Free working document
The submission packet checklist for agents, presses and contests
Everything that has to be true before a batch goes out, and the record that has to exist the moment it does.
This is the list a working author runs before she sends anything: which draft is going, whether the target is actually open, what each recipient asks for, and what gets written down so the follow up date is not a guess in four months. It covers agents, small presses, contests and anthologies, because most writers are sending to more than one kind of door in the same season.
Work through it once per batch, not once per book. The version changes, the guidelines change, and the reading periods open and close. Ten minutes at the top of a batch prevents the two errors that cost writers the most: sending the wrong draft, and sending materials in a form the recipient did not ask for.
Before the manuscript leaves your machine
Vetting each name on the list
Building the packet itself
The record you make the moment you send
How to use it
Print it or keep it open beside the batch you are building. The first two groups take about ten minutes for the whole batch, the third takes most of the time, and the fourth takes ninety seconds per submission and is the one writers skip. That fourth group is the reason a follow up in month four reads as professional rather than apologetic.
If you are running submissions in DraftAndQuery, the last group is already the shape of a submission record: recipient, version, materials, response date, close out date and notes. Fill it in there instead of on paper and the follow up queue builds itself while you get on with the next book.
Send me the editable copy
Send yourself the editable copy and use it on every batch, with room to add the guidelines each agent or press asks for.
Questions about this document
Does this work for contests and anthologies as well as agents?
Yes, and the vetting group matters more there because deadlines are fixed and entry rules are stricter. Contests often specify anonymized files with no identifying details, so read that group carefully before you send. The record you keep afterward is identical.
How often should I rerun the whole checklist?
Run the target vetting and packet groups for every batch, because guidelines and open dates change. Run the manuscript group again whenever you revise, which is also when the version number should change. Do not assume last month's file is still the one you want out there.
What if I have already sent a batch without logging anything?
Reconstruct it from your sent mail this week rather than later. Pull the date, the recipient and what you attached, then set the response date from the guidelines page. It takes an hour and it recovers the whole round.
The last group is the one that saves the round
Writing down the recipient, the version number, the materials and the response date takes ninety seconds per submission, and it is the group writers skip when a batch goes out at eleven at night. In DraftAndQuery that record is the submission, and the follow up queue is built straight out of it. A demo shows a whole batch logged in the time the paper version takes for two.