What should you pay attention to when submitting a manuscript for the first time? When Utsudo first submitted a manuscript during the winter break of her freshman year, she was so nervous she reread it hundreds of times. She later realized that a manuscript must be reasonably complete, but most worries are unnecessary. What really matters is each publisher’s submission rules, such as whether simultaneous submissions are allowed. Her first submission was accepted within a week, then shelved for over a year before the contract was hastily terminated—teaching her that even when disappointed, you mustn’t despair.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

My first submission, in the winter break of freshman year

I remember my first submission was during the winter break of my first year at university.

Like everyone submitting for the first time, I was incredibly nervous. I tried to eliminate every error I could find—typos, plot bugs, and the materials required for submission.

I was so careful I wanted to read every word in the file more than a hundred times. If I went over it many times and still found an awkward sentence, or even a single typo, I’d beat myself up.

In short, I was so nervous that it felt as if the slightest flaw would affect my work’s fate.

What really matters when you submit

But after being in the industry for a long time, I realized that of course your submission must be reasonably complete, but beyond that, most worries are unnecessary. A normal editor won’t throw out a manuscript because of a typo or an awkward sentence in the manuscript or email.

You do need to pay attention to one thing, though: every publisher has different requirements. Some prohibit simultaneous submissions, or ask you to state it if you’re submitting to several at once. This is all on their websites, so please check for yourself.

The acceptance email that came a week later

I submitted to my top-choice publisher, a big house that has produced many famous authors (it still exists). About a week later, I received an email.

It basically said my manuscript had been accepted and they wanted to discuss a contract.

But when I first saw it, I thought it was from a scam ring XD

All kinds of scams were rampant then, so I thought: who knew you could even scam people over novel submissions? But how would this person know I’d submitted to that publisher? Was it some kind of witchcraft? Okay, anyway, until I actually received the contract, I thought it might be fake. After signing, they quickly started preparing the book—character designs, the cover and so on. Soon I received the cover, the color foldout insert and two black-and-white illustrations, followed by copyediting. I received not only digital files but also printed pages marked up in red, and that’s when I realized how hard it is to make a book. After all that work was done, I waited for the publishing schedule.

Shelved, then hastily terminated

But I waited and waited—January became March, March became June… and so on, for a whole year. My university studies got busy, and trusting this big company, I barely asked. Only when I was about to graduate did I ask the editor-in-chief again when it would be published.

Then he started brushing me off and even hung up on me. It was the first time I’d been in a situation with nowhere to turn. When I reread the contract, I found it had almost no clauses protecting me… but when we negotiated it, I was a newbie who didn’t dare ask for anything and had no idea how to protect myself (covers face)

In the end, I spent a lot of effort until I told him directly I’d take legal action. Only then did he finally respond, and in less than five minutes, he hastily ended the nightmare that had tormented me for years.

When I asked why they didn’t publish it, he said lightly that the publisher’s direction had changed and the manuscript no longer met their requirements.

If it was already decided long ago, I really don’t understand the point of not telling me and dodging me in every way.

It was a long time ago, and those manuscripts have since been published elsewhere, but thinking about it still makes me a bit unhappy.

Even when disappointed, don’t despair

In short, it was like having a beautiful dream—once you wake up, you have to start working hard again.

My desktop wallpaper is still the color insert from that book, as a reminder not to let my guard down easily. No one knows how the future will change. The only things you can trust are your original intention, your principles and your perseverance.

If you want to chase your dream, you have to accept that even when you’re disappointed, you mustn’t despair.

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #138: When Losses Outweigh What We Have, What Can We Still Hold On To?
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.