It has been a while since my last post, mainly because my maternity leave ended in April; my writing took a temporary back seat while I got into the groove of returning to my full time day job. This month has been easier as I am back into the swing of both work and writing. However, I have found that getting my novel out to publishers is not as straightforward as it seems. Having to change formatting from one publisher to the next is to be expected: Times New Roman for one, whereas Book Antiqua for another, page numbers in the footer versus the header, etc. Occasionally though, a publisher wants the synopsis to be one paragraph instead of a page, and in one instance, I had to expand my synopsis to six detailed pages. After spending many edits whittling it down to fit it onto a page, it was a good challenge to have to expand it, while still keeping the details relevant to the plot.
Standing out from the rest
The real challenge for a writer though, is getting their work noticed on the slushpile. How does one go about making their work stand out from the rest?
Make a big entrance
This is where the cover letter comes in. I looked up many examples of well-written cover letters before I tackled my own and what they all had in common was to make a grand entrance – metaphorically speaking, at least. Some posed a question to the publisher about the characters or scenarios from their book. Others launched into a paragraph on their fast-paced plotline to hook the reader. I decided on a combination of both. Does it work? Too early to say yet as I have only been submitting since November. But once I get myself either a publisher or an agent (with any luck) I’ll write a follow-up post on this topic. Here’s hoping!
Leilanie Stewart 