Every independent publisher has a slush pile, and most of what lands in it is not badly written. It is badly prepared. Files with curly quotation marks in one chapter and straight ones in the next. Synopses that stop at the midpoint. Sample chapters that begin on page 47 because nobody reset the numbering. Editors notice these things in the first thirty seconds, and that first impression is hard to undo.

The good news is that preparation is a craft you can learn in an afternoon. What follows is the routine used by writers who get read rather than skimmed — the same routine whether you are sending three chapters to a small literary press or a full manuscript to a genre imprint with a two-person team.

1. Read the submission guidelines twice, then once more

Independent presses are idiosyncratic by nature. One will ask for the first fifty pages, another for three chapters, another for the complete manuscript. One wants a one-page synopsis, another a two-page summary plus a chapter outline, another nothing but a cover letter and a sample.

Read the guidelines with a pen. Note the contact name and spell it correctly. Note whether they accept simultaneous submissions, whether they want an exclusive look, and what their stated response time is. If the guidelines say "synopsis of no more than 500 words," open a word processor and count — do not assume your 900-word version will be forgiven. The writers who follow instructions precisely are already in a smaller, friendlier pile.

2. Format the file so it disappears

Good formatting is invisible. The reader should be thinking about your opening line, not about your margins. Unless the publisher says otherwise, these are the settings that will never cause a problem:

• Font and spacing: a standard serif such as Times New Roman or Garamond at 12 point, double-spaced throughout, including after chapter headings.
• Margins and alignment: one inch on all sides, left-aligned with a ragged right edge. Justified text creates rivers of white space and looks amateurish in a submission file.
• Paragraphs: a half-inch first-line indent, set with the ruler or paragraph style — never with the space bar or four taps of the tab key. Ebook conversion later will thank you.
• Pagination: page numbers in the header or footer, paired with your surname, so printed pages can be reassembled if they get shuffled.
• Chapters: each one starting on a fresh page, headed simply "Chapter One" in the same font as the body.
• Scene breaks: a single centered hash mark (#) or three spaced asterisks, used consistently every time the point of view moves.

Housekeeping matters too. Turn off curly-quote autocorrect inconsistencies by setting them deliberately, use italics rather than underlining, and check that your file is saved as .docx unless the guidelines explicitly ask for PDF. Name the file something an editor can find again: Surname_Title_FullMS.docx.

3. Keep front matter lean

Here writers tend to overdo it. For a submission, your front matter should be a single title page containing the book's title, your name, the genre or category, an accurate word count rounded to the nearest thousand, and your contact details. That is all.

Leave out the copyright statement, the dedication, the acknowledgments page and the epigraph collection. Those belong to the published book, and including them can make a submission look self-published before it has even been read. A table of contents is only worth adding if the publisher has asked for one, which for fiction is rare.

Do, however, add the word count honestly. Count the finished manuscript and round down, not up. A 78,000-word novel described as 95,000 suggests you either have not finished or have not looked.

4. Write the synopsis as a report, not a pitch

The synopsis is the most misunderstood document in publishing. It is not a blurb. It is not a teaser. It is a factual account of your plot in present tense, telling the editor exactly what happens, including the ending.

A workable one-page synopsis does four things: it names the protagonist and what they want, it establishes the pressure that makes wanting it difficult, it traces the decisions that carry the story through its middle, and it states how the book resolves. Secondary characters get one clause each, and only if they change the plot.

Sentences worth avoiding in a synopsis

Anything that withholds information — "little does she know," "the truth will shock everyone," "will he survive?" — is a wasted line. So is rhetorical questioning. Editors are reading to understand whether your plot holds together, and secrecy reads as a plot that does not. Write the synopsis after the final draft, not before, and ask someone who has not read the book whether they now understand it.

5. Read for consistency, not for beauty

Your final pass before submission is not a line edit. It is an audit, and it works better with a list and a fresh screen:

1. Trace every character's name, age and physical description through the manuscript. Nicknames that shift are common; so are eyes that change colour between chapters.
2. Mark the timeline. If chapter four happens on a Tuesday, chapter five cannot open three days earlier without a signpost.
3. Check point of view and tense at the start of each chapter. Accidental head-hopping is the flaw editors mention most often.
4. Verify spelling conventions — pick British or American and hold it, including the quotation marks.
5. Confirm chapter numbering is sequential and the word count on the title page matches.

Read short sections aloud. Errors of consistency hide in silence and surface when spoken.

6. Assemble the whole package before you send it

Check the guidelines one last time and put together exactly what has been requested: the sample pages or full text in the required file type, the synopsis at the required length, a short cover letter and a brief biography that mentions relevant publications or writing background without overreaching.

Keep the cover letter to a page. State the title, the genre, the word count and the fact that this submission is such-and-such per the guidelines, then stop. Do not summarise the plot in the letter — that is the synopsis's job — and do not explain what you were trying to achieve thematically. If the publisher accepts simultaneous submissions, you may mention it politely; if they ask for exclusivity, respect the window they have named.

The ten-point check before you hit send

Print this and tick it off. It takes four minutes and saves months.

1. Guidelines read, requirements listed, contact name spelled correctly.
2. Standard font, double spacing, one-inch margins, ragged right.
3. Page numbers with your surname; each chapter starting on a new page.
4. Title page with accurate, rounded word count and contact details.
5. No copyright page, dedication or acknowledgments in the file.
6. Synopsis complete, present tense, ending included, within the stated length.
7. Consistency pass finished: names, timeline, point of view, spelling.
8. Cover letter under one page and free of plot summary.
9. File named clearly and saved in the requested format.
10. Submission recorded in your own tracker, with the response date noted.

Then send it, and begin the next thing. The submission is prepared, not perfect — and a manuscript that is easy to read, easy to file and easy to say yes to has already done half the work for the editor who opens it.

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