You have a full manuscript on your desk. Revised and edited. Multiple times. It’s such a bittersweet feeling that the book you’ve been writing for years is finally complete. But… now what?

As a writer, we usually don several hats during the entire process starting from the ideation of the book to making it reach the hands of a reader. At this point of the process, when you have a complete manuscript with you, the next step is usually the first of your publication journey – manuscript submission.

Let’s assume that the book in question is a work of fiction. Because if it’s non-fiction, the best practice is to get started with a book proposal rather than writing the whole book. This article here can guide you on how to write a non-fiction book proposal.

For your fiction book, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to start with manuscript submission.

Step One: Ensure that your manuscript is ready for agents and editors

It’s truly not enough to just have a complete manuscript. It should be already heavily revised and edited (with the help of beta-readers, critique partners, and maybe professional editors).

Once you feel like your book is now ready to pitch, the real struggle begins.

It is recommended that you take a short and quick break before getting back to the rigorous process of submissions.

Step Two: Do Your Own Research on Publishers and Literary Agents

The first thing you should do is note down a few important details about your book which will most probably be required several times during submissions.

• Genre, Sub-Genres, etc.
• Word Count of your MS (manuscript)
• Tentative Title of your book
• Contemporary titles (aka Comps) – You should be aware of a few books (mostly popular) or movies or series that are similar to yours in themes, tone, or subject matter in the past five to ten years. Having an idea of this will indicate where your book fits in the market and if it’s currently relevant or not. Being aware of this bit of information is like having an extra nugget in your pocket. Do not feel down if you don’t find comp titles. You can always reach out to your beta-readers and ask them if the book reminded them of any other book they’ve read or any movie or series they’ve watched. You can also ask them about characters they were reminded of. Readers usually want more of what they’ve liked and enjoyed and knowing a couple of comp titles helps the author find their target audience.

Once you have these small details collected, start digging into the publishing houses.

1. Make a list of the publishing houses you want to pitch to. If you feel clueless about this, skip to the next step.
2. Check out the publishing houses of those comp titles. Also, look at more books in your genre and sub-genre and find out who are the publishers (and imprints) of those books.
3. Rearrange and rank the list of the above publishing houses as per your preference and segregate them into the categories of traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing. For the scope of this article, let’s assume you want to get published with a traditional publishing house. If you want to publish via a hybrid or self-publishing route, the process might be slightly different. Check out this beginner’s guide to self-publishing in India.

NOTE: Not all traditional publishing houses and their imprints accept unsolicited manuscript submissions (direct submissions from authors, especially debut authors). Some might accept only for a certain genre or age category. Or some publishing houses might open the submission window for only a small period of time. But mostly they prioritize the submissions they receive from literary agents.

4. Enter literary agents, who are nothing short of a champion for your book. While looking at your comp titles, check out their acknowledgement pages and scan for literary agents. Check out the author websites or their social media pages. Some authors, not all, do mention their literary agent’s or agency’s name somewhere on their socials. This process might be tedious but it will take you directly to those agents who are inclined toward your specific genre or themes. You can also look at this list of literary agents in India and start your search for the preferable ones.
5. You should have two lists by now: your preferred literary agents and publishers. Here comes the work we might not enjoy that much but well, we have to do it anyway. Go to each publishers’ website and find out what are their submission guidelines for your novel’s age category and genre. Submission guidelines include whether they accept unsolicited manuscript submissions or not, the manuscript submission format, what should be included in a submission package, the email address (in case they do take unsolicited manuscript submissions), the response window (if any), and agents or agency preference (on the publishers’ side). You might find more relevant details that you can take note of if required.
6. Do the same with literary agencies. Go to their websites and find out what are the submission guidelines, who are the specific agents for specific genres/age categories, and what should be included in a submission package for your fiction novel pitch.

Step Three: Prepare Your Submission Package

At this point, since you’ve already done your research by looking at the literary agencies’ and publishers’ websites, you have a pretty good idea of what a submission package consists of. Usually, a submission package for literary agents or publishers includes the following:

1. Query Letter – The Query letter is the covering note that accompanies your submission package. It is the only place you can actually sell. The synopsis is a summary of the story. The excerpt is the actual writing. But this is where you can talk about the book, why it will sell, why you are the best person to write it etc. If your author bio isn’t too strong (Point 5 below) you could even include that in the query letter. Once this used to be the physical letter the writer sent along with their manuscript to the publisher. Today it is mostly the email covering note.
2. Synopsis – Synopsis is a short summary of your novel. There should not be any cliffhangers or open mysteries in the synopsis. This summary should tell the entire plot of the novel but in short. Based on what the requirement from literary agents or publishers is, the synopsis length can be anywhere from 500 words to 1500 words (1 to 3 pages). It is ideal to keep the synopsis at around 750 words (~ one page) to make it work for most submissions. You can expand it to three pages specifically for the publishers who ask for a longer synopsis.
3. Brief Outline (Plot and Structure) – Not always required but still better to have it ready in case you need it. Although sounds similar to what a synopsis is, an outline of your book should be much longer than a synopsis. This should include either the major scenes as per your plot beats or a chapter-by-chapter outline. You can find more tailored details on the publishers’ website.
4. Excerpt (usually the first three chapters) – For literary agents, editors at publishing houses, and readers at bookstores, the first couple of chapters are extremely important and these chapters will determine if they want to keep flipping the pages. That is the reason why your first three chapters are usually part of the submission package. Ensure that these pages are well-written, and edited, and also manage to hook your potential readers.
5. Author’s Bio (Optional) – This is a brief introduction of you (the author) and should be written in the third person. You can get creative and make the bio as unique and quirky as possible. But a few things you should consider mentioning in your bio – where are you from (or currently located at), your previous publications (if any), your profession (if you want to), what do you usually write about, and one or two details unrelated to writing (for example, you live with six cats and three dogs or that you like to play football when not writing). The author’s bio should be somewhere around 100 to 200 words.

Target Audience/Marketing Plan (if required by publishers) – Again, this is not always asked by literary agents or traditional publishers because unlike self-publishing and hybrid publishing, traditional publishers have their marketing team who take care of that side. But still, it’s better to have a marketing plan of your own and include it in the submission package if and when anyone asks for it.

Step Four: Start Pitching to Literary Agents

Once you are ready with a submission package, start tweaking it according to the literary agents/agencies and start pitching. They usually mention the response timeline on their websites. So, it is advisable that you wait for their response. Moreover, if you are submitting your manuscript simultaneously to multiple agents, then do mention that in your cover letter (aka query letter). Once you get a response from the literary agent, there are two possibilities – either your manuscript is accepted or rejected. If you’re lucky, you might receive some feedback along with your rejection.

Step Five: Pitch to Publishers Directly if they’re open to unsolicited submissions

As we mentioned before in Step Two, there are a few traditional publishers who do accept unsolicited manuscript submissions directly from the authors. It’s always better to do a thorough check of their submission guidelines to find out if your book fits their shoe. Not all publishers go for everything. So, ensure to check beforehand if your book will be a right fit for the publisher or not.

Here’s a list of traditional publishers who are currently open to unsolicited submissions and links to their submission guidelines:

1. Hachette India (Children’s Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Translations and Reference Books) – https://www.hachetteindia.com/Home/Submissions
2. Pan Macmillan India (MS sent through Lit Agents are prioritized) – https://panmacmillan.co.in/submissions
3. HarperCollins India – https://harpercollins.co.in/publish-with-us/
4. Niyogi Books India – https://niyogibooksindia.com/submissions/
5. Rupa Publications – https://rupapublications.co.in/how-to-publish/
6. Penguin Random House India – https://www.penguin.co.in/community/publish-with-us/
7. Zubaan Books – https://zubaanbooks.com/authors-corner/submitting-manuscripts-to-zubaan/
8. Scholastic India – https://scholastic.co.in/en/manuscript-guidelines
9. Speaking Tiger – https://speakingtigerbooks.com/submissions/?srsltid=AfmBOopctJwKFby6SZkOUPWOYtduxlM9B6MVEnDbOm1s7Kj0ZN2to1An
10. Roli Books – https://rolibooks.com/publish-with-us/
11. Jaico Publishing House – https://www.jaicobooks.com/publish-with-us/
12. Bloomsbury India – https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/connect/contact-us/writing-for-bloomsbury/
13. Westland Books – https://westlandbooks.in/#contact-us
14. Srishti Publishers – https://www.srishtipublishers.com/submissions/
15. FingerPrint Publishers – https://fingerprintpublishing.com/submission

Here’s another extensive list of 50 publishing houses in India that might help you.

Step Six: Start writing another book

The process of manuscript submission usually takes much longer than writing the book (well, not always… but you get the point). The wait for getting a response from the literary agents (or editors) tends to make the writer sick with anxious thoughts. Hence, the best way to utilize that wait time is to start working on another novel (or whatever it is you want to write next).

Conclusion

Although it might seem that the manuscript submission process is complicated, once you know more about it, it releases a lot of stress and dissolves confusion about the publishing process. As we like to remind ourselves, writing and publishing a book is a long process and the only way forward is to keep moving, one step at a time.

Join a writing community for camaraderie and support during this long and often frustrating process of submissions. Moreover, don’t stop writing.

If you have some bonus tips for our authors regarding manuscript submission, drop ‘em in the comments below.