If you are a writer seeking a publisher, one of the most important "rules" is: submit appropriately. Before you send out your manuscript, find out what the publisher wants and how he or she wants it. For example, this week we at Serendipity Systems received a 500 page manuscript of a Stephen King clone novel. The writer spent $6.00 to Priority Mail the package and included a $6.00 SASE. Had she checked our writers' guidelines, she would have known that a)we can not use on-paper manuscripts; electronic submissions are required because Serendipity Systems only publishes electronic books and b) we do not want to see "immitations of Stephen King or Tom Clancy." The writer spent $12.00 for naught.
The traditional method of determining the needs of a publisher is to send the publisher an SASE and request copies of the writers' guidelines and a catalog. These documents will tell you what kinds of books the publisher publishes and in what form your submission should be. It can, however, take weeks for this process to complete itself, and if you happen to be overseas, then all parties have the additional inconvenience of dealing with International Reply Coupons for postage, more delays, etc.
Some publishers, however, have Internet Web Pages where catalog and guideline information is instantly available. Unfortunately, publishers tend to be stodgy, hidebound people, and our survey has revealed that only 25 percent of the major publishers have a presence on the Internet. Another 6 percent have e-mail addresses, but not websites. Furthermore, some of the most well-recognized names in publishing are absent from cyberspace. Nevertheless, those publishers who are on the Internet tend to be innovative, future-thinking people who embrace new technology. Isn't that the kind of person to whom you want to send your book proposal? I would suggest that you first submit your material to the Internet-aware publishers. Only if you exhaust that list should you turn to the traditionalists.