Submissions – Not as hard as you may think…by Jeanie Loiacono

After being an agent for nearly ten years, I have seen quite a few submissions. Some budding authors actually read the LLA Submission Guidelines, but the majority do not. The Submission Guidelines page starts with this:

Below are templates of how we wish to have submissions sent to us. Those not submitted according to the guidelines will not be read until submitted correctly. Please read all the way to the end for helpful information.

You may send all submissions to Jeanie Loiacono @ [email protected]  or peruse our agents to see what their genre preference is and submit to them directly.

 The query in the body of the email. Must include complete contact information (legal name/pseudonym, address, phone number(s), email(s), and website), title, word count, book blurb, and short author bio (pertinent literary history only).

Synopsis as a Word doc attachment Times New Roman 12 pt. – one-page, single-spaced, beginning, middle, and end.

Complete manuscript as a Word doc attachment Times New Roman 12 pt. double-spaced – formatted per the below LLA submission guidelines, proofed, and spellchecked.

It is not complicated nor hard to understand. If anyone has questions on how to do an attachment, a Word doc. or how to copy n paste, ask a teenager. Good golly, they know more about computers than any adult ever will. The rest of the page gives detailed instructions should this be your first rodeo (pun intended, this is Texas). I am even going to give you a priceless tool: a conversion link. You can convert any doc or pic to whatever and as many you want for FREE. http://pdf2doc.com/

There are many important things to remember:

• Professionalism at all times (in person, on the phone, or in emails)
• Proof your work no matter what it is
• Research what the agents are interested in
• Go to the library or book store and see what is selling and how the books look inside and out. Take a notebook!
• Look at the examples of how LLA wants it done. This is standard in the industry, so it would be good for anyone after you do it once. Save everything.
• Send the submission and wait for a response. We will reply to your email by either an email saying it is in queue to be reviewed or rejected. If rejected, it is because of one or all of the above.
• Be patient. It takes upwards of a week to read and edit a well-written manuscript; sometimes three months for one we are interested in that needs a ton of work. (Yes, we do a full edit. We work with the author to ensure it is as good as we can get it before submitting to publishers.) LLA’s policy is that the established LLA authors who have sequels have priority. Publishers are waiting on those manuscripts and we have to go through them first so the publisher does not receive an unpolished work.
• When we do take one on, all of the prerequisites have to be met before the submission package can be completed.

So, it is a long process. Patience is a virtue that must be cultivated, encouraged, and utilized.

Keep writing!