You’ve worked on your book proposal/manuscript for twelve weeks/months/years. An editor or agent you met at a writers conference last week/last year/eleven years ago invited you to send it when it was ready.
Is it? How can a writer know for sure?
Many a writer has hovered over the SEND button, uncertainty replacing all the blood in their veins. Is this ready? Do I dare hit that button and fling all my hard work out into cyberspace?
Writer, if you wait for perfect conditions, rest assured that’s a great way to ensure you’ll never SEND it, which also ensures the work will never be published. Perfect conditions are as much a myth as centaurs.
If you wait for a download of unshakable confidence, you might want to take up knitting to kill time while you’re waiting.
If you wait for a sign from heaven, here it is:
Did you hope for a “GO!” sign, or a “NOW!” or “JUST DO IT!”?
Not quite yet.
Your confidence will grow–and your agent or editor will thank you–if you stop yourself from sending your proposal or manuscript until you consider these final double-checks.
Before you hit send:
- Did you double-check the spelling of the editor’s or agent’s name? Sending a query or proposal to Janette Grant or Jnaet Grent at Books & Such doesn’t spell doom for your work, but it certainly doesn’t speak highly of your attention to detail, and the level of care expected.
- Is the editor’s or agent’s email address correct? No missing letters, dots, or @’s?
- If this is a simultaneous submission, did you note that somewhere in your email?
- If a simultaneous submission, did you accidentally address the email correctly, but left another agent’s name in the greeting? “Dear Doug” is a dead giveaway that an email I receive wasn’t checked for accuracy before the writer hit SEND.
- Are all pages (except for the cover/title page) numbered?
- Does every page (starting with page two) include your name and the title of your work in the header? If you’re uncertain how to do that, it’s easy to search online for how to make that happen with little effort on your part.
Don’t hit send until you ask:
- Did you make sure you’ve followed the prescribed format according to the publisher’s or agent’s guidelines on their website? (This isn’t a last minute question. It should have been considered long ago, but it’s included here because a surprising number of submissions arrive missing some key element or with a format element that reveals the guidelines weren’t consulted at all.)
- Is it a “clean” copy? You may see an unmarked copy on your computer screen, but that’s not a guarantee previous editing, corrections, strikeouts, and comments aren’t still accessible in another setting. In Track Changes, when your work is ready to send, Accept All Changes, and go to the Delete pull-down menu to Delete All Comments to create a truly clean copy. The exception is if you intend an editor or agent to see a comment, but that’s often better expressed in a note within the email with the page noted.
- Did you leave anything highlighted? Like some writers, you may leave yourself notes within, like “add 300 more words here” or “fact-check that date for the War of 1812.” Any inadvertent notes to yourself show the agent or editor that you didn’t make a final pass through your manuscript. Yes, it happens. But the fewer oopses, the better.
A few more tasks before you hit send:
In a July 8, 2020 Facebook post, Harlequin editor Emily Rodmell suggested, among others, these “things you should always do before sending in a manuscript–
- Final read (preferably a week+ after you finished it, deadline permitting)
- Spellcheck
- Make sure document is attached in email.
- Promise yourself you won’t reread after sending.”
Great points. It seems intuitive that writers would spell and grammar check before considering a proposal or manuscript done, but not so. Many a project will arrive with the computer software’s built in warning lights remaining, unattended by the writer (red lines indicating a possible misspelling, blue lines indicating a comma may be missing or other contextual error, green lines indicating a grammar issue or other problem).
Emily’s note about making sure the document is attached is one that struck me personally. Compose decent email. Check. Refer to attached document. Check. Attach said document before hitting send. Grr! Not again!
Why would this editor suggest that writers promise themselves they won’t reread after sending? Because the lowest you will ever feel about your proposal or manuscript is in the moments after hitting send. You’ll instantly think of a more compelling ending or of an inadvertent error in something you intended to correct. You’ll assume it’s the worst dreck an agent or editor has ever seen. STOP YOURSELF from indulging in second guessing. Rest in the knowledge that you gave it your all and that Dreck is a common ailment, but it will pass.
One last check before you hit send:
- Take a deep breath. Make sure the exhale is filled with gratitude that you were given the privilege and gift of writing.
Do you have any helpful hints for last minute checks before you hit send, perhaps from personal experience?
Star Ostgard
re: Promise yourself you won’t reread after sending
I think this is a great suggestion. Not only because second-guessing yourself after submission is an exercise in angst-mongering, but because I don’t believe any agent/editor expects a submission that will NOT need further editing of some type. Assume you have done the best you can as a WRITER (because you have), and now the agent/editor will help take you to the next step – because they are the professionals.
Cynthia Ruchti
Great way to express it, Star. You’ve done the best you can as a WRITER.
Shirlee Abbott
[Send]
It’s like sending your firstborn to kindergarten and your lastborn to college. It’s progress, it’s been the plan from the get-go. It’s a life-changer. Yes, your baby will come home again, but everyone is changed — for the better, I pray, in Jesus’ name.
Cynthia Ruchti
Yes, it’s been your plan from the get-go!
Jeanne Takenaka
I love your perspective, Shirlee!
Shelli Littleton
If you’re a member of a crit group, it helps to have a second, third, and fourth set of eyes comb through it to point out what you might have overlooked.
Cynthia Ruchti
True. Having a second or third set of eyes to comb through it is important. But sometimes having nine or ten sets of eyes combing through a project can actually weaken it, because it can become someone else’s work rather than your own…and can’t be duplicated in subsequent works. So yes, incorporating the comments of a select group of trusted “eyes” is helpful. But it’s your story. So striking that balance of seeking advice and trusting your gut is a writer’s constant tension.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Everything has got to finish,
and it all has got to end,
but why do I feel so diminished
when, in dying, I hit SEND?
When I look back through the seasons
they all seem to be so vain,
and for what I did, the reasons
will be real hard to explain
to the God who is to judge me,
even though He’s merciful;
all the shooting, lies, and poetry
make me feel I’ve played the fool,
but perhaps His smile is bright
and Heaven’s idiot’s delight.
Nan Jones
Thank you Cynthia. I’ve seen and applied many checklists over the years, but this one is the most comprehensive I’ve read. I’m printing this list off for easy referral.
Cynthia Ruchti
Thank you, Nan.
Kelsey D.M. Anderson
I need to save this post. It’s a great check list before finally taking that leap to hit SEND. I’ve had my husband (who’s also a writer) look over my emails, proposals, and manuscript. I need someone else to look at it because I seem to always miss something. And I am so guilty of rereading after sending. I sent my MS to critique partners and then reread it right after. Never again! I wanted to throw the book away.
Quick question about addressing emails to agents: I’ve noticed some agencies have one email address for just sending queries (like Books & Such). In the body of the email, do I address it to the agency itself, or a specific agent? I just want to make sure I’m doing correctly. 🙂
Cynthia Ruchti
In the body of the email, you can address it to a specific agent, if you’d like. Happy to help!
Jeanne Takenaka
Cynthia, thanks for sharing so many great tips here. Some of these I didn’t know about. This is a definit keeper post for me. 🙂
I guess the only thing I’d add is to pray for God’s peace as we hit Send. The story is in His hands. I loved your ending about being thankful for the gift of writing.
Cynthia Ruchti
Thanks, Jeanne. I imagine we’ll discover a number of additions that we all need.
Kristen Joy Wilks
These are great, Cynthia! After staring at a story for years, I come to a point where I can’t even see it anymore and my critique partner is probably feeling the same. It is time to give it a try … but before I send, reading over the proposal one more time is so important. Eyes blurred from years of editing sometimes miss obvious mistakes. Thank you for listing so many of them here for us! I would say to check the file name. Sometimes the title of the piece changes … or you misspelled it in a rush and swore that you would go back and change it later, but never did. Also, check the title in the upper corner of each page. Did it change over the past decade? It’s always good to double check!
Cynthia Ruchti
So very true about those title re-checks!
Patti Shene
Hi Cynthia. These are all great tips and this is a comprehensive check list. Thank you so much for sharing.
I would like to add that whenever I attach a file to an email, I click on it (within the email) before hitting send, let it download and do a quick check to be sure it is the correct file. There is usually some key point in the document that lets me know it is the latest version, so I look for that.