What is the basic concept of this service?
We’re trying to provide a new way for writers, usually unknown writers,
to connect with established publishers and to do so with credibility,
economy, and moral support. Writers are frustrated that they can’t get on
the radar screen of acquisitions editors at established publishing houses.
Many of those companies are overwhelmed with book manuscripts; they hardly
have time to open them.
Our service offers
a quick summary of book proposals in a format the publishers themselves can
use for follow-up. And we report only the projects that we consider
publishable by one or more publishers on our list. For the writer, all
entries get some feedback, even if we don’t think the writer’s manuscript is
ready for publication. The ultimate goal: fresh voices, new and better books
in the Christian publishing scene.
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How do I use your service?
Go to the "Book Information Form" on this site and take
it from there. You will supply key facts about your book proposal, summarize
the content, and send in the first three chapters. It costs something: $95 .
But you will get some feedback from knowledgeable people and you may get
exposure to interested book editors. Read this page of questions, look at
the "current reports for publishers," and familiarize yourself with the
concept before you send anything off for evaluation.
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What's the track
record in manuscripts becoming books through The Writer's Edge?
There are several book contracts every year secured through The Writer's
Edge service. We have heard of 18 last year. We heard of 12 in the previous
year. A number of writers and publishers have informed us of their
success since the launch of The Writer's Edge in 1993 see our "My Experience" page on this web site.
The program itself is a screening service to sift and then
report manuscripts to publishers; it is not an agency for writers nor is it
a form of advertising or advocacy for the manuscripts.
We are a
conduit of information, a kind of pipeline, to the publishers about what is
available among the publishable options. Candidly: How good is your book?
That will finally be the issue--not how good is Writer's Edge on your
behalf.
A typical month lists 30-60 book proposals.
The publishers take the monthly reports and pursue on their own the
manuscripts that interest them, but they do not report back to The Writer's
Edge or pay anything to The Writer's Edge for useful material. Some writers
receive several inquiries from publishers; some receive none. Of course,
there is no guarantee.
Sometimes people ask for a ratio of books placed to total
entries submitted. I think I could work up such a number, but what would it
mean? Any one successful book proposal (one that gets published) has no
logical relationship to all the other ones submitted. One in ten or one in a
thousand are each meaningless statistics, since the proposals aren't really
competing with each other but with the criteria each publisher imposes.
The publishers don't "grade on the curve" and we don't push a book
manuscript the way an agent should. We are exposing publishable material to
publishers and hoping they will find something that fits their interests
among the listings. For the manuscript that gets accepted, the match is
perfect--one manuscript to one editor's criteria. For the writer who has
written something that, even if theoretically publishable, but no publisher
has an interest in it, his chance of acceptance is one in infinity! So you
are back to looking at things from the publishers' viewpoint (see our page
of opinions on that).
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Can my manuscript be fairly considered with just a short few
paragraphs of description?
Writers should realize that publishers initially sift all book
proposals on a few, very few, criteria: the "category" or niche of
the book, the credentials of the author, the competing titles in the
marketplace, and the uniqueness and timeliness of the book. The monthly
Writer's Edge reports provide this initial information in a few hundred
words. The quality of your writing will not come through; for that the
publisher will have to get a copy of your manuscript. But no publisher, to
our knowledge, publishes very many books simply on the basis of "quality
writing." And The Writer's Edge has a reviewer's comment option to permit
its own reviewers to point out superior writing.
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Realistically, can a
freelance writer place a fiction manuscript with today's cautious
publishers?
Fiction is our largest submission category and the toughest for the
writers to get action from the publishers. About 25% of the religious (CBA)
publishers' book output is fiction compared to 55% or so from the general
market (ABA) publishers.
Freelance writing, especially fiction, has always been speculative and
tentative from the writer's point of view. Very few publishers commit to
many books of fiction from writers with whom they have had no previous
contact. The Writer's Edge provides one more, but not the only, avenue of
exposure for a writer to encounter the acquisitions editors of 45 active
companies (we send monthly reports to over 90 companies, but almost half of
them have said they would not review fiction). We know these publishers use
our reports, track down some of the manuscripts, and recommend it to their
constituencies. Full disclosure: We know that many, perhaps most, fiction
listings receive no response from the publisher list. If your fiction entry
passes our screening, it might be useful to point that out in subsequent
contacts with editors.
Describing fiction in a promotional way and briefly is very tough to do
well. Helpful counsel on describing your novel is a new book from Writer's
Digest: Give 'Em What They Want by Blythe Camenson and Marshall Cook,
subtitled The Right Way to Pitch Your Novel to Editors and Agents.
This would provide good advice on your Writer's Edge submission as well as
any direct relationships with editors.
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Can I submit my entry via
email or must I mail paper?
Sorry, we can't take email submissions. Our reviewers
don't want to read for hours off the screen and if we had to print out your
submission, we would encounter time consuming delays and word processing
compatibility problems. Please send paper printouts, double-spaced.
Why do you charge? I've been told to avoid agents who charge
to read manuscripts.
The
Writer's Edge is not an agent. It has no future equity in your manuscript,
like an agent would who might place your book and anticipate a portion of
your royalties. The Writer's Edge is a service to screen, evaluate, counsel,
and report potential books to a list of specific publishers. Needless to
say, that takes time on somebody's part and requires some compensation for
their time. Top
Who
reviews manuscripts and can they be contacted?
We've maintained a position of privacy and confidentiality for The
Writer's Edge reviewers out of consideration of the likelihood that phone
calls or follow-up contacts from sensitive or aggressive writers might not
be welcome. The reviewers are each experienced in the publishing houses who
make up The Writer's Edge cooperating list. Two of them are published
writers. All of them have worked in evaluating manuscripts for publication
under the employment of recognized publishers. Of course, this is not a
fulltime job for anyone! The ownership and management of The Writer's Edge
Service is no mystery and I'm open to direct correspondence if you wish.*
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Who writes the summary
descriptions of my proposal for the reports?
You write the first draft in the
Book Information Form, a necessary application you
can find on this site. Then the reviewer of your proposal will edit and
modify that draft, possibly using some or all of your wording. We limit the
promotional language to ensure that the report is regarded by the publishers
as a credible, factual document. We regard the summaries as our
communication to the publishers, not the writer's. Therefore, the summaries
are not comparable to query letters. Top
If my manuscript is
rejected, can I get my fee back?
No. This misunderstands The Writer's Edge as a form of "advertising." You
are not buying an "ad" in The Writer's Edge for your fee. You are paying for
an evaluation service, which will be rendered as promised. The materials
explaining the service are clear that fewer than half the submissions are
accepted. For an unscreened exposure (no evaluation), you might consider the
ECPA's First Edition service; despite its fee, there is no risk your
manuscript will not be offered on their web site to their member publishers. To study its features and
costs, go to their web site at www.ecpa.org
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How can I contact the
publishers you send the reports to?
Use a reference book like Sally Stuart's annual Christian Writer's
Market Guide (available in stores or from her web site,
www.stuartmarket.com). A new edition will come out each February.
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Why is poetry not
considered?
None of the publishers on our list is open to poetry from freelancers.
They may publish an occasional volume of poetry, but many of them do not
ever consider it from writers not already in their stable. This reflects the
marketplace demand. Sorry, but they just can't sell it. The reference title
from Writer's Digest Books, typically called 2006 Poet's Market, has
many suggestions on where to send your poetry. See the page on
reference resources for some poetry information. Top
Why is
there no phone number to call The Writer's Edge?
The Writer's Edge Manuscript Service has no office open to the public.
For the modest fee per manuscript and the relatively low volume of business
the cost of office staff would be prohibitive. And no comment about
individual manuscripts could be made spontaneously by phone.
We encourage email and letters and seek to respond promptly to such
communication. Email choices are:
info@WritersEdgeService.com.
Most of the questions that might come by phone can be answered in the
materials provided in the Book Information Form or this page of frequently
asked questions.
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How
can my writers' group, writers' conference, or club distribute information
about The Writer's Edge Manuscript Service?
We encourage promotion and distribution of Writer's Edge information.
Download and print out the Adobe Acrobat version of the Book Information
Form for your group. The basic information on both pages of that document
will provide your group with enough facts to start anyone on their way to
making use of the program. For reproduction, we recommend the Adobe Acrobat
file on this site; it will provide a nicely formatted, typeset edition of
the Book Information Form suitable for photocopying. When anyone uses the
service, invite that person to report on their experience. The Writer's Edge
has hundreds, even thousands by now, of satisfied customers. No: not
everyone lands a publisher for a manuscript. But custom feedback and
exposure to significant publishing personnel will encourage any writer in
the difficult challenge of finding a larger audience.
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What about the display of book
proposals on the web site? How does that help? How does it work?
Since 1999, this site has made publicly
available, with the writer's permission, the summaries of book proposals
that passed the screening of The Writer's Edge Service. This is included in
your fee. The listing remains on the site for five years. Anyone in
the world can now find out about your book proposal.
We also list, in abbreviated form, the book proposals accepted since 1993
(see Archives) but before November 1999. This
list numbers over 3000! Since those writers had no chance to veto the web
exposure, we only list the book titles and a code in our system for their
addresses.
The web exposure is open to any visitor to the site. Because our main
communication with publishers is a paper printout every month, we
realistically suggest that most publishers are not sifting web listings for
books, on our site or anyone else's. We know this from their own words and
from other sites that have tried to post manuscripts for exposure to the
publishers. Because other web sites for writers list manuscripts on a site,
we decided to do it, adding a little value to our package. And we'll leave
the manuscript listing up for five years! We know of two or three
publishers not otherwise on our mailing list who have found books on our web
site and published them. Maybe someday a publisher will go searching for a
topic like the one you wrote about. And maybe they prefer to surf the web
rather than study their printouts from The Writer's Edge.
Maybe. But web pursuit is a long shot. We count on our paper
communication each month, passed from editor to editor in real offices, to
carry the message of your book's availability.
The web display seems mainly to be of interest to writers, not
editors. Writers like to see their listing, reassure themselves that it's
there, and check for errors. Subsidy publishers also comb over those
listings for contacts to sell their services. We know of no way to limit who
sees your name, address, email, and phone, so if that bothers you, check
No on the application question about web exposure. In that case, you
won't be able to see your listing on the screen of your own computer since
we don't otherwise send writers the report we work up for the publishers.
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Can I submit my
self-published book for consideration by royalty-based publishers?
Yes. We will regard it as a new book submission, not a previously
published out-of-print book. Since traditional publishers have not marketed
your book, it needs to be evaluated as a marketplace product. In this case,
send the whole book as your submission. Our reviewers will read the
equivalent of three chapters and peruse the rest of the book as a total
unit. It will not be returned. Also be aware that your own typesetting,
packaging, and cover will not be taken over by another publisher. They will
be entirely interested in the content and marketability of the book under
their umbrella.
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My children's book is only a
few pages and doesn't really have chapters. What do I submit?
Just send the whole thing. Our reviewers will be able to tell what the
entire book is like and can evaluate it as a total package. Note our
opinions on children's books in the
Opinions section of this site. Art is not necessary but your suggestions
of ideal art for your project may be appropriate.
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What about subsidy
publishers, self-publishing, "vanity" publishing?
Our list of
publishers is limited to traditional royalty publishers. They will pay for
the publication of your work if they contract for it. We have tried to keep
subsidy publishers off the list (some of the ones on our list of over 80
seem to do occasional subsidized books but those that do only
author-subsidized books are not on our list.) But any printer, subsidy
publisher, or agent is free to scan the web site and seek your business as a
customer. The response is up to you. The world of subsidized publishing is
quite varied; see Sally Stuart's chapter on the subject in the Christian
Writer's Market Guide. Some of them are rendering a real service; others
are exploitative and nearly fraudulent. Most writers are advised to seek a
royalty publisher if at all possible and if their project has broad appeal
(see our Opinions page on this site). Remember:
Printing up the book is the easy part! Selling copies in the thousands is
much harder. Traditional royalty publishers will only take a book they think
they can sell. That's why they're so picky! See also the next
question.
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What about "print on
demand" or do-it-yourself printing like iUniverse or Xulon?
This is somewhat akin to the previous subsidy
publishing issue. All of us in publishing are impressed with the output of
these short-run services. The books look like real books, not just
photocopies. And they can print a few or many copies for you. The
limitations are identical to those in the field of subsidy publishing. (One
site that has some warnings and advice is the "Writer Beware" wing
of the Science Fiction Writers' Association.) Again, for standard aggressive
sales and distribution, the print-on-demand system doesn't get you there.
They don't market your books to the broad reading public like traditional
publishers would. Again, see our Opinions page on
this site for more.
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I'm completely new to
publishing. How can I publish my manuscript?
This generic question we get in email, usually
from people who have not yet visited this web site. If you don't know
anything at this point, go to your library (or buy) and read the early
chapters of Writer's Market, the big directory that comes out every
year from Writer's Digest Magazine. The early chapters give you the
basics of getting a manuscript into print. See also Sally Stuart's
Christian Writer's Market Guide. Both of these books will make clear the
key points of submitting a book proposal, royalties, sales, the editorial
process, and other nuts and bolts issues. It's not rocket science but it's
not a snap either, regardless of your talent or how creative your
manuscript. Another book you might get is The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Getting Published (Alpha Books). It's fairly thorough and accurate. And
spend some time with our web site. We've put a lot of effort into
answering your questions and informing you of the basics in publishing your
material.
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Does The Writer's Edge take credit cards?
Since you have to mail something to us anyway, you might
as well send a check with the package. We do not accept email submissions
Now just added is this feature: for overseas submissions and Canadian
customers, we are able to take credit cards. This may help with the problem
of transmitted funds via money orders. Your manuscript and entry application
will still have to be mailed. Click here for credit
card payment.
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I sent my
materials over a week ago but my name doesn't come up on the tracking.
The tracking log (new: click
Tracking to try it) is not updated every day,
nor are manuscripts added to the log every day. If you don't see your name
after a full two weeks, you can wonder if the material arrived. Count 3-5
days for postal delivery, then 3-5 days for logging in your submission, then
3-5 days for the web site to post the log. Top
I sent my materials last month but have not heard anything
and don't see my name in the tracking system.
If your submission was a month ago
and you have not seen it by now, something went wrong. Send an email to
info@WritersEdgeService.com
and we'll pursue your inquiry.You should see the entry logged in after about
ten days.
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I see my entry
in a report posted on the web site but there are errors in my email, or
other elements.
Report errors to our staff (info@WritersEdgeService.com)
and we'll try to fix it right away. The paper report will usually have
already been mailed to the publishers, so that can't be easily fixed. For
serious errors we will rerun your entry in a later month, since we want you
to hear from every publisher with an interest. If they can still reach you
via correct phone or correct address, we won't rerun your entry just to
provide a corrected email or corrected spelling of a name. Top
I was told my entry
would appear in the next report but it's not there.
There's a time issue here that may put your entry in the
following month. We usually lock up the report on the 20th of a month, so if
your reviewer did not submit your entry for final processing by about day
12, it may miss that month and flow on to the succeeding month. The reviewer
may not know the exact month when an entry will appear if the cutoff date is
impending. Top
How long do you keep a
book proposal on your web site?
Your book proposal now stays on our web site
for five years. See the menu choice for "Archives" on the home page.
Previously we kept it on file permanently, so we had files on the site going
back to 1993. We've now decided that writers should have a chance to revise
and try again with a manuscript that has been sitting there for several
years. And the older ones were not getting much attention anyway.
We send a paper copy each month for the new
listings to the publishers. We don't repeat listings in the paper copy since
we have heard from the publishers that they keep their monthly reports on
file. As you realize, The Writer's Edge
is not an "advertisement" for book proposals like a classified ad in a
newspaper. The people who get the reports review them and mark or seek
out those books that look promising. If they need to, they can check the web
site for back issues.
If you wish to repeat the availability of your accepted book
proposal, we have a feature that enables that for a modest fee. Click here: Repeat
the mailed exposure of your reported book. Top
How can I be sure someone
won't "steal" my idea if I submit it to your service?
Your question about plagiarism
is a common one. Most of the writer
books, like The Writer's Market, address this so it must be a
widespread anxiety. The usual answer you'll hear is that very few ideas are
totally unique. What may seem like a unique idea is actually more common
than the victim of theft thinks. (There are plot books with supposedly all
the available plots for novels!) In other words, what someone thinks is
theft of their idea is actually not. For writers, there is common law
copyright available without charge or registration; this means you have
authority over your work if you can show that you did it at a certain time
and place. See the writer reference books for more.
We permit our writer customers
to opt out of the web display of their work, just in case they are uneasy
with web display. The publishers still get their paper copy of the screened
summary. Every month, there are several who don't want their book idea on
the web site (or possibly don't want their address on it). Beyond that, I
can't think of any way we can protect your idea, once it floats out to the
world of publishers. Top
How is The Writer's Edge Service distinct
from other services?
We're occasionally asked about similar services like the ECPA (Evangelical
Christian Publishers Assn.) service or other web-based displays of publishable writing, such as AuthorLink.
The ECPA program should be explored by writers for the Christian
marketplace (www.ChristianManuscriptSubmissions.com)
since the sponsoring organization is the publisher organization of many religious publishers.
Writer's Edge is somewhat distinct in that . . .
(1) It is an evaluation and screening program, not a writer bulletin board;
a significant number of entries do not meet the screening approval. Writers
submitting to most other web-based services do not face the risk of
rejection and may feel their money is better spent for that reason.
(2) Writer's Edge is not a web-based display of writers' offerings but
primarily involves a monthly paper report sent to its cooperating
publishers. Our web site duplicates and expands on the mailed report but is
not the primary communication with acquisitions editors.
(3) Writer's Edge provides some personal feedback and comment, especially
for submissions rejected by our screening process. Every submission is read
and thoughtfully considered for publishing potential. Our reviewers are directed to "think
like publishers" in their feedback and evaluation, which may entail candid,
or sometimes even unwelcome, advice to the writer. But we feel that is the
best service we can render to any writer. Our advice to writers:
Examine all your options and use all of them if you can afford it.
(4) The list of publishers to whom we report
overlaps somewhat with ChristianManuscriptSubmissions.Com, though Writer's Edge includes no
subsidy publishers and discourages writers from using them (see
Opinions).
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Writers (and
writing books) often brood about fonts, paper stock, type pitch, and other
related formatting issues in a manuscript. The only real requirement for our
service is that we want the manuscript typed (word processor or typewriter)
and prefer it double-spaced. Fonts, etc. are optional. The only
consideration is readability. This would mean normal typography, not
something odd like all italics or all caps.
It's safe to say our reviewers preferences would be the same as those of
acquisitions editors in regular publishing houses. Other than readability,
format is very minor on the list of their concerns. Publishability looms
largest.
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* For more common issues from writers, see the menu
choice Opinions. Leave your question on
our guest book or send privately by
email . Or write
me directly:
Steve Board
Manager, The Writer's Edge, P.O. Box 1266, Wheaton, IL
60189
Best wishes in the venture of writing and publishing!
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