Literary Magnet » FAQs for authors

Why is an outline required for novels?

creativebyline — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:53:58 +0000

There’s a good reason Creative Byline requires writers to include an outline as part of the submission package. While we were in the development stage of Creative Byline, editors told us they would prefer to know the manuscript is completed, but because a chapter-by-chapter outline shows the writer has thought through the entire story, an outline would be acceptable. So the outline is actually a compromise of sorts.

Not all writers write from an outline. But if your novel is done—which is what the editor is really hoping for—then it’s just a matter of summarizing what happens in each chapter. Even better: In the process of writing the outline, you might spot a few weaknesses in your manuscript that you can then fix before submitting it. There’s information on how to write an outline on our “resources” page, but you must be logged in to access it. (Signing up doesn’t cost anything.)

How many times can I submit?

creativebyline — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:41:38 +0000

One of our early clients gave us kudos in his comment and asked a good question: If after two attempts a manuscript still doesn’t pass our first reader’s quality check, what next? We recommend that you take some time to hone your writing skills in the areas that first readers mentioned in their feedback. You can start with our list of writers’ resources, which is accessible to members (membership is free right now). Read a book on plot, attend a relevant conference, take an online class, find a critique group. After you’ve applied what you’ve learned to your manuscript, you can submit to Creative Byline again, for a fee. Basically, every other time is free, and you can submit to Creative Byline for as long as you want, continuing to get feedback every time.

We want you to succeed—not just to become a published writer but to become a better writer. Toward that end, we’re working to make the “writer” section of Creative Byline more robust. Stay tuned.

We love questions!

creativebyline — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:53:59 +0000

There’ve been some questions popping up on various discussion boards that we want to answer here.

If Creative Byline is in beta, can I trust it? Yes! Beta means different things to different people. To us, it means that the site is fully functional but you might occasionally find a broken link or think of a question that hasn’t occurred to us yet. Creative Byline is a complex and powerful system. “Beta” is just our way of acknowledging you might find a minor kink. If so, let us know! We’ll fix it, pronto. If you think of a way to improve the system, tell us. We’re all about process improvement.

Why will an editor read things submitted through Creative Byline when she already receives so much slush via snail mail? Two big reasons: 1) The only manuscripts she’ll get through Creative Byline are ones that meet the criteria she has selected (e.g., “fantasy,” “young adult”), and 2) Creative Byline’s first readers pre-qualify manuscripts so the editor knows she’ll be viewing fewer manuscripts. Furthermore, the ones she does view will, as a group, be higher quality than the ones she receives via mail. You can find out more here.

How can someone outside the industry change the submissions process? Of course we can’t be objective, but we think that being outside the industry uniquely suited our CEO Brad MacLean for the job and enabled him to come up with a new submissions model that benefits writers, editors, and publishers. You can find out more here. (Also, his wife is a well published author, so he didn’t come to the industry stone cold.)

Finally, it seems that some people think Creative Byline is just another posting board for editors to search through. It’s not. Creative Byline actually sorts manuscripts and matches them up to editors who have told the system what they are looking for. The system presents a list of editors who are looking for the kind of manuscript the writer has written. The writer then decides which editor to submit to. The writer retains control over where the manuscript is submitted.

For a limited time, you can sign up for free and see what editors are looking for right now, even if you decide to submit via snail mail. What do you have to lose?

All about first readers

creativebyline — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:45:46 +0000

Someone recently asked us who our first readers are. Eighty percent of first readers have some type of advance writing or literature degree. They work at the direction of Creative Byline’s editorial director using specific criteria, which we’ll talk more about in a later post. We’ll supplement those readers with readers who have specialties. Most large publishing houses have also used first readers in order to lighten the editors’ loads and get through the backlog of slush. Like those first readers, our first readers do not judge whether or not a manuscript is good enough to be published—only whether it meets certain quality standards.

If a first reader rejects a manuscript, the writer will be given a basic explanation of why. This is more than most writers get under the current submission process, since there are not enough hours in the day for editors to respond to every one of the manuscripts they receive every year. Second, the writer may re-submit that manuscript once to Creative Byline at no additional cost, and we’ll route it to a different first reader. We recommend that the writer use the first-reader feedback to revise the piece before resubmitting, but that’s totally up to the writer.

Next question?

How to submit a manuscript using Creative Byline (when it goes live)

creativebyline — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:07:22 +0000

Creative Byline’s online manuscript submission service won’t launch until later this fall, but when it does, here’s how the process will work for writers.

Step 1: Join Creative Byline (free, for a limited time) and post your writer profile—whatever you want editors to know about you. You can post a bio, credentials, awards and memberships, and (if you’ve already been published) covers of your previously published books.

Step 2: Pay a nominal fee and, using our template, upload your query package (cover letter, synopsis, chapter outline, and first three chapters) to Creative Byline, where a first reader will make sure it meets our quality standards. The first reader is not making a judgment call on whether or not it’s publishable—only that it meets certain standards. If your manuscript doesn’t make the cut, you’ll be told why. You’ll then have the opportunity to resubmit to a different first reader—although we do recommend that you revise before doing so, to increase the likelihood the manuscript will be accepted.

Step 3: When your manuscript passes Step 2, you can either submit directly and exclusively to an editor who is a match for what you have to offer (the option we recommend) or submit your manuscript to our “reading room,” which is like a library of manuscripts that editors can search using keywords and other criteria. Creative Byline is a closed and secure system: Only subscribing editors will be able to see your query package.

Step 4: Log in to Creative Byline to check on the status of your manuscript. You’ll be able to see if an editor has viewed your query package and/or downloaded your manuscript. When you submit to a specific editor, he or she has an exclusive on that manuscript for three weeks. If the editor doesn’t view your query package within three weeks, you can submit to the next editor for no additional charge. You can continue to do this until an editor views your query package.

That’s the Creative Byline guarantee: Your query package will be viewed by the editor you submitted to within three weeks or you get to submit the query package to another editor at no additional charge. Creative Byline puts an end to the black hole of submissions!

Step 5: If an editor is interested in your manuscript, the editor will contact you directly, and you and the editor take it from there.

So how much is all this going to set you back, exactly? We’ll talk about that in an upcoming post.