Guides
Guides for writers
Practical advice from the editors of an independent press: openings, manuscripts, query letters, synopses and sending your work out.
- Standard manuscript format: the settings editors expectStandard manuscript format explained: font, spacing, margins, headers, chapters and scene breaks, with a settings checklist to use before you send.
- How to write a query letter an editor will finish readingHow to write a query letter in one page: the hook, the pitch, the book's details and your bio, with a template and the mistakes that end a read early.
- How to write a synopsis for a novel, with a one-page structureHow to write a synopsis for a novel on one page: what goes in, what stays out, a paragraph-by-paragraph structure and a worked example to follow.
- What an editor listens for in the first ten pagesThe opening of a manuscript does a lot of quiet work. Five things we pay attention to when we start reading, and what you can do about each of them.