I sent a juvenile fiction manuscript out to a publisher in January. It was my first manuscript submission! Sending out that first book manuscript was something I had dreamed about for a long time, so by the time I finally did it, I had picked up on some ideas of what to do after all of my preparation and hard work had finally culminated into actually putting my package in the mail.
I want to share some of the things that I have heard are good to do in the waiting, both to help you and to remind myself of what I need to do. None of these things are written in stone, although all four should be helpful to you if you are feeling at a loss and unsure of how you should be moving forward after submitting a big (or small!) project to a publisher.
1. Record the Details of Your Submission
I do my best to keep track of every piece of writing that I send out, big or small. 50-word stories, novellas, all of it. I would forget all of this stuff if it wasn't written down. If you don't keep these sorts of details recorded somewhere, I would highly recommend it. If nothing else, it is fun to look back on later.
Over the past couple of years, I have developed a system that works pretty well for me. I have a couple of simple documents on my computer labeled [Year] Submission Records. For some reason, I have these documents each spanning two years of record keeping, but I should just combine them.
In these documents, my method of recording writing submissions has changed a bit since I began, but here is an example of what it looks like now:
Submitted To: [Where the piece was sent.]
Submitted What: [Title of piece.]
Submission Type: [Was it a poem, short story, or something else? I sometimes include the length of the piece here as well.]
Submitted When: [Date that submission was sent out.]
Results: [Initially, I just write unknown on this line until I hear back and can add more information. I will also include details like approximately when I should receive a response, rights that the publication would love to purchase (if known), assuming that they would like to purchase my piece, and whether or not this is a simultaneous submission.]
I suppose that this format could be edited to better fit the submission of longer manuscripts, although I have not had much need for doing so yet.
Here is an example of how I have my novella submission, Three Feet of Trouble, recorded:
Submitted To: Boulder Books
Submitted What: Three Feet of Trouble
Submission Type: Novella manuscript, FIRST MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION!
Submitted When: January 31, 2025
Results: Unknown. Average response time is 3 months.
Note how the Results line is orange. I recently began colour coding my results so that I could easily scroll through my records and quickly see how a particular submission is doing, and if I need to take action. Sometimes if I have had a piece out for a long time and still have not received a response, I will look into contacting the publication. Some publications take longer than others, so I try to find details on how long I should wait before politely reaching out.
I colour code my Results line on the record of each submission according to its status. Green means that I got good results, Orange means I have not heard back yet, and Red means that the piece was declined.
2. Create a Manuscript "Itinerary" (If You Have Not Already)
Create a what? A backup list of publishers that you can try sending your manuscript to if the first publisher declines it.
I am not sure what others might call this list, but I've taken to labeling it my manuscript "itinerary."
I have noticed that with short stories and poems that come back to me with a declination, I often have trouble deciding where I ought to send them next. I imagine that this issue will be worse with my book manuscript.
That is where the manuscript itinerary comes in. Honestly, it's probably best to prepare this before sending out your manuscript so that you don't forget to do it.
Building your manuscript itinerary isn't super difficult, although it can take a fair bit of time as you research different publishers. On the top of your sheet (physical or digital), put in the name of your first choice of publisher. In my case, Boulder Books was at the top of my list.
Beneath the name of your first choice, record any details that you think could be pertinent. Don't forget to note a website address! Other things to include could be...
Genres of work accepted
Lengths of works accepted
Average response time
I don't have a long list, but those things will get you and I started as we prepare our manuscript itineraries. Good luck!
3. Celebrate. Take a Breath.
I worked hard to get all of my materials ready for mailing alongside the first few pages of my manuscript in time to meet my self-imposed deadline. Maybe you have pushed hard in order to meet a similar, fast-approaching deadline, either self-imposed or set in place by someone else. Did you feel proud of yourself for meeting the deadline? I hope so.
Preparing to send out a book manuscript is a LOT of work. It is also a lot of fun, don't get me wrong. Still, completing such a project requires tremendous amounts of work and patience.
But when your manuscript is finally complete, it is an event worth celebrating. I celebrated by having my parents take pictures of me, each of them, and my manuscript all together. I also put out a blog post announcing this exhilarating milestone to all of you!
Celebrate. You just did something big. Cook a yummy dinner, take pictures with your manuscript, call a close friend...just do something fun. :)
Take a bit to breathe. If you were pushing hard to complete your last project, you've probably been thoroughly entrenched in it for a while now. Consider briefly stepping away to refresh yourself before diving back into something new.
4. Start a New Project (Or Continue An Old One)
Your most recent project may be sent off, but that doesn't mean you should stop writing completely while you wait to hear back. It can be good and healthy to take a break or to scale down on the amount of writing that you have been doing regularly. Seasons change, and so does life, as different joys or challenges arise. Please take a break if that is what you feel is right, but don't stay away forever.
It is important that we don't just sit on our hands (or twiddle our thumbs) as we wait to hear back about our manuscript. I would go absolutely crazy that way.
The day after I sent Three Feet of Trouble out, I wrote just over 1,300 words on a novel I had begun in the fall. Some of you may be curious about this novel, so here are some posts I have written about it:
I know it is important to keep plugging away at other projects while you wait to hear back about ones under consideration by a publisher (or several publishers, if you submitted simultaneously), so I have been chipping away on the first draft of a novel. I have never written a full-length novel before, so I am slightly scared of how messy this first one may be. I guess I will know how messy it is when I reach the end of my first draft.
If you don't feel ready to jump back into a longer project right off the bat, try writing something fun. A short story or a poem, perhaps. You could try writing a 1,000 word story in a genre you have never tried before, or learn how to write a new style of poem. I've tried a few different styles of poetry myself, which you can see here. By writing something short and fun, you might discover something new to base your next project on!
Wrapping It Up
All right! That's pretty much all I have to share with you today. If you read this because you are just sent out your first manuscript or are close to doing so, congratulations! May the Lord use your words for His Glory, and may you be blessed by that.
Before I go, here are the four ideas that we went over:
1. Record the Details of Your Submission
2. Create a Manuscript "Itinerary" (If You Have Not Already)
3. Celebrate. Take a Breath.
4. Start a New Project (Or Continue An Old One)
See you next week!
Lily Page