This is probably going to sound really dense, but what exactly do agents mean when they say 'no unsolicited mss'? I always thought it meant they wouldn't look at anything they hadn't commissioned, but several agents in the Writers & Artists say this and then follow it with guidelines for submissions - send 2 chapters and synopsis, etc. So I'm confused.

It means send a letter first, briefly outlining the novel (but not a synopsis), a short bio and asking them if they'd be interested in some sample chapters.

JB

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Or, if you're brave, save time and telephone them - if they accept calls - and do the same over the blower. Get a name to send to if they're willing, and Bob's your uncle, you're 'solicited'. Good luck. ;)

Oh, cool. Thanks JB.

Clodagh

I've always thought this meant don't send the whole manuscript - only send the first 2 chapters and synopsis (or whatever they specify).

I agree with Daisy - specially if they then say do send samples. What they don't want is a whole MS landing on their desk.

This is something that WWers disagree about. I would say 'no unsolicited MS' means what I've just said - samples/synopsis fine. 'No unsolicited submissions' means phone or email or write an enquiry first. Even if I was writing an enquiry, I'd put in 5 pages to prove I could write.

Once upon a time there was a WWer who in a similar discussion said they didn't want to put in pages because they felt their enquiry was better than their writing.

Carts, horses and putting things before comes to mind.

Emma

Hmmm, yes, you may have a point. In that case, I'd query via telephone.

JB

The query letter seems to be a US invention and isn't used anything like as much in UK publishing. In Carol Blakes' book 'From Pitch to Publication' there is no index entry for the word query! (I do recommend this book - it's written by a very experienced agent and is about how the fiction publishing industry works.)

With fiction, as long as you know the agent or publisher deals in your genre (which might warrant a phone call or email if you're not sure), there's little point in writing to ask them whether you can send a couple of chapters and a synopsis to them. The answer will usually be 'yes' but that doesn't mean your submission would get any sort of preferential treatment: it would still be an unsolicited submission as they didn't seek you out in any way.

We're always having this argument! As Emma says, WWers have agreed to disagree on it. I'm on JB's side - that it means just send a query letter first - or at most a synopsis, but no chapters until invited. My agent agreed, when I asked him what he thought it meant.

Rosy

Obviously I'm not the only one confused about this! I guess you can't go wrong with the query letter approach, since you won't offend anyone if that's what they mean, and if you're completely barking up the wrong tree, they won't read your stuff anyway. I just saw that book 'From Pitch to Publication' mentioned somewhere else the other day. I must get it.

Clodagh

It might work for 'high concept' stuff where the one-sentence idea is all, and the writing only has to be adequate, but not for any novel where the writing has some skill and orginality which you can't convey in a letter. I'd be worried about an agent who didn't think the quality of the writing was paramount - that's certainly what they all say they're looking for.

I suppose agencies who ask for queries first want to weed out the genres they don't handle, the poetry or the green-ink soft porn, or whatever, but by what I've heard, apart from that they always say 'yes' to all the other queries, because of course - yes - they can't tell anything worth telling just from a query.

I'm incapable of writing a snappy query letter, like many authors and I'd be seriously worried if it got to the point where you couldn't get your work seen by an agent without such a preliminary.

Emma

The query letter approach is the usual method for sibmitting non-fiction - both books and articles - as the idea and content is vitally important. But for fiction I can't see how a query letter tells the agent/editor anything they need to know; as Emma says, they can only make a judgement based on the actual writing.

I've heard a lot of agents speak at conferences, etc. and read interviews with agents in writing magazines and online, and I haven't come across one that's said they want a query letter first. Given how busy they all say they are (which I don't doubt), and how little time they have to spend reading unsolicited submissions, I'd have thought having to deal with query letters would simply annoy them, as it's a time-consuming extra.

As Emma says, though, it perhaps helps them weed out genres they don't handle. But if a writer has researched things properly they wouldn't be contacting an agent/editor who doesn't handle their kind of stuff.

There isn't, of course, a 'correct' way as different agents will go about things in different ways, as will writers, but personally I wouldn't bother with a query letter for a fiction submission, as it doesn't actually serve any useful purpose.

Yes, I guess it makes sense that they need to see some sample of writing for fiction, and you're really just cutting out a pointless step in the process.

Depending on which agency it is, I know of several who don't accept any submissions apart from those they have asked for themselves - either because of work they've seen or referrals. So they might mean what they say - unless they've asked for it, they don't want to see it. Seems it's getting harder to have work even looked at.

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oops just read your orginal post - they are asking for submissions. Yes, as others have said. Ignore me!