Submission Synopsis Form -
Unsolicited Book

If you are not a current agency client and have not yet been invited to submit your material by a representative of The Swetky Agency, please use the form below to submit your proposal for agency consideration.  DO NOT E-MAIL YOUR COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT AT THIS TIME!  Failure to follow this procedure will result in the automatic rejection of your material without notice.

If, after reviewing your submission, The Swetky Agency believes that it can adequately serve your representational needs in dealing with book and film rights sales, we will issue you an Author-Agent Contract SAMPLE and ask you to complete the submission of certain additional materials in order for the agency to begin marketing your work.
 

Some Notes about the Following Form's
"Sentence," "Blurb," and "Synopsis"

Sentence

1 

The Book-in-One-Sentence  This part of the form is a condensation of your story into a single sentence.  It should be enticing enough to make an editor or producer sit up and say, "Wow!"  For example, here's the story of the three little pigs in one sentence. 


Three sibling sows go head-to-head with a blood-thirsty predator, and only one holds the key to survival!

 

The Blurb  Longer than a single sentence, the blurb/logline contains more information but must still sell the story in short order.  This is the infamous "20 seconds" that busy New York publishers notoriously grant to new authors when they come calling with their properties.  The same story told as a blurb:

Blurb  2


When each of three perky porkers decides to build a house, two take the easy way out and fall victim to a menacing predator.  Only the perseverance to act and the will to survive can help the third piglet rescue his brothers from certain death.  But does he have the strength to do so ... and can he reach them in time?

 

 

Synopsis 3

The Synopsis  Longer than the blurb, the synopsis is the shortest condensation of your story possible while still covering all of its salient points.  A synopsis of the three little pigs story might go something like this. 


Three piglet brothers set out to build new homes for themselves.  One chooses straw because it's lightweight and easy to assemble, allowing the pig more time to play.  Another chooses sticks for the same reason.  When their two homes are complete, they taunt their older brother for building his home of bricks.  "You'll never get finished," one cries.  "Come on out and play," taunts the other.

Rather than give in to temptation, the third piglet sticks to the job, and in time, he's rewarded with a fine, handsome, sturdy home of which he can be proud.

When the Big Bad Wolf comes around looking for an easy meal, all three pigs seek shelter in their homes.  But the houses made of straw and sticks prove no match for the hungry carnivore, who blows them down with ease and grabs the pigs for some future meal.  When he attempts to blow down the house of bricks, however, he soon tires himself out and finally slinks away from the fortress, a whipped and beaten canine.

The oldest pig frees his younger brothers, and they shower him with gratitude while promising never again to place their own selfish desires before ambition.

Remember...
Publishers don't care about you as a person (sad but true).  They care about you as a continuing source of marketable writing--income.  Therefore, we humbly suggest that, as much energy as you put into your book, you put even more into the following form.

Submission Synopsis Form - Book

Unsolicited

 

Title

By-line (Name To Appear on Book)

Legal (Real) Name

Type: Fiction or Non-Fiction

Approximate Number of Words

Genres (See List Below)

Author's E-mail Address

Author's Mailing Address

"Sentence" (No. 1 above)

"Blurb" (No. 2 above)

"Synopsis" (No. 3 above)

Author's Platform (Specific ways you can help a publisher sell your book: i.e., you're a history professor with a new book on the Civil War; you belong to a national society that will promote your book for free; your uncle's PR firm will run a marketing campaign for you; you write a history blog with 4,000 unique hits a day; your fraternity will run complimentary ads in their quarterly newsletter; you host an Internet radio show devoted to American history; you're secretly dating Oprah, etc.)

 

Additional

  WAIT!

After submitting form (below), you will be taken to a form confirmation page.  Right click on that page and select "Print" or "Save" from the drop-down menu to provide a record of your submission for your files.

 

 


List of Genres

Please select from the following list of genres those that you believe best describe your book (remembering that a story can be several genres at once, such as romance-humor-mystery, suspense-psychological drama-literary; etc.).  Please list by most appropriate genre first.

Fiction Book
Action/Adventure, Biblical, Chick-Lit, Coming-of-Age, Confession, Detective, Erotica, Ethnic, Experimental, Fantasy, Feminist, Gay/Lesbian, General, Gothic, Historical, Horror, Humor, Juvenile, Literary, Mainstream/Contemporary, Military/War, Multicultural, Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Occult, Illustrated, Plays, Psychological Drama, Regional, Religious, Romance, Science-Fiction, Short Story Collections, Spiritual, Sports, Stream-of-Consciousness, Suspense, Translation, Western, Woman's, Young Adult

Nonfiction Book
Adult, Alternative Lifestyle, Americana, Animals, Anthropology/Archeology, Architecture, Art and Humanities, Autobiography, Biography,  Business/Economics, Child Guidance/Parenting, Coffee Table, Computers/Electronics, Contemporary Culture, Cook Book, Creative Nonfiction, Design, Education, Ethnic, Expose, Fine Art, Food and Nutrition, Gay/Lesbian, General, Gift Book,  Government/Politics, Health/Medicine, History, Home and Garden, How-To, Humor, Illustrated, Juvenile, Language/Literature, Law, Memoir, Military/War, Money/Finance, Multicultural, Music/Dance, Nature, Philosophy, Photography, Physical Science, Pop Culture, Psychology, Reference, Regional, Religion, Science, Self-Help, Sex, Sociology, Social Science, Spirituality, Translation, Travel, Women's Issues/Studies, Young Adult
 

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