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Musa Publishing

luxisufeili

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Really cool themes... Especially looking forward to Fae.
 

ccbridges

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I like the themes, too. I hope to come up with something for one of them. My problem is always in writing something so short:)
 

Haunted_October

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I now have my cover for my short story, The Red Barn! It's posted on my blog, and it's also my avitar :)

And I just signed another contract with Musa- this time for my novella, Ghoultown!
 

justbishop

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When Musa asks for the "first twenty pages" to be embedded in the query email, what exactly are they after? My MS is currently double spaced with page breaks between chapters, so should I undo the formatting and then count the twenty pages, count them as is, or is there a word count estimate that I should go by?

Gearing up to query tomorrow!
 

Lydia Sharp

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When Musa asks for the "first twenty pages" to be embedded in the query email, what exactly are they after? My MS is currently double spaced with page breaks between chapters, so should I undo the formatting and then count the twenty pages, count them as is, or is there a word count estimate that I should go by?

Gearing up to query tomorrow!

I took this to mean the first 20 pages in standard manuscript format. SMF is 12pt TNR, double-spaced, with 1" margins all around. Then copy/paste the first 20 pages into the body of the email. You may lose most of the formatting, so it's a good idea to read through it again before sending and make sure it looks okay.

I don't think word count within the 20 pages matters. Just don't try to pass off 50 pages as 20. They'll know.

Good luck! :D
 

Soccer Mom

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I would send it to the general submissions and mark it for the Terpsichore editor, that is the general contemporary line.
 

Catadmin

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When Musa asks for the "first twenty pages" to be embedded in the query email, what exactly are they after? My MS is currently double spaced with page breaks between chapters, so should I undo the formatting and then count the twenty pages, count them as is, or is there a word count estimate that I should go by?

Gearing up to query tomorrow!

Leave the manuscript formatting as it is (double-spaced), then copy the first twenty pages into NotePad. This will wipe most of your weird formatting (apostrophes and quotes can do strange things if copied directly into the email). Then do another copy of what is in NotePad and paste that into your email.

Make sure there is a line space between each paragraph. White space is essential for readability. Then follow Lydia's advice and review what you've pasted to make sure it hasn't screwed up your sentence breaks or added weird symbols into the email.

Review the submission requirements at least three times against your email before you hit "send". You'd be amazed at what you can forget when you get into an excited rush.

Lastly, make sure the font is large enough to read. I don't know about Celina or the other head editors, but I will reject manuscripts that I can't read for no other reason than I can't read them and I'm not going to waste time trying to enlarge the font.

FYI: I am now Publication Coordinator for Urania. Whee! If any of you have rights-reverted fantasy or science fiction (and any subgenre thereof) novels that you'd like to get reprinted, you can contact us through the regular submissions address, but let us know you're responding to my post here.
 

justbishop

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Thanks Brandie :)

I hadn't thought about the font. I have the email drafted (curly quotes/apostrophes all fixed, even) already in 12pt, I think. I will send myself a test copy and reread the sub guidelines a few more times!
 

Terie

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I will send myself a test copy...

(On a side note, sending yourself a test copy is relatively inconclusive. Because you wrote the e-mail in your e-mail client, it will most likely render it the same way in itself, if you get my drift. If it looks good when you get it back, you still can't rest 100% assured that it will look good to anyone else. The "copy-and-paste into Notepad/Wordpad/similar text editor, save, then copy-and-paste to your e-mail" method is usually the safest way to be sure all the potentially wonky formatting is removed.)
 

Chumplet

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I sent mine in Times 12pt, and left the double spacing in the sample pages. I had tested it before, sending it to my work email, and it looked fine. However, every person's email is different in how they receive messages.

I hope mine will be okay!
 

jy'lenn

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Alright, I admit it: I dabbled and have submitted Deals to Musa Publishing's Urania line. Surprisingly, at least for me, they requested the full! (I say this is surprising due to all the rejections I've received from agents. I was starting to give up hope! ;) )

In the meantime, I'm trying to coax my brain into working on an as-yet-untitled thriller-ish novel and the rewrite for Death's Heiress. The sequel to Deals is, so far, about 10k words in and I'm still digging up research for it. (Also, I'll be on the set of NotLD: Genesis this fall, which will help SOOOO much!!!)
Heh, no wonder I feel like I need to sleep a week! What with all that scurrying around in my head!
 
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jy'lenn

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(On a side note, sending yourself a test copy is relatively inconclusive. Because you wrote the e-mail in your e-mail client, it will most likely render it the same way in itself, if you get my drift. If it looks good when you get it back, you still can't rest 100% assured that it will look good to anyone else. The "copy-and-paste into Notepad/Wordpad/similar text editor, save, then copy-and-paste to your e-mail" method is usually the safest way to be sure all the potentially wonky formatting is removed.)

Good point. Although, speaking from my own experience, the formatting doesn't change quite so much when you copy from Word to an email client (like Mozilla's Thunderbird) as it does when going from Word to, say, gmail. Admittedly, I've made a lot of screw-ups going from word to email.

Another option is to send it from your email, to a separate provider (as in, yahoo to gmail) and seeing how it looks.

Personally, I use Gmail and I haven't had any problems. At least, I haven't had any complaints from any agents or publishers or even friends. I also use Thunderbird, do to having so many email accounts for my work, personal, junk mail, and a couple different business-type accounts. That, and I'm email junkie. :D

On another note: GOOD LUCK to everyone who's submitted and has fulls out!!!!!!
 

sissybaby

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Good luck to everyone who sent or is in the process of sending. I have had nothing but good experience with Musa and would recommend them without reservations.