I have a question about submiting a first novel to an agent.?

The first thing is you don't submit a novel to an agent. You submit a QUERY along with a synopsis. If the agent shows interest, they will ask you for a full or partial manuscript and a book proposal. You need to learn how to write a query that captures the imagination, a synopsis that gets to the heart of your book and a book proposal that sells it. Without knowing how to write all three documents, don't waste your time transferring from handwritten pages. It will only end up on the slush pile for eventual form rejection. NO agents accept unsolicited manuscripts. They simply have no time to read them and they cannot afford to hire more staff to handle them without having to charge their clients higher royalties. Most of the time, they no longer even bother with rejection letters. They just shred.

You need to steer clear of blogs. Many of them have no clue what they are talking about. Instead, get yourself a copy of Writers Market. And read it cover to cover. Don't use it as a big fat paperweight on your desk. Also, although he is not one of my favorite writers, Nicholas Sparks has offered a very detailed tutorial for novice authors on his website.

You can also go to my profile and go through the starred Q and A. I star all great Q and A on writing and publishing for the benefit of novices. Print some out that you think will help you.

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They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

How a manuscript appears on the page is a sure sign of a novice writer, so you want to make sure & submit it with the lines 'wild' & unjustified. At the same time, you want to have it in double space in either Courier New, or Times New Roman in 12 point font. Have your name, address, e-mail & phone number on the top right hand corner of the front page, with the word count in the upper left hand corner of the page.

Also, have the title & beginning of the manuscript start about a third of a page down because editors & agents like to write comments for themselves, or others in that empty space.

very few valid publishers settle for manuscript submissions from an author. they often deal only with an agent and looking out a good agent to symbolize you is somewhat confusing. in case you do hit upon a writer who will take a e book without an agent you will probable arise in need of a exceptional 'shrink' on the sales. brokers negotiate the final deal accessible. There are arrogance press publishers who value for publishing your e book, from $2,000 up yet they are often a waste of time. i'd undertaking a danger that at any time there are hundreds of hundreds of 'authors' in seek of a writer yet without an agent that's a lost reason. I had 2 books printed by ability of Macmillan/Collier interior the 1980's, dealing with the negotiations myself and that i replaced into gypped royally.

robert, at this point you want to submit only a query. You don't send out the novel until someone asks to see it, based on your query letter.

Meanwhile, you can put it into submission format. Here's one of the internet's better examples: http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec98/shunn.ht...

Remember, you submit queries or manuscripts only to agents who you've researched, so you know they're the real thing, not scammers who prey on your hopes. Real agents never, ever need any money up front to sell your work. Their pay comes from taking a percentage of the selling price when they succeed.

Besides Writer's Market, I would also get a copy of How to be Your Own Literary Agent and learn what it has to say. If your book is good enough to sell, it will tell you how to do it. Even though you are looking for an agent, this book will help you make judgements about what to do.

Well, first of all, don't give them the manuscript right away. That has already been mentioned. As far as submitting it when asked, just make it legible.

They don't have to be justified unless the agent requests it in his/her submission guidelines.