The document provides guidance on writing effective submission guidelines that attract high-quality submissions that match a publisher's needs. It recommends defining clear goals for the guidelines, improving visibility, educating writers on expectations through concise guidelines, tracking metrics like review time and match rates to evaluate guidelines, and using online submission management systems to further educate writers. The overall message is that with strategic guidelines and tracking, publishers can improve the productivity and quality of the submissions they receive.

1. HOW TO WRITE
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
THAT GET
POSITIVE RESULTS
If you’re about to write (or rewrite)
What Are Your Goals?
your submission guidelines, it’s vital
Your submission guidelines are one that you first define your goals.
of the most important pieces of
Do you want to:
marketing literature you produce, yet
many publishers and agents we’ve • improve your company’s
encountered do not treat them as such. visibility?
They put little thought into readability, • reduce the number of submis-
visibility, or audience. They think of sions you receive?
writing guidelines as a chore or a
• foster a productive relationship
necessary evil. And the last thing they
with future writers?
want to do is spend time revising them.
Recruiting writers isn’t that much
But an effective guidelines page is a
different from marketing a website. A
powerful, proactive tool that saves you
website owner might love to check his
time and frustration down the road.
site’s analytics to see how many visits it
Many publishers we talk to complain
has received, but if it’s an e-commerce
that a high percentage of the submis-
site and no one is buying what he’s
sions they get have nothing to do with
selling, the number of visits he gets is
what they publish. Our recommenda-
useless.
tion is to first take a look at your
guidelines page and make sure that The problem may be that his
your expectations are simple and clear, marketing copy is unclear or cluttered.
with a specific call-to-action. He hasn’t done his keyword research or
posted a strong enough call-to-action.
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He’s attracting the wrong visitors. Even Visibility
though a large number of people are
Many publishing houses have now
visiting his site, it does him little good if
closed their doors to unagented submis-
none of them are buying customers.
sions. But if you’re reading this, you
The same goes for the submissions might not be at that point; you’re not
process. You might be ready to jeopardize your
attracting a large firsthand connection to
number of submissions, new writers. Not yet…
your filing cabinets or
You might also be
the corner of your office
cringing at the thought
might be overflowing
of increasing your
with manila envelopes.
exposure to writers
But it does you little
because you’re equating
good to spend all that
visibility with the
time looking for a
number of submissions
needle in the haystack
you receive. But make
just to come up empty.
no mistake: If you’re a
The truth is, if successful publisher,
you’re educating your you won’t stay invisible.
writers on exactly what If you’re producing
you’re looking for using quality content, if you
a powerful, concise make a deal that’s
selling message (yes, announced on
you’re selling to them), Publisher’s Lunch, if
then the slush pile will one of your books is
Courtesy of Cory Doctorow
become more produc- marketed on a radio
tive for you. Sure, you’ll interview or at a book
almost certainly get the odd manuscript signing, writers will find you. It’s
that has nothing to do with what you’re inevitable.
seeking, but if you can reduce the
So you have two choices: sacrifice
percentage of those mismatches,
your direct connection to new writers, or
wouldn’t it be worth your time to revise
educate them. Let them know exactly
your guidelines?
what you expect. And make this
information readily available.
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Writers Are Readers, Too quality writers because you’re afraid that
you’ll get bombarded with manila
There’s a danger involved with closing
envelopes, your content will suffer.
your doors to submissions or offering
unrealistic submission requirements: Think of the submissions process as
frustrating large numbers of writers can something akin to a funnel. Wide at the
backfire. After all, they’re writers! In this top, narrow at the bottom. You might
age of social networking and easy access already have your guidelines posted with
to digital soap boxes, upsetting those who a popular listing service such as Writer’s
are proficient at, or at least passionate Market or Publishers Marketplace, but
about writing can be detrimental to your have you thought of other venues to
image. advertise your needs?
Writers who want to submit to you • Are your guidelines posted on your
might also be some of your best custom- Facebook or LinkedIn pages?
ers, customers who actually look at the • Are you using SEO related to the
publisher’s logo on the spine. They’re genres you publish on your web
likely interested in the topics you publish guidelines?
and might have some influence over
• Do you have a printed submissions
other potential customers. By adopting a
brochure that you can hand out at
reasonable submissions policy, you have
trade shows?
a better chance of converting these
writers into evangelists rather than • Do your acquisitions editors write a
detractors. Many of them will even blog and grant interviews to other
forgive you for rejecting them. bloggers?
That’s why you need an effective
submissions policy that invites and
educates your writers.
The Submissions Funnel
Your company’s success is almost
completely dependent upon the quality of
the content you produce. Though market
shifts, a poor economy, or high produc-
tion costs can all affect your bottom line,
in publishing, intellectual property is
what you sell. If you restrict the flow of
submissions, if you cut yourself off from
The Submissions Funnel
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The more information you have out Specific/current needs
there to let writers know what you
Don’t be afraid to let writers know
expect, the better. The trick then, is to
what you’re currently hoping to add to
craft guidelines that will narrow down
your list. Some might worry that this will
the number of writers moving through
show your hand to the competition, but
your funnel, so that the submissions
the potential gain of a great new author
reaching your slush pile accurately match
far outweighs the result of a competitor
your needs.
trying to jump on your bandwagon. If
Sample Guidelines someone tries to copy you, take it as a
compliment.
Let’s look at the typical structure of a
submission guidelines page: Contract/fee arrangement
Company info Again, though you might worry that
you’re revealing too much about how
In addition to telling writers what you your company operates, contract terms
publish, don’t be afraid to shed some are first and foremost on authors’ minds.
light on how your editorial process They want to know if it will be worth
works. Tell them how long it takes to their time to submit to you, so let them
produce a book from initial manuscript know if you offer a flat fee or a royalty,
to distribution. Tell them how many and don’t be afraid to give a range for
editors you have on staff. Tell them what both. They’re going to find out eventu-
they can expect from you in terms of ally, and the fewer surprises the better
editing, layout, and marketing. when it comes to contract negotiations.
Genres Tips/tastes
Be as specific as possible about what Though your guidelines may cite the
genres you publish. If you’re fuzzy about genres you publish and your current
this, the percentage of submissions that needs, it will help considerably during
don’t match your needs will increase. For the submission review process if you
example, if you’re a publisher of K-8 share with writers a few clues to what you
educational materials, don’t say that you like and don’t like. Let them know your
publish children’s literature. You’ll find tastes, and it doesn’t hurt to use this
yourself swamped with picture books section to let some of your company’s
that have nothing to do with your personality shine through.
publishing plan.
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Format requirements Common Mistakes
Telling writers how you expect them
Too much text
to format their submissions can be a
tightrope walk. If you’re too permissive, Though it seems to run counter to
you’ll spend more time trying to what you might expect, the more text
determine what you’re getting in each and requirements you have for submis-
submission. If you require submitters to sions on your site, the less likely it is that
jump through too many hoops, you’ll you’ll get what you’re looking for.
discourage writers (good and bad) from Why? Put yourself in the writer’s
taking the time to submit to you. And position. Submitting to publishers is a
you’ll find that a good number of tedious, painstaking process with a low
submissions won’t follow your rules chance of reward. Putting too many
anyway. roadblocks in your guidelines will deter
But be sure to explain clearly how just as many good writers as bad. Why
you want writers to send work to you go through the hassle? they might ask.
(i.e., through the mail, e-mail, website, There are plenty of other publishers out
etc.) and if they need to include a cover there who don’t require a ten-page
letter and SASE. Think of this as your marketing analysis formatted in Courier
call-to-action. Just as in your marketing 12-point font with no simultaneous
literature, it needs to be easily visible. submissions.
Too many stipulations will only result
Response
in an influx of submissions from authors
deadline who are submitting to you for the sake of
Be realistic in your getting their work out there—and they
estimates of when probably didn’t bother to read your
you’ll respond, but guidelines thoroughly, or at all.
assure writers that In short, don’t put unnecessary
you will respond to impediments in front of good quality
every submission. writers who might not have hours to
Even if you tell writers that a SASE is invest in submitting to you. You can be
required, it’s generally a good practice to specific about what type of material you
respond even to submissions without want, but be succinct and be reasonable.
them. (We won’t tell if you won’t.) It
takes much more time to respond to an
angry author via phone or e-mail than it
does to put a stamp on an envelope.
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No headlines No simultaneous submissions
Your submission guidelines should be Some publishers still ask that they get
written just as you would write any other exclusive rights to a submission (but
piece of marketing copy—with the their numbers are dwindling). They
understanding that your readers have might have many good reasons for doing
limited time and attention spans. If your this, but we believe that saying no to
guidelines are on the web (and they simultaneous submissions is a deterrent
should be!), then you should be taking you can’t afford. It may reduce the
SEO into account along with basic number of manuscripts you receive, but
readability. it may also reduce the percentage of
quality submissions in your slush pile.
Central to this is including clearly
worded, short headlines. These help Unless an experienced writer wants
writers navigate easily and quickly from to submit to you more than anything else
section to section (outlined above) and in the world, there’s a good likelihood
also build your visibility on search-engine that she’ll either pass on submitting to
rankings. you or send something to you—and five
other publishers—anyway. It’s also a
Large blocks of text difficult policy to enforce, and most
Again, we are always amazed by the writers know that. However, it’s a good
guidelines pages we visit that are not idea to ask writers to tell you if they’ve
written for readability. If you hide key signed a contract with another publisher
information in large chunks of impene- before they hear back from you.
trable text, it makes it much less likely
Poor visibility (where’s the
that a writer will find it and submit the
work you’re looking for. In addition to link?)
headlines, use short sentences, concise If you believe that your submissions
language, and bullet points. are a valuable resource, then make sure
that the link to your submission
Hiding your personality guidelines is in plain sight on your home
Writing your guidelines in a style that page and elsewhere.
reflects your list. If you publish humor Don’t hide the guidelines in an “About
books, your guidelines shouldn’t be dry Us” or a “Contact” menu. The more
as dirt. You want to attract writers who impediments you put in front of writers
share your sensibilities so make sure that interested in sending you work, the more
your personality, or brand, comes likely it is that you’ll get submissions that
through loud and clear. don’t match your needs.
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Spreadsheet exported from Pubmission
Metrics to do so. Ask your editors to record how
long it takes them to review submissions,
Are your submission guidelines
either per submission or session. Then
working the way you’d like them to?
review this figure each month to see how
There’s no way to know unless you record
much of your time the slush pile is
some key metrics. We recommend that
consuming. If the time is going down, see
you create a log of every submission you
if this corresponds to a recent revision of
receive in either a spreadsheet or
your guidelines. Tracking this figure
database file. In addition to the basics,
throughout the year can also help you
such as author name, title, and contact
with scheduling. Some months might be
info, measuring the following areas can
consistently busier for submissions than
help you determine if your message is
others. Knowing this in advance can help
getting across in your guidelines—and if
you prevent a backlog.
further revision is necessary.
Success ratio
Trends/keywords
The number of publishable works that
Your slush pile can reveal some
actually come from the slush pile will
important data regarding current and
likely be very low. But that doesn’t
future trends in your industry. You might
discount the value of keeping a close eye
even discover some new buzzwords that
on this figure. Your success ratio can
haven’t presented themselves to you
provide some great insight into the
through your market research. For each
effectiveness of your submission
submission, record a few keywords to
guidelines.
describe it. This is also helpful info to
share with your writers via a blog post. Match percentage
It’s important to let your writers see what
the competition is up to. You might also want to track the
number of submissions that are
Review time completely inappropriate for your
publishing company. Hopefully, after
This is perhaps the most important
revamping your guidelines, you’ll see this
metric to track, and most publishers fail
figure drop dramatically.
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Don’t Dread the Slush Pile Tell Us What You Think
Even if you’re still getting more We’d like this article to be a working
submissions than you can handle, there document that evolves with the industry
are tools out there that can help. and your feedback.
Pubmission is designed not only to To help us achieve this, your opinion
help you sort and search your submis- is always welcome and necessary. So let
sions online, it also works to educate us know what you think about this
writers on how to submit to you. It shows article. Send your comments to
them if their submissions match up with feedback@pubmission.com.
your needs and lets you use the site to
Thanks and good luck!
create an effective guidelines page.
The Pubmission Staff
And with our staff of experienced
editor coaches, we can help push writers
in the right direction so you don’t have to
do all the heavy lifting.
Check out Pubmission at
www.pubmission.com.
Sample Submission Dashboard on Pubmission
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