request for manuscript

Write the last chapter and send it off as SOON as possible! And good luck, it's awesome someone is interested!

Finish the manuscript, revise it, and send it. Don't rush, concentrate on getting it as polished as you can - this is a good chance, make the most of it. Good luck!

For large requested material, attachments are usually fine.

This is a golden example of why you should not start querying before the manuscript is finished

Booker c, is your work fiction or non-fiction? As Waylander mentioned above, all fiction manuscripts should be completed and polished before you start querying agents (unless you already have major publishing credentials, which changes the rules a bit).

If an agent is requesting an unfinished fiction manuscript, please do a bit of research on them online and here on the forum to make sure they are legit.

Most likely you send the ms. as an attachment, since it would be too many pages to put in the body of the email. If truly in doubt, ask that agent.

booker c said:

It was a proposal, not a query. It's a memoir and did not have to be finished and a date of April 1 for completion was stated in the proposal.

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That being the case, I wouldn't worry about the gap. You've been upfront about the MS being incomplete.

You should reply with a thank-you and confirmation that as soon as the MS is finished, you will send it. You can ask at that point if it should be an attachment, but the answer will almost assuredly be 'yes'. I've never yet heard of an agent asking for a complete manuscript to be pasted into the body of an e-mail.

And good luck!

booker c said:

Hey Waylander, since my project is not the "golden example" you thought it was perhaps you should re-state your comment....all smiles here! Have a great day.....

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Actually, in your explicit case, you're fine.

But for future-reference purposes (that is, people reading this thread in the future with a similar question), actually, memoirs are generally handled the same way as fiction and should be complete before you start querying (unless it's a celeb memoir). The memoir I co-ghostwrote was a complete manuscript before we started querying.

Glad to hear it's all in order, Carol. Fingers crossed your memoir does well!