Submissions

You could tailor each cover-letter to the agent/publisher you are sending it to. Find out a name and address it accordingly. Mention why you want to be represented by them, and any authors you like they represent or books they have released that may be similar to your own. Find a connection and a reason why they should consider your work. Make sure you are actually ready for submission, I made that mistake and exhausted too many avenues before I realised my book was no where polished enough. Treat the whole thing as a learning experience and improve the more you do, so yes, tweak if you feel the need. ))

It depends. Have you had any feedback or any requests for fulls? If not, if it was me, I would look at the entire MS again, obviously including the first three chapters.

Like Heather, I'm submitting in smaller batches: to date, six submissions. Out of those, I've had two requests for fulls; one of these agents has subsequently asked me to "revise and resubmit" based on her feedback and the other has also given me very detailed feedback. Obviously, this will be a huge help if it comes to revising the MS (again!).

Have you had your MS beta-read? And your query letter, synopsis and first three chapters proof-read?

Anyway, good luck. It's nail-biting, isn't it!

Hi Dave

I'm submitting too but around four to six at a time. I've had about seven no thanks out of around twenty now and one request for full which she didn't fall in love with as she put it but she said I should carry on elsewhere . I was initially happy with my cover letter but changed it a little after the first few which was when I was asked for the full so maybe you.should review and see if it needs a tweak. I'm not sure how you could change the sample as its usually pretty standard first three chapters and they generally don't like anything else. Good luck!