Awhile ago I was reading something either on a writing blog or in a book on writing and it said something to the effect that there are two kinds of printers, (that you hook up to your computer to print out pages) and that there was actually a kind that submissions people preferred. I personally don't really know the difference. But since I'm buying a new printer anyway I was wondering if someone could tell me what a good one is. As I'll be needing a new one to print off a lot of my writing. As for, "kinds" I don't mean brands, it has something to do with the way they print. If anyone could clear this up for me I'd be grateful.
Focus on getting something that keeps the $ per sheet down. InkJet generally does a terrible job of that, while Laser printers are usually much better. You would probably have to re-mortgage your house to print out a few novels on an InkJet. I have never heard of such agent preferences, but then again I've never been quite desperate enough to bother with the snail-mail agencies.
I've never heard of this before. Any good printer should be able to print out pages that are easy to read. Are you sure the source you got this information from is legit?
Yeah it was legit. That's why I made a point of remembering to ask when I bought a new printer. I don't think it's a big deal and they'll reject you or anything. But since I was buying a new one anyway I thought I'd ask. I completely forgot about ink refills. Shows how much I use my printer now. Those can be super expensive.
If you're going to be doing a lot of paper submissions, you're probably better off with a laser printer, as it's quicker and toner lasts longer/doesn't cost a bomb.
what/who is that 'reliable' source of that dubious info/advice?... take any 10 agents and i'll bet no more than one [if any] can look at a page and tell what kind of printer turned it out... or that any will care, as long as the pages are printed clearly with an adequate supply of ink, at 'normal' or 'best' quality, not 'draft'...
I think this advice is a couple of decades out of date - agents used to bitch about the old ribbon printers that turned out absolutely shocking print quality on a continuous roll of paper with perforated edges, but those are dinosaurs now and increasingly rare - in fact so rare they're almost trendy again. Most agents wouldn't find fault with any modern inkjet or laserjet printer, provided the font, size, margins, spacing etc is per submission guidelines.
Like I said, I don't think it was a big deal. If I can remember the people just seemed to be voicing stuff that annoyed them when looking at submissions. I think it might have had to do with paper quality, like fax paper, or that paper with trimmings down the sides, or xerox. I don't quite remember. But I was getting a new printer, so I thought I might aswell ask since I don't know if it's a big deal or not and someone used to submitting might know if it was.
Thanks for the reply. I think that might be it. I have some great writing books that were written by older authors. I might have read it there.
You don't need two-sided printing for manuscript submissions. Single-sided printing is the standard. You don't need color printing - manuscripts should be a good black print on white paper.
Another advantage of laser printers is that the print fixes to the paper better than ink-jet printers. Just try to use a highlighter on ink-jet pages - the ink smears all over the place and goops up your highlighter. But laser printers print clean and stay clean. You can mark them up with highlighters and everything stays clean. Go for a laser printer!
The only type of printer I've ever read (on submission guidelines) not desired for a submission is a dot matrix printer. Those are very out of date, and I've not come across that request in years. Most submissions these days will be via online (email or upload) as has been stated above.
Yeah. I might have read it in an older book. I have some good ones but they show their age on some subjects. The whole ink rubbing off on hands/bad for highlighters rings a bell too. Like when you handle newspapers a lot and they make your hands dirty. I wouldn't want to handle those kinds of things all day. Ohwell. I was already leaning towards a laser printer. So I'll go with that. Thanks.
I perfer a laser printer for many of the reasons listed; cheaper, faster, ink doesn't smear. I also agree that printer type probably doesn't matter as much as it used to. I did have one thought but it was about paper. If you have to send in a paper submission, then spend the extra to buy a brighter (whiter) paper with a slightly heavier weight. Normal cheap copy paper is something like 92 brightness and 20 lbs weight but it looks and feels so much nicer to have 98 brightness and 24 lbs paper.
