The Pre-Submission Checklist for UK Literary Agents

The Pre-Submission Checklist for UK Literary Agents

A submission rarely fails at the sentence level. It fails at the packaging. An agent opens the email, finds sample pages in a font nobody asked for, scans for the word count, doesn't see it, and moves on before reaching your best line. Unglamorous, but that is how a busy submissions inbox works.

The encouraging part is that packaging is mechanical. Almost everything below can be checked in a single afternoon. Work through it in order, be honest about the boxes you cannot yet tick, and send when they are all filled.

Start with the agency, not the manuscript

Guidelines vary more than most writers expect. One agent asks for three chapters and a one-page synopsis; another wants the first fifty pages and no synopsis at all; a third only accepts submissions through a web form during advertised windows. Sending the wrong package to the right agent is still a rejection.

Go to the agency's own website. Third-party listings go stale, however well maintained they look. Check that the agency is open, check which agents represent your kind of book, and read the guidelines twice: once before you build the submission, once before you send it. If an agency says it is closed until September, a submission in July is not early; it is deleted.

Pay attention to the small print, too. Some agents want the first three chapters pasted into the email body. Others want a single attached document. Some ask for a synopsis even when they do not ask for sample pages. A few ask for a covering letter and no query letter at all. The only reliable way to know is to read the page yourself, not to rely on a list someone compiled two years ago.

• [ ] The agency is currently open to submissions.
• [ ] You have identified a named agent who handles your genre, not a general inbox.
• [ ] You have read the agency's own guidelines rather than a summary of them.
• [ ] You know the required sample length, synopsis length and file format.
• [ ] You know whether simultaneous submissions are welcome.

The query letter

One page. Four short paragraphs will do it. The first gives the agent the essentials in a sensible order: title, genre, word count and one or two comparable recent books. The Salt Line is an 89,000-word literary thriller set on the Humber estuary, for readers of such-and-such — that shape tells an agent in ten seconds where your book sits on the shelf.

The second paragraph is the story: who wants something, what stands in the way, what it will cost them. Three or four sentences, present tense, no rhetorical questions, no weather. If your novel opens with a woman returning to her hometown, do not spend the paragraph on the train journey. Start with the buried secret, the missing brother, the offer she cannot refuse. Specificity beats atmosphere in a query.

The third is you, briefly, and only where it is relevant. Previous publication, a prize, a job that gives you authority on your subject — one or two lines at most. If you have none of those, go straight to the fourth: a thank you, and a note that the full manuscript is available on request.

Address the agent by name. "Dear Ms Okonjo" is better than "Dear Agent" and far better than "To whom it may concern." Check the spelling of their name on the agency website, not in your memory. If the guidelines say they use they/them pronouns, use them. These details signal that you have done the work.

Lines that lose the request

Some sentences do damage on sight. Cut any of these before sending:

• Anything beginning "I have been writing since I could hold a pen."
• Claims that your mother, your writing group or your beta readers think it is the best book they have read.
• Comparisons to a single enormous bestseller that your book could not possibly match.
• Apologies and hedging — "I know you're busy, but…"
• The words "fiction novel", or a note explaining that you are an unknown.
• Long lists of themes, as if the agent is marking an exam.
• Any sentence that begins "This book is impossible to categorise."

You do not need to be modest, but you do need to be clear. Confidence in a query sounds like This is a complete 92,000-word novel, not I hope this might possibly be something you could consider.

The synopsis

Most UK agents ask for a one-page synopsis, though some ask for two pages and a few want no more than 500 words. Read the guidelines. A synopsis is not a teaser, a blurb or a sample. It is a plain account of the whole story, including the ending. If your protagonist dies on page 340, the synopsis says so.

Write it in the present tense and the third person. Introduce the main character by name, then follow the causal chain: inciting incident, escalating complications, crisis, climax, resolution. Keep subplots to a minimum unless they change the main outcome. Name only the characters who matter. Do not use rhetorical questions, do not withhold the twist, and do not write "the reader will discover…" The agent is reading to understand the shape of the book, not to be seduced by it.

When a body is found in the reeds at Whitton Marsh, DS Mara Ellery recognises the victim's watch as her father's. She hides the connection, but the investigation pulls her back into the village she left at seventeen and the night her sister disappeared.

That is the kind of opening that works. It names the character, the crime, the personal stake and the past. From there, keep going until the last line of the plot. A good synopsis feels slightly too revealing to the writer. That is normal.

• [ ] The synopsis covers the ending, including any major death or twist.
• [ ] It is written in present tense and third person.
• [ ] It names only the essential characters.
• [ ] It matches the manuscript's plot exactly.
• [ ] It fits the requested length, counted not guessed.
• [ ] It contains no rhetorical questions or vague teasers.

Formatting the sample pages

Unless the guidelines say otherwise, use standard manuscript format. Times New Roman or a similar serif font, 12 point, double spaced, with one-inch margins. Left-align the text; do not justify it. Indent new paragraphs and do not add extra blank lines between them. Put your surname, the book title and the page number in the header. Start each new chapter on a new page if the sample includes chapter breaks.

Send a .docx or .pdf only if the agency asks for it. Do not send a Google Docs link, a Pages file, a screenshot or a link to your website. Do not send a zip file unless requested. Name the file clearly: Salt_Line_Surname_First50.docx is easier for an agent to file than finalfinalREAL.docx.

Check the small things that suggest a writer is not ready: track changes still visible, comments in the margin, placeholders like [INSERT SCENE], inconsistent character names, chapter headings that do not match the synopsis. These are not style choices. They are interruptions.

The email itself

The email is part of the submission. Keep the subject line simple and informative: Submission: The Salt Line, literary thriller, 89,000 words. Do not use all caps, exclamation marks or the word "URGENT". If the guidelines give a subject format, use it exactly.

The body of the email should be short. A brief greeting, the title and genre, the requested materials attached or pasted as instructed, and a one-line thank you. Do not summarise the whole book again if the query letter is attached. Do not send to multiple agents in the same "To" field. If you are submitting simultaneously, send separate emails and keep a record.

Include your contact details in your signature: name, email address, phone number if you are happy to share it, and any relevant website or social media profile. No inspirational quotes, no coloured fonts, no read receipts. You want the agent to think about the book, not the email.

Before you press send

This is the final pass. It takes ten minutes and saves months.

1. Open every attachment on a different device or in a different program. Check that the file opens, the pages are numbered and the formatting has not shifted.
2. Read the first page aloud. If you stumble over the first sentence, fix it.
3. Check that every name, title, word count and comparison is consistent across the query, synopsis and sample.
4. Search the document for your own name, the word "Chapter" and any placeholder text.
5. Confirm you are sending to the correct agent and the correct email address.
6. Check the agency's response time and note it in your submissions log.

Then send it. Do not reread the email after it has gone. There is nothing useful on the other side of that impulse.

After you send

Log the date, the agent, the agency and the materials sent. If the agency says it responds in eight weeks, do not nudge in week three. If it says no response means no, believe it. If you receive a rejection, you do not need to reply, and you certainly do not need to argue. If you receive an offer of representation, that is the one time to contact every other agent with a submission and give them a deadline to respond.

Meanwhile, keep working. The best way to survive the waiting is to have another project underway. The submission is a package, but the writing is not. The agent may say no to this book and yes to the next one. The checklist gets you a fair reading. The next draft is what earns the yes.

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