Susan, there are ms. boxes available online, but you can find something appropriate at Kinko's or a UPS box store. Most editors and agents don't want the ms. bound at all. They'll keep it in its box, remove whatever chunk of paper they think they can get through in whatever time is available to them. Or so I've been told.

What I've done is take the boxed ms. to the PO and have it weighed and the appropriate postage put on the box, in stamps. Metered labels are dated, and often not accepted for mailing after that date. Then you address the box to yourself, close, but don't seal, the ms and a cover letter in the box, put the box in a padded envelope and address it to Deb's agent friend. Postage for the envelope, enough for a tracking number, and Bob's your uncle.

This is, of course, only if you want your ms. back. If you don't, then just mail the box. And best of luck!

Metered labels are dated, and often not accepted for mailing after that date.

Most meters, I think, have a date/no-date option; and anyway, if you make a label for $0.00 with the correct date and stick it on next to the offending label, you're good to go.

In my mails-a-bazillion-books-a-week experience.

t ed. That'd be mailing books for APR-- heh, I so do not mail a bazillion books a week on my own steam, I barely manage one package a year.

Hmm. Is there any good reason to want the manuscript back, or is that an artifact of the days where it wasn't quite so easy to print/copy a fresh one at will?

If the editor wrote notes on it, that's a reason to want it back.

Book-length MSes, though, I think people generally do not request return because it's just a pain in the ass, they're so big.

Susan, get an enormous rubber band and send in bubblebag envelopes.

I used to send in boxes, and stopped when no fewer than three editors plaintively asked me to. Not sure why.

I never did copies; I printed on demand. I didn't like the mass produced feel of copies, but we've had a laser printer in the house since the mid-eighties.

Susan, get an enormous rubber band and send in bubblebag envelopes.

For 100,000 words and change? 486 pages?

Oh, whoops. Shit.

Nope. No, that would need a box. Mine were in the 300-350 range. Different beastie.

Office Max for MX boxes, then.

Deb, congratulations on the series contract!

I've been told that 'disposable' manuscripts are completely OK with editors, in fact they find it easier to deal with than stuffing the MSS back into a tiny envelope and dealing with the sealing et cetera. You can still send a regular business-sized SASE, that's easy to keep in with the MSS and if they're going to buy the book, they'll not mind springing for a bigger envelope and more postage to accommodate a contract, et cetera.

And yes, most of the editorial houses do recycle all that paper, which adds up to quite a bit!

Oh, in the old days, I never asked for an ms back; Marlene has a horror story about sending one off and getting it back reeking of cigarette smoke. Not something you'd send out to the next agent or editor.