Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission
What is manuscript submission? If you were going the traditional route, it would mean not just formatting your manuscript professionally but also creating a longlist and shortlist of agents and publishers, writing personalized letters, and reaching out to all of your prospective takers.
With AuthorHouse, you don’t have to look for answers to questions like “How do you write a cover letter for manuscript submission?” or “Who is most likely to publish a book like mine?” or “When will someone get back to me with a ‘yes’?”
All you have to think about is meeting our formatting requirements so that your book turns out the way you envision it. Read on for a comprehensive guide to submitting your manuscript to AuthorHouse.
How does online manuscript submission work?
Many authors choose to submit their manuscript as a file from a word processor or page layout program. We also prefer to receive your manuscript this way since our book designers can quickly import the text of your manuscript from these file types and begin the work of designing your book. Submitting your manuscript as a Microsoft® Word document or Adobe® InDesign® file is best. For other formats and methods, please contact your Check-in Coordinator.
Browse our editorial services here.
If your manuscript was composed in a word processor other than Microsoft® Word, you can convert the file to Microsoft® Word yourself. This way, you can review the document and check for conversion errors, which can appear when a document is transferred from one program to another. If you’d feel more comfortable having us handle the conversion, we can also accept these files:
- Corel® Word Perfect
- Microsoft® Works
- Lotus® Notes or Lotus Manuscript
- WordStar
- Rich Text Format (RTF) documents
- Apple® Works
- ASCII text documents
- HTML
- Word Pro
- Adobe® PageMaker
- Adobe® PDF
- Quark® Express
- OCR documents set in Text format
If your manuscript is in a different format than those listed above, your Check-in Coordinator will determine if the manuscript file is acceptable, or can be converted into an acceptable format. You may also contact your Check-in Coordinator for software versions and other file compatibility questions.
Submitting hard copies
Printed copies of a manuscript may be mailed to AuthorHouse and converted into an electronic format for a fee. This is called “Data Entry.” If you request that your manuscript be converted, a typist will type the information word for word. Images in the manuscript are not scanned and tables are not formatted. This process can take up to 2 months. Once your manuscript is in electronic format, it is then sent on to your Design Team for production. To avoid this delay, submit your manuscript as an electronic file.
Can you edit your manuscript after submission?
If you find elements of your book that you’d like to change after it’s been sent to the printer, it’s not too late. We offer services to make your changes possible.
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After we receive your properly formatted manuscript, our Content Evaluator will make sure it meets AuthorHouse standards before passing it on to the Design Team. From here on out, your Publishing Services Associate will act as a liaison between you and Production. Barring any last-minute issues, all that’s left for you to do is sign off on our output and wait for your freshly printed book to arrive. Best of luck to you!