THE CAREER NOVELIST
PROPOSALS, PARTIALS, COMPLETE MANUSCRIPTS
Let us get right down to it: if you are a first-time novelist it will be
all but impossible for you to sell anything but a finished manu-
script. There are exceptions (I was one), but do you really want to
gamble on being an exception?
Finish your novel.
All done? Okay, let us survey the ins and outs of the different
forms in which a novel can be submitted. Completed manuscripts
have one advantage: there is no guesswork for an editor. What you
see is what you get. Also, a finished novel has behind it the power
of a whole story. All the emotions are in place. The twists and turns
are there. Reading a whole novel is like trekking across Nepal; you
fully experience the journey.
A fear that many authors have when submitting complete manu-
scripts is that the editor in question will not actually read the whole
book. It is a well-grounded worry. The fact is that at many major
houses your novel will first be read by an outside, free-lance reader
who will send it back to the editor with a one-page report.
If this report is positive, great. If negative, the book quickly comes
back, usually without getting a second look from anyone in-house.
What a horrifying thought! It is the reality of the business, though,
so the best idea is to get used to it. Besides, you are confident
about your novel, right? You feel certain it will strike a chord with
most readers, do you not?
Another worry about complete manuscripts is that the response
time will be inordinately long. Once again, this is a well-grounded
fear. Partials generally (though not always) get a faster look. But that
is not to say that complete novels will languish. Let me tell you, I
am sometimes amazed at how quickly a four-hundred-page manu-
script can come flying back to my office!
Here is the story on partials. They work best when the novel they
represent is an option book (your next work that you may be contrac-
tually obligated to offer your publisher) or when we are in an expan-
sive era in our industry. When good fiction is in short supply, a par-
tial can tantalize publishers with its promise of delights to come.
Indeed, I have lived through certain years when partials routinely
won bigger advances than finished novels.