I have been working with History Through Fiction as an Acquisitions Editor for over a year now, and I love it! HTF is a small press publishing well researched and immersive historical fiction. You can see more about the press, its mission, and see whether we might be a good fit for you here.
This post marks the beginning of a series in which I will share with you, dear readers, the biggest mistakes I see writers making when they query us with their manuscripts. What is interesting to note, and please take this in, rejection does not mean that your writing is bad or that we don’t like your story. It honestly sometimes means we are not a good fit and that if you found the right fit, you would get a different answer. However, there are some things you can do to help up your odds of us requesting the full and even offering a contract.
#10—Not reading the submission guidelines.
The guidelines are there to help you decide if we are a good match for your work. Even though we are a historical fiction press, I have received queries for books that do not in any way fit into the historical fiction category. Even though a novel length project should be between 60 and 100k words, I have received queries for projects that were 17k words. It was pitched as a novel. Help yourself have a higher chance of success by reading the guidelines and following them.
#9—Formatting the manuscript incorrectly.
There is a standard manuscript formatting, and you should follow it. Times New Roman, double spaced, with page numbers and 1-inch margins. It is standard because it makes your work easier to read when a person is looking at manuscripts all day. That cute font isn’t so cute when my eyes are tired. Using tiny letters is likewise just difficult to read. Single spacing is not your friend.
These first two are pretty low hanging fruit; they are just ways to make sure you don’t get an automatic pass when someone is tired or when your manuscript doesn’t actually fit into the press’s mission. As we move up the chain, the mistakes get harder and take more time to fix. Stay tuned.