Okay, so I have decided to try and get some of my poetry published. I am going for small stuff, just magazines. Almost all of them though want it in manuscript form. Does anyone have any tips when it comes to writing a manuscript? I know I can google it but I would rather hear people's personal opinions/experiances. Any help is greatly appreciated. =) ~~Silver Wolf~~
I think that for most, they set out submission guidelines in their website. If you are not sure, why not give them a call and ask for their guidelines - they can vary so it's best to check.
email me for info on this... i can show you with a sample of your work... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
A lot of places will have their own guidelines but will also have "standard manuscript format" written in their guidelines somewhere. Basically, it's just telling you to add a lot of space and where. It's rather annoying but in the first few paragraphs you'll forget there was another way to write before. Very clean looking too. I didn't see a rule banning this, so here is a link to a a site that shows you exactly how it ought to look like. (although, keep the cover letter and the start seperate.) http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html This is a simple text document which explains everything rather clearly. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/format.html
Disregarding the specific guidelines laid out by a publication is one of the quickest ways to have your manuscript rejected without ever having actually been read. I have heard some publishers say as many as 80% of the manuscripts they receive are not in the proper format. Take the time to look at the requirements set forth by each publication to which you submit and at least you will start off on the right foot. It won’t guarantee it will be published but it will increase the odds of it at least being considered.
poetry mss are very different from prose... and the 'rules' are not as rigid, since a poem's form is a major component of the work and there are so many, it can't be reduced to a single format... basically, you follow the info/wd count/title/by line format for short stories or articles... then you just type your poem the way it should be seen in print... and that's it... btw, don't take bill shunn's example poem as written in stone, since capitalizing the first word of every line hasn't been the standard for close to a century and is done nowadays only for wall hangings and greeting cards... your poem should be capitalized and punctuated the same as prose, unless you opt for neither...
Yes I agree, each place is different to the way they want the poetry or manuscript submitted. When I submitted mine, I had to format it constantly to fit the guidelines of each online site I was submitting too. Good luck and remember persistance pays off!
