Career Arc and submission details...

Also, they have requested that I send my submission via email using Word. They have listed several items to be included. I was wondering if all of these should be included in the one file with my manuscript or in separate Word documents? Full contact info, author bio, competitive analysis, synopsis, and finally the manuscript itself. Should some of this be included in the body of the email instead?

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Agents don't constantly sit behind a desk to read submissions, so the reason they ask you submit using word, is to make printing and reading on the train, tram, bus and at home with no computer easier.

nalana said:

I've recently decided to send out my first manuscript for publication and ran across this Career Arc term. Googling it comes up with nothing useful. What do they mean when asking for the author's vision of a Career Arc?

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To me it sounds suspicious. Did they ask you to send your complete manuscript in their submission guidelines or did you send a query letter first? My first thought is that whoever is on the other end is trying to make you do all the work and pay for it all. If you don't have a vision, they couldn't make money off you.

Please check the Beware and Background checks forum a couple of pages down and make sure whoever you're dealing with is legit.

I imagine that by "Career Arc" they mean where are you starting from and where do you see this going.

As to "in a word document" or "in the body of the e-mail", try to follow whatever directions they give you to the best of your ability. Re-read the instructions, figure out which they would prefer, and do that, regardless of how much sense it seems to make.

But...the story so far does read kind of oddly...most publishers want you to get to them through an agent, and those that don't rely on agents usually require a query letter and sometimes other things (like a synopsis or partial) before asking for your full manuscript. On the other hand, there are a lot of scams out there, and pits-of-doom like Publish America, that will want to see your whole manuscript pretty darn quick (sometimes after a query, but the turn-around time from query to publication is much quicker). So be careful.

Search for the name of your publisher using the "search" function at the top of the Bewares and Background section of AW, then do the same thing at Preditors and Editors. Make sure that they have good reviews in both spots. Don't send any money to anyone, don't buy your own books, and do check that the company in question has real ways to get your books out to real customers...books being "made available" to stores aren't necessarily being sold in them, and books with online listings but no company-provided advertisements aren't likely to go anywhere.

Just good rules of thumb, no matter who you submit to.

Provided that everything checks out, and it very well might, then congratulations on your full request, and best of luck getting accepted for publication.

If something smells fishy, then be glad that you caught this early, before you lost rights to your book or got taken for a lot of cash. And best of luck finding a really wonderful publisher.

nalana said:

I've recently decided to send out my first manuscript for publication and ran across this Career Arc term. Googling it comes up with nothing useful. What do they mean when asking for the author's vision of a Career Arc?

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I suspect this means they want you to outline your future career for them.

Also, they have requested that I send my submission via email using Word.

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this is standard.

They have listed several items to be included. I was wondering if all of these should be included in the one file with my manuscript or in separate Word documents?

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separate documents always.

Full contact info,

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this should be one each file, your ms and letters anyway

author bio

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again, fairly standard.

competitive analysis,

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HOLD UP! This isn't your job. This is THEIR job. Alarm bells should be ringing now.


I've come across publishers like this in the past, some have actually asked for a marketing plan to be included in the submission package - I kid you not.

It's not the writers job to do a competative analysis. That's their marketing and pr people who do that.

Good deal, Nalana, and good luck.

Just a thought for you, but there's lots of talk about *character* arc. That means how your character(s) develop through the story. So....
Know this is after the fact: Hope you had good luck.

Congratulations, Nalana, on completing your first manuscript. The first ms is a huge accomplishment (that's what I think, anyway) and is deserving of kudos.

nalana said:

Also, they have requested that I send my submission via email using Word. They have listed several items to be included. I was wondering if all of these should be included in the one file with my manuscript or in separate Word documents? Full contact info, author bio, competitive analysis, synopsis, and finally the manuscript itself. Should some of this be included in the body of the email instead?

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The competitive analysis and synopsis could be a separate document. Your manuscript should have a covering page which includes word count and your full contact info. Many agents seem to like to have the query letter (if any) also used as a cover page to the ms.

shaldna said:

HOLD UP! This isn't your job. This is THEIR job. Alarm bells should be ringing now.
It's not the writers job to do a competative analysis. That's their marketing and pr people who do that.

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Actually, if you're submitting a non-fiction proposal or MS, it's fairly standard procedure to include an analysis of the primary market for your proposal, your top competitor's titles, related titles by the same publisher, etc. So I guess it depends what type of MS it is?

Actually, I'm seeing marketing plans requested more frequently in children's writing. The publishing companies have tightened their belts and want to know that you have a plan for helping out. It's more common with smaller presses where they may not have much money to put toward marketing each book. The more you can do for yourself the better.