A submission package is usually a covering letter, a synopsis and an opening sample. How much of each varies enormously, and the variation is not noise around a norm. It is genuine disagreement between agencies.
Reading the submission pages of 30 named agencies: the sample ranges from five pages to the entire manuscript, and most US agencies want no synopsis at all.
The Spread
A selection, quoted from each agency's own page:
| Agency | Synopsis | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| HG Literary (US) | not specified | "the first five pages of your manuscript" |
| Andrea Brown (US) | not required | "first 10 pages of text" |
| The Bent Agency (US) | none requested | "the first ten pages of your book in the body of your email" |
| Writers House (US) | folded into the query | "10 pages in the body of the email" |
| Pippin Properties (US) | "a short synopsis" | "the first chapter of your novel" |
| McIntosh & Otis (US) | required | "the first three consecutive chapters (no more than 30 pages)" |
| Aevitas (US) | none requested | "the first 50 pages" |
| Blake Friedmann (UK) | "A full synopsis, of 250-300 words" | "The first three chapters, or first 10,000 words" |
| LBA (UK) | "1-2 pages" | "the first three chapters (or first 5,000 words if your book doesn't have chapters)" |
| A.M. Heath (UK) | "maximum 1,500 words" | "the first 10,000 words" |
| Janklow & Nesbit UK | "no longer than a page" | "either the first three chapters or the first fifty pages" |
| Hardman & Swainson (UK) | "one-page synopsis" | the full manuscript |
That top-to-bottom range is roughly eighty to one on sample length.
Three Findings That Change How You Prepare
"First three chapters" is not a quantity
It is the UK default phrase, and agencies gloss it completely differently. Some equate it with about fifty pages. Blake Friedmann, Madeleine Milburn and Graham Maw Christie equate it with 10,000 words. Felicity Bryan treats 10,000 words as a cap. LBA says 5,000 words. McIntosh & Otis caps it at 30 pages.
A fifty-page sample and a five-thousand-word sample differ by roughly two and a half times. So "send the first three chapters" is not an instruction you can follow without reading the specific agency's gloss on it.
The US mostly does not want a synopsis
This is the cleanest transatlantic difference and it surprises people. The Bent Agency, Aevitas, Andrea Brown and HG Literary all ask for a query letter plus a short sample and nothing else. UK agencies almost always want a separate synopsis document.
If you are querying both markets, you are preparing two different packages, not translating one.
US samples go in the email body, UK samples are attachments
And several US agencies are emphatic. The Bent Agency: "not as an attachment, please." InkWell: "Emails with large attachments will be discarded." McIntosh & Otis: "Emails containing attachments will not be opened and will be automatically deleted due to security reasons."
That is a submission silently binned for a formatting choice, so it is worth getting right.
Two Things Worth Knowing Before You Start
Some US agencies no longer publish agency-level requirements at all. BookEnds and Transatlantic direct you to per-agent forms instead, and Aevitas has replaced the covering letter with form fields including a required "Comparable titles" box. For a growing share of US agencies, the question "what goes in the package" has no agency-level answer, only a per-agent one.
Read the form, not just the prose. Darley Anderson's guidelines text asks for "The first 3 chapters or 50 pages" while its own submission form offers "The first three chapters, The first 10,000 words, First 50 pages". When a page and its form disagree, the form is what you are actually filling in.
AI prohibitions are now near-universal. A.M. Heath, Andrea Brown, RCW, Transatlantic, HG Literary and Graham Maw Christie all carry explicit clauses. A.M. Heath: "Submissions must be the original work of the author and not generated or co-written using artificial intelligence." HG Literary: "We do not accept any query materials that were in any part AI generated." These are recent additions and worth re-reading even on agencies you queried before.
So What Do You Actually Prepare
Build a kit, then assemble per agency:
- A covering letter, adaptable to one page or 500 words. See how to write a query letter.
- A synopsis at two lengths, roughly 300 words and roughly one page, since both are commonly asked for. See how to write a one page synopsis.
- Your opening sample at several natural stopping points: five pages, ten pages, 5,000 words, 10,000 words, three chapters, fifty pages.
- Comp titles, since about a third of agencies request them. See what are comp titles.
- A short bio.
Then check the specific agency's page each time. There is no package you can prepare once and send everywhere.
If you are still weighing whether to query at all, see traditional vs self publishing.
What Deckle Does
Deckle's DOCX export with Standard Manuscript Format produces the submission document itself, with the title page, contact block, approximate word count and running header the convention expects. That is covered in what is standard manuscript format.
For the sample-length problem specifically, the useful feature is compile scope. Because you choose which documents are included in an export, you can produce a three-chapter file, a fifty-page file and a 10,000-word file from the same manuscript without maintaining separate copies. The word count shown before export is what tells you where 5,000 or 10,000 words actually falls.
Note the file format question is separate and agencies disagree there too: Blake Friedmann bans PDFs and wants .doc or .docx, while others accept either. Deckle exports DOCX, which no agency refuses.
Common Mistakes
- Preparing one package for everyone. The requirements genuinely differ, especially across the Atlantic.
- Assuming "three chapters" is a fixed length. It is glossed as anything from 5,000 words to 50 pages.
- Attaching a sample to a US agency. Several delete such emails unopened.
- Sending a synopsis where none was asked for. Most US agencies do not want one.
- Reading the prose and ignoring the form. They contradict each other on at least one major agency.
- Reusing an old submission without rechecking. AI clauses are new and now widespread.
FAQ
Q: Is there a standard submission package? A: No. Across 30 agencies the sample ranges from five pages to the full manuscript.
Q: Do I always need a synopsis? A: In the UK, usually. In the US, most agencies do not ask for one.
Q: Body of the email or attachment? A: US agencies commonly require the body, and some delete attachments unread. UK agencies generally expect attachments.
Q: How many chapters is "three chapters"? A: It depends on the agency's own gloss, which ranges from 5,000 words to 50 pages.
Q: Can I send the whole manuscript? A: Only where asked. Hardman & Swainson want it; most agencies do not.