Manuscript Formatting

This post will deal with formatting a complete manuscript, but much of it applies to the standard formatting of any publishable material, from short-story contest submission to page-length articles.

Nothing can take the place of good-old-fashioned research of the agent or publisher to whom you are submitting, but the industry standard stays pretty much the same no matter who it is.

Everyone uses Microsoft Word and if you will use this program, you make it much easier on yourself. If you use a different word processing software, you'll have to set it up to resemble the following as closely as you can.

Font: Use Times New Roman, 12-point font. Can't go wrong with it.

Margins: Use a 1" margin all the way around your page (not including the header, which is discussed below)

Title Page: The first page of any submission should be the title page. It must include the title of your book, with any subtitle below. Use 14-point font and center it in the middle of the page. Beneath that, put the word count (as found in your Tools menu) and the genre of your novel (suspense, romance, general fiction, etc.)

Centered at the bottom, type your name or your agent's name, address and all contact information, including any web addresses and telephone numbers.


Header: Agent proposal preferences will vary, but an acceptable header will include the Title or Portion of your book title in all CAPS, your full name separated from the title by a slash, both flush with the left margin. Set your preferences to NOT include this header on the Title page.

Page Numbers: The page numbers should be flush with the right margin, directly across from your name and book title in the header. Start numbering with the title page, but do NOT include the number on that page. The first page of your manuscript will be page 2.

Creative Variation: Don't do it! A few beginning writers think they must attract attention to their creativity by veering from the prescribed standard. I had a writing student once who consistently refused to follow my instructions on how to set up his paper. He was an artist and would hand in very decorative reports using colorful font, and 24-point name and date. I know he thought he could compensate for poor writing by impressing me with his artistic ability.

I consistently gave him an F for not following instructions. Finally by the end of the year, he caught on and handed in a boring, clean paper like everyone else. He got an A on it.

Don't think you will impress anyone by not following instructions. The opposite is true. You will greatly impress agenta and editors that you are bright, humble, and can follow instructions, and may be someone they would like to work with.

Camy Tang has a detailed summation of manuscript formatting on her blog Story Sensei. Click here for further instruction.
http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2006/07/novel-manuscript-format-for-cba.html