The Writing Excuses website features useful fifteen-minute podcasts. I caught one the other day on which Mirrorbooks editor Stacy Whitman revealed some common mistakes that writers make:
* Not following the guidelines (most publishers have these on their websites);
* Saying “My kids read this manuscript and they loved it," and mistaking that for market research;
* Simultaneous submissions. (It’s OK to send simultaneous pitches & sample chapters—but if someone asks for the complete manuscript and says they don’t accept simultaneous submissions, then don’t do it.);
* Not keeping track of your submissions so that you submit the same thing twice to the same editor;
* If writing a children's book, illustrating it yourself (unless you're a professional illustrator, of course) or hiring an artist to do it. Children's book publishers prefer to find the artist themselves;
* Using fancy paper or pretty fonts;
* Turning a manuscript page upside-down or backwards to check whether the editor read that far--it just annoys them.
