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| FAQ for Readers |
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| Why do you do this? |
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| It is very difficult for readers, publishers, and agents to sort through the truly enormous number of unpublished manuscripts out there. More often than not the person raving about the manuscript is the author himself. Everybody knows somebody who is an unpublished author, and of those, very few have what it takes to keep a reader interested, let alone make a bestseller. |
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| We want to create an environment where the books have undergone a high level of scrutiny before being thrust upon the unsuspecting public, and which, because it has no commercial interest in the books, can be as unbiased in its appraisal of the writing as it is possible to be. We want to create a site that readers, agents, and publishers trust, which becomes known in the industry as a source of talented emerging authors. And we need your help! |
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| Does it cost anything? |
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| No. This is a free service. We will not at any time ask you for payment. We rely on our sponsors’ advertising alone to keep this site running. |
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| What kind of writing will I find here? |
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| The books are either unpublished or self-published, and you can read the first 3000 words (roughly 8 pages). We do not accept submissions of short stories, poetry, kids’ picture books, or scholarly works. |
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| What is your criteria for selecting books? |
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| We are looking for books that grab the reader from the first page. Preference is not given to either literary or popular fiction, as each style has its own merits and will be evaluated accordingly. We are very selective about what we include, as we do not wish to have anything less than top-notch work represented on our website. |
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| Can you guarantee that I will like the excerpts? |
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| No, opinions are like… well, everybody has one, right? However, because we, as a disinterested party, subject the extracts to significant scrutiny before posting them here, we can guarantee that all of the writing will be of the highest quality, and we are almost certain you will find something here that appeals to you. |
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| Can you guarantee that I will like the rest of the book? |
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| No. As any publisher or agent will tell you, some books have fantastic beginnings and go downhill after that. That’s the risk you take with any book, even for that New Release you paid $30 for at your local bookshop. We don’t read the entire novels, so we know as much about what happens next as you do. |
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| Are all excerpts from complete manuscripts? |
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| We request that our authors submit excerpts from complete manuscripts only. Please inform us if an author has ignored this request, as it is important to us that you are ultimately able to read more than just a short story with an unresolved ending. |
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| I really enjoyed one of the excerpts. How can I read more? |
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| By contacting the author. Most of our authors have contact emails and/or links to their websites at the bottom of their excerpts, through which you can either request more of the book, or purchase it online (if the book is self-published). If you can’t reach the author please don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will gladly forward your message on. |
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| Does The Book Zoo sell books? |
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| No, we have no stake in any of the works presented here. If you wish to purchase a book please contact the author. |
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| Is The Book Zoo associated with any publisher or literary agency? |
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| No. Most of us have experience in the book industry though, having worked as freelance writers and editors, and retail booksellers. |
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| Can you include a link to my business or organisation on your Links page? |
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| Yes, provided that you are willing to link back to our site (reciprocal linking). Please send your URL for us to consider. |
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| I'm an agent or publisher. Can you help me find particular kinds of books? |
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| Yes. Please email and tell us who you are and what particular kinds of books you are looking for, and we will do our very best to link you to suitable writing. |
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| Can I copy any of the writing here? |
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| No. You will need the permission of the copyright owner to use any of their work. Please visit our Privacy and Terms of Use page for more details. |
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| FAQ for Authors |
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| Does it cost anything to submit my work? |
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| No. This is a free service. We will not at any time ask you for payment, or offer you payment for your work. We rely on our sponsors’ advertising alone to keep this site running. |
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| Do I retain the rights to my work? |
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| Yes, absolutely. By submitting to this site you only give The Book Zoo permission to display your excerpt here. All other rights remain with the author. We strongly advise that you include a copyright notice with all submissions, in the form of "Copyright © 2011 by Joe Blow". |
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| Will my entire book appear on this site? |
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| No, we only post the first 2500-3000 words of your book. |
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| Which part of my book can I submit? |
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| Only the first 2500-3000 words. We do not accept excerpts from elsewhere in your book. |
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| What kinds of writing can I submit? |
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| Any genre of novel for adults or younger readers. Your book must be unpublished or self-published. Please note, we do not accept submissions of short stories, poetry, kids’ picture books, or scholarly works. |
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| Can I submit already-published works? |
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| No. Your piece of writing, or any part of it, may not have been published in any form previously, or be currently under offer by a publisher. You can however, submit your self-published work, provided you own the full rights to it. |
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| Do I need to have finished writing my book? |
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| Yes. Please do not submit an extract from an unfinished manuscript, as publishers and agents who like your introduction will wish to read the entire manuscript, and will be disappointed if none exists. If it is found that your excerpt is from an unfinished manuscript it will be deleted from this site. |
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| Can I submit more than once? |
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| You can make multiple submissions, provided they are for different books. We may, however, accept an already-rejected book after you have substantially revised it. |
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| What is your criteria for selecting books? |
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| We are looking for books that grab the reader from the first page. Preference is not given to either literary or popular fiction, as each style has its own merits and will be evaluated on those merits. We are very selective about what we include, as we do not wish to have anything less than top-notch work represented on our website. |
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| How can I increase the chances of my work being exhibited on this site? |
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| By writing a terrific start to your novel. Works that show a strong storyline and which grab us from the first page (if not the first sentence) will be given preference. We want to read something that leaves the reader hungry to know what happens next. |
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| Works that contain multiple spelling, structural, and grammatical errors will not be included on the site, so please try to polish your work as much as possible before submitting it. Works that don’t adhere to our submission guidelines will be ignored, so please read these guidelines carefully before submitting. |
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| Can I include a link to my own website or social networking page with my submission? |
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| Absolutely – we encourage it. We want people to be able to find you, order your book (if you are self-published), or request to read your entire manuscript. All we ask in return is that you include a link back to our site on your own page. We provide you with the code to embed in your page – it’s as easy as copying and pasting it. Once we have checked that the link is there and operating on your page we will post the reciprocal link at the bottom of your novel excerpt. |
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| I'm self-published. How can readers purchase my book? |
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| If you are self-published the best way is to provide a link to your web page at the end of your book excerpt. You can only link to sites that can link back to ours. For example, you won’t be able to link to an Amazon listing. If someone contacts us about your book we will forward the message on to you. |
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| Will publishers and agents read my work? |
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| That's the idea. We go out of our way to make publishers and literary agents aware of this site, and thus your writing. If a publisher or agent wishes to contact you they will be able to do so either by following the link to your own web page, emailing you directly, or by contacting us, and we will forward their enquiries on to you directly. |
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| What if a publisher decides to publish my book? |
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| You must notify us immediately if any part of your submission is accepted for publication so we can remove the excerpt of your book from our site. Suffice to say we will be very excited for you! |
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| Do you publish books? |
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| No. |
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| Do you offer a self-publishing service? |
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| No, we are not a vanity press. Please check our Links page for companies offering this service. |
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| Do you offer a manuscript appraisal service? |
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| No. Please check our Links page for companies offering this service. |
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