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(Four Simple Steps to Improving Your Chances)

As an editor at Aspen Mountain Press I've noticed a few things that make submissions stand out from the "pile" as well as a number of items that are total turn-offs toward accepting a submission. In my opinion, an author can do a lot to improve their chances of getting their foot in the door by following a few simple guidelines.

1. Please, please, please visit the publisher's web site and follow their directions! Failure to do so will be an automatic rejection, frequently without a rejection letter. Many times a company has an email address that accepts submissions. That address frequently tells us you visited the website long enough to get the address. It also tells us you should have taken the time to read the guidelines.

Did you? By what you include in your query letter and the way your partial is formatted (if it is even asked for) publishers can tell if you followed their guidelines. Not following guidelines is a strike against you. If you won't adhere to published, public information, what else won't you do?

2. If a partial asks for the first twenty pages, don't alter the pages to have smaller type so you can get more pages read, don't widen the margins, don't mess with the document at all. In fact, stick to the traditional type fonts, Times New Roman or Courier New. You have absolutely no control over what font the person receiving your document has past the basic fonts.

Don't send exactly twenty pages either just to get the page count in if on page twenty you end in the middle of a sentence. Some editors would say don't end your partial in the middle of a scene. If necessary, remedy the problem by ending a paragraph sooner or even on page nineteen if that fits. Never, ever go over the page limit unless you have been asked to do so.

Editors do a lot of reading. Going over the amount they request irks them, in general, because they have other submissions to reads. Play by their rules if you want a chance. Again, how much harm are you doing by ignoring the guidelines?

3. Know how to format your document. Know how to use the important features of your word processing program. Use the format button to set line spacing and automatic indents (please, please don't use tabs). Don't double space between paragraphs (that is for secretaries doing block style business letters).

Run spell check knowing it may not catch homophones (words that sound the same such as their, there, they're), homonyms (words that are spelled the same with multiple meanings such as "set") or usual spellings. Spell check is not perfect.

Stories need to be self-edited. Your editor would rather be going over content than spelling. Watch for words such as "so, very, that" and work hard on eliminating them from your work. Dialogue tags are another item to reduce. Each line of speech does not need an indicator of who is speaking. Many times the speaker is obvious from the context of what is being said. Other times having the character do something is enough of an indicator.

4. Backstory is boring and so are information dumps. Sorry, it's the truth. You want to start with the action, on the day that is different. If the backstory is important slip little pieces in, here and there, but not in a huge clump up front. You need to work it in to the soil of your story, the fertile ground where character, plot, dialogue and setting all work together to create a beautiful, healthy flowing plant.

This list is not intended to represent the full range of things an author needs to be aware of. Following these guidelines doesn’t guarantee you’re work will be contracted, but not following them causes questions to arise in an editor’s mind. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by ignoring these simple things. Rather, get your foot in the door where you can learn more about improving your work.

Sandra from Aspen Mountain Press