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(Article #10)

E-format Your E-mail for Split Second Submissions
by Rusty Fischer

The author of Freedom to Freelance reveals how to e-format for e-efficiency!

If you've spent anytime at all submitting material online, you've realized that over the past few years, if not months, there's been a growing acceptance of e-submissions. What was once formally e-taboo is now apparently e-all right! From the "submit your story" section on Chickensoup.com to a  growing list of big name publishing houses accepting e-mail query letters or even writing samples, e-submissions are undoubtedly the wave of the future.

But how about when that great short story you worked so hard on comes back in a "reject reply" looking like it contains ancient hieroglyphics?

"Where are my cute smiley-face symbols?" you shout.

"Where are my bold and italics?" you scream.

"What happen to my quotation marks?" you cry.

Talk about cyber confusion! But how can you make sure these psycho symbols won't show up again? Short of typing every new submission into the body of a different e-mail, that is?

To avoid sending off a story that looks more like a math problem, here's a few tips on e-formatting:

Never Assume

For you fellow Bad News Bears fans, you know what I mean. There are many forms of e-mail software programs these days, and to assume that all of them are compatible with yours is unfair. Sure, yours comes with bells and whistles and animation and colors and script-y fonts, but the stripped down service many old-fashioned publishers use can't convert all that junk!

This is why your old-fashioned Gothic font and ellipses come back looking like percents and question marks! Those kinds of things are all fine if your e-editor allows you to attach your submission as a Word Document or in Rich Text Format, but most of us are still pretty virus paranoid and prefer the submission in the actual e-mail itself. Therefore, unless my system is exactly compatible with your system, those fancy bells and whistles turn into odd marks and symbols neither of us can comprehend.

And it doesn't matter how great the story was, if all of your quotation marks, ellipses and bullets turn into freaky, scary looking things that send me running for my magnifying glass, the chances are I won't be able to read it, no matter how much I want to. There's nothing worse than trying to decipher a story that gets interrupted every five words by percent marks and upside down apostrophes!

Quit With The Cute

To avoid the most basic of these cyber screw-ups, quit with the cute! Quickly! Avoid any and all special symbols, such as smiley faces, asterisks, bullets, and anything you have to go to the option button or "key caps" to obtain. These things look okay in a Word Document, although most editors tend to look for content over cute, no matter how it's presented, but they're just recipes for disaster in an e-mail that's bouncing from here to there and back again and just waiting to foul things up.

Also, avoid italics, fonts and underlines, as these things rarely convert from yours to mine, or vice versa. Yes, yes, I'm sure some brainiac out there could tell you, or me for that matter, how to get all symbols to convert all the time, but try getting me to comply with your "orders" just so I can read yet another unsolicited manuscript! The trick is to make an editor's life as simple as possible, which does not include schooling him in e-mail 101!

Strip It To Simple

Okay, quit crying. I know it's nice to use bold or italic, or even bullets or ellipses for emphasis, tone, or mood. But when formatting for e-mail, it's best to just forget those things exist. Better yet, use alternatives that are sure to convert.

For instance, if you want to emphasize something that might formally be in bold or italics, use ALL CAPS instead. You don't want to use this too often, it tends to get real old real fast, but all caps are sure to convert in any language, and won't get reduced into indecipherable symbols somewhere down the road.

Instead of ellipses, use two dashes (--) which stay this way no matter what second-hand system your editor is using. If you're not sure that all of your quotation marks are going to convert, just use a single quote mark, i.e. apostrophe. Instead of bullets, use the above double dash, and if you're making a list, use numbers instead.

Naturally, if you're working with an editor who allows Word or .rtf attachments, you don't have to go through all this. However, if you do a lot of e-submitting in the bodies of e-mails, which for now is still pretty standard, it's best to start taking these steps now. To make sure you stick to the above rules, make a list and stick it on your computer:

--NO ellipses!
--NO bullets!
--NO smiley faces!

Etc. To double-check yourself, always save two versions of any piece you're working on: One in Word, the other in Text-Only. Use the Word document when you're lucky enough to find an editor who accepts attachments, use the Text-Only version for any and all e-mail body submissions.

Copyright 2001 Rusty Fischer All Rights Reserved.

Rusty Fischer is a freelance author hoping to share his experiences as a recent eBook author in his new book, 101 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR eBOOK--FOR FREE! He has also written several print books, including four of Lebhar-Friedman's popular Buzz On titles. "101 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR eBOOK—FOR FREE!" available at:
http://www.athinapublishing.com/fischer.htm.