THE ICE PICK

Manuscript Submission, by Scott Edelstein. (Elements of the Fiction Writing Series) Cincinnati, Writer's Digest Books, 1989. ISBN: 0-89879-398-X. $13.95.

As an author, editor, and agent himself, Edelstein is well-qualified to help you through the process of submitting manuscripts. And even though this book covers the basics of formatting short stories, novels, novellas, and book proposals, it offers you far more than that.

Edelstein includes an in-depth discussion of the fiction market, as well as advice on whether or not you need an agent, and if so, how to obtain one. He explains when to use a query and what it should look like, how to make and use contacts, and how to approach editors and agents, and what to look for in an agent.

His advice ranges from the general to the very specific. On the manuscript itself, he recommends excluding any indication of the rights you wish to sell, a copyright notice unless your piece has been previously published, and your social security number. Along with instructions on preparing folders for mailing book proposals, he even has advice about paper clipping your manuscript. (Use a regular paperclip on manuscripts up to twenty-five pages and a buttefly clamp on manuscripts of twenty-five to eighty pages. A manuscript longer than that should be mailed loose.)

In the chapter on "listing your credentials and background" he recommends, among other things, that you list your memberships only in those "organizations that have a publication requirement for joining." That is far more impressive to editors and agents and doesn't look as if all you did was pay your annual dues.

Edelstein tells what you should put in an author's bio and how to submit writing samples, reviews, and endorsements. He includes instructions on writng novel outlines and proposals, as well as cover and query letters.

If you are looking for directions on how to format manuscripts for fillers, greeting cards, poems, recipes, or scripts; or you simply want the basic typing instructions for short stories and novels, you need Dian Dincin Buchman's The Writer's Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats or Jack Neff's Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript. If you want to know more, then you need this book. It is a treasure, and I recommend it highly.

{Published in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Feb. 2001; reprinted Apr. 2001.}