2.

She says that most agents and editors prefer double-spacing throughout the proposal, including sample ch's (duh... I wouldn't think to present a bk, or ss, single-spaced). Others accept single-spacing, w spaces between paras, but sample ch's to be double-spaced.

She goes on saying that one can find a mixture of this to work the best, that is which looks the best - double for most sections and single for a few.

Dan
 
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