Nathan Bransford - The Forums

How do query letters to agents differ from submissions to small press editors? Obviously you still need to hook them with your pitch, but is there a "standard" for this as there seems to be with submission to agents?

I think you query in the same way (hopefully with a few attached pages) as you would with an agent, but only after checking each specific press for their guidelines. If they want something diffeernt they'll tell you.

Best of luck,
Ink

Every small press is different and usually posts their submission requirements on their website.

Thanks guys. I had seen all the different requirements, but I had never seen if there was a specific format that you were supposed to write a "publisher" query in.

You know, in my experience, I think authors can underestimate submissions to small presses - meaning their query can be presented a lot looser than if they were querying a large house. I don't know why that is. If anything, small presses are operating in the niche markets and a full understanding of their publishing lists are absolutely essential. You might almost say small presses can be hypersensitive and fastidious about the type of work submitted to them, in a way a large publishing house will not be because of their broader range of genres.

Having said that, smaller presses are often the ones who will provide authors with more feedback than simply a flat formulaic rejection.

I'm in the process of creating my 2010 List: agents, publishers, editors, etc that I will submit to this year. In the past I haven't been very serious about it, only submitting to a handful of agents over the last few years. The small press intrigues me and I'm wondering more about it myself. Does anyone have any examples of such businesses that accept YA? I have been scanning my Writers Market for the last couple days and taking good notes, but maybe there are some good suggestions out there?