Q I’m ready to send out my manuscript to agents, and I’m finishing the
final formatting touches. Do I include a word count on the manuscript,
or will mentioning it in the query letter suffice? —Rachael A.
When submitting to agents or editors, always include a rough word count on the cover page of your
manuscript (and by “rough word count,” I mean round up to the nearest
thousand). It should appear in the upper right-hand corner of your
cover page, across from your name and contact information, and should
read About 92,000 words (or whatever your magic number is).
I also recommend including your manuscript’s word count in your query
letter. Put it in the paragraph that introduces your title. For
example, if I were querying with an epic novel about pink flamingos, my
second or third paragraph would lead with, Pink Flamingo Dance Party is
an 86,000-word novel about a pack of wild pink flamingos that …
This way the agent or publisher has a clear picture of what to expect from your work.
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What about emailed submissions? Do you include a cover letter (I would think it would get lost pasted in the body of the email…)? I’ve heard every emailed submission should be in plain text, so all the rules about fonts and spacing don’t seem to apply… A little help?!?
This all depends on how the agent/publisher requests it. Follow their guidelines from their website or from WritersMarket.com.
Typically, you’ll include a plain-text query in an e-mail, but when they requested sample chapters you will attach them to the e-mail (from WORD or whatever word processor you use).
Hope this helps,
Brian