Manuscript Formatting
Formatting Your Manuscript Is Important
Author: Thomas Ajava
You’ve done it! You’ve written the next great American novel. It took years to do it, but now it is ready to go. You just need to find a publishing house. You start sending the manuscript off, but just get form letter rejections back. What’s the problem? It might not be the content of your manuscript, but the formatting that is the problem.
We are a superficial society. Oh, come on. Admit it! We go for looks just about every time. There is a reason a Ferrari sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars and a Camry sells for slightly less. Image is everything and that also applies to the publishing industry. The reason, however, is not so much visual seduction as it is practical.
What does an editor spend the vast majority of their time doing? They read. Then they read some more. After that, they spend a few hours reading. As you can imagine, this can grow old very quickly. While they might receive a quality manuscript every so often, the vast majority of submissions are not so hot.
To keep from going insane, editors have built in filters that they use to eliminate the obviously weak copy being submitted. One of those filters is the formatting of the manuscript. There is a process that must be followed in formatting your work. If you fail to follow it, the work will not only be rejected – it will not be read! This is true if you are Bob Smith or Stephen King. Okay, it probably isn’t true for Stephen King, but you get the drift.
What are the formatting requirements? Well, each publisher is going to have slightly different ones. What does this mean? It means you need to go research them. You’ve spent considerable time and effort writing you novel. Don’t blow getting published by being lazy now! Still, there are some basic formatting guidelines used across the publishing industry. Let’s take a closer look.
The overriding goal is to make your manuscript as reader friendly as possible. Nobody likes to read even the best writing if the print is size 8. The first rule is to use white 8.5 x 11 paper. You want to use one inch margins all the top, bottom and sides of each page as well. Use black print, 14 size and double spacing so the editor doesn’t go blind trying to read the pages. Courier is the accepted font across the industry, but Times is also okay and I personally prefer it. Make sure to put a brief version of the title and the page number on each page. You don’t want the editor to mix the manuscript up with something else and not be able to find your contact information!
There are a few extra steps you need to follow as well. The front page should have your contact information in the upper left corner. The title of the manuscript should be in the middle of the page. The title should be in all CAPS and you should include any alternative pen name you might want to use.
Finally, add a cover letter to the top of your manuscript. Put it all in a box and send it off. Do not bind it. Do not clip it together. Just leave it as a stack and the editor will at least be willing to read the cover letter and first few pages. Many times, that is half the battle to getting published!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/formatting-your-manuscript-is-important-1442956.html
About the Author
Thomas Ajava writes for NomadJournals.com – where you can buy blank journals to keep your writing notes wherever you are.
Tagged with: editor • font • format • formatting • manuscript • novel • paper • publish • size • submit • write • writing
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Take a quick run over to my site and have a look at the sample page in my call for submissions. The format there is much as it would be for any publisher. If that doesn’t help you can contact me by e-mail (address on the site or through this forum) and I’ll have a few more places you can go for further information.
J.
http://www.jrichardjacobs.net
“The speed of the brain is inversely proportional to the speed of the mouth squared.”
I don’t use MS Word any more than I have to, but I think you have to put in a section break. Each section can have its own header and footer settings.
A better question might be why you want to do this. If you’re formatting a novel for a publisher, the header is supposed to be the same for every page. (Sorry if that’s an unjustified assumption – every fourth or fifth question in this section of Y!A is from someone who seems to think they’re a few weeks away from being the next J K Rowling.) If you want the chapter title as part of the header, there’s probably a way to tell Word to do that automatically – have a look at what comes up when you select “Field” on the “Insert” menu. There might be a field whose value is the title of the current chapter.
EDIT: In that case, probably the easiest solution is to make each chapter a separate section. Putting each chapter in a separate file probably isn’t going to work – I think most self-publishing companies expect you to send them the whole book in one file, possibly with the cover as a separate file.
Either is acceptable so long as it is consistant and clear that they are thoughts and not dialog. I personally prefer italics. Some prefer quotes. Other prefer thoughts without quotes.
I dont believe there is an industry standard for it, but depending on who you are submitting to, the agent or editor may have a preference (pet peeve) about it. It’s always a good idea to check their submission guidelines, blogs, or any discussions about them on writing forums.
Actually, all answers are incorrect except for GS. If you are working in Word, you have to go to “paragraphs” under “Format” and click on indentation “First Line” and spacing “Double Spaced. There is no space between paragraphs. Once you have the default set up that way, every time you hit the enter key, it will start a new paragraph for you automatically.
So it would be like this. Unfortunately, because of the way things print out here, I can only demonstrate this way.
(new paragraph and indentation) Jane was walking down
the street with her best friend Nancy. It was a hot day and
they were both eating ice cream cones. Suddenly, Fred
rode by on his bike and knocked the cone out of Jane’s
hand and rode away.
(new paragraph and indentation)”Hey!” Jane said. “That
really wasn’t nice.”
(new paragraph and indentation)”Fred is just a jerk,” Nancy
said. “Come on, let’s go back to the ice cream parlor. I will
buy you a new cone. And this time, we’ll eat it there.”
(new paragraph and indentation) Fred rode by again, this
time laughing at the girls. His friend Bob was with him.
(new paragraph and indentation)Hey Nancy,” Bob
laughed. “Did you drop something?”
(new paragraph and indentation)Shut up,” Nancy replied.
“Why do you hang around with that moron Fred. Is he your
girlfriend or something?”
(new paragraph and indentation) Jane laughed. “Bob and
Fred sitting in a tree. KISSING!”
And so on and so forth. Always indented. Double spaced. No spaces in between. And always a new paragraph for a new speaker or when you are discussing a different thing. This is standard formatting.
Pax-C
No, don’t put extra space between paragraphs.
And if you think it makes things clearer, bold headings are probably fine, I don’t see the big deal with that. But keep that sort of thing to a minimum.
How to’s for formatting diologue in a manuscript?
When formatting your manuscript, I’ve read all about font size, paper weight, chapter positions etc.
When it comes to diologue, the only thing I can find is “make a new paragraph for each new speaker.”
But it just doesn’t look right. Am I missing part of the rule?
I tend to have my characters doing things while they speak. Either thinking about things that are going on, or doing actions (Sitting down, walking etc.)
So, when I am writing my speaking parts, is the accepted way to write…
Jennifer flopped down on the cold november grass, Julia followed.
“I’m moving.” Jennifer said.
“Get out!” Julia said, sitting up so quickly she startled her friend.
“That’s not the worst part.” Jennifer said.
Julia looked over at Jennifer laying on the grass. The low grey clouds and setting sun seemed to echo her mood exactly.
“How could it get worse.” Julia asked.
I guess that’s enough of an example. Now, have I formatted this correctly?
The paragraph where Julia is talking about ….
… the setting and Jennifer’s mood… I am half tempted to put the next line of Diologue with that paragraph…. but I’m not sure.
Also, what happends if they say something quick in one line and the next person says something long and then back to something quick. The formatting looks strange.
Also, “Create a new paragraph for each speaker”… do they want it indented.
I would HATE for my manuscript to be rejected on the bases of formatting and not the story itself.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.
To the second poster.. your additions sound nice.. but they don’t fit my story. See, they’ve only known eachother since september (and its now november)..
Also, Thanks for the spelling and punctuation advice.. but this was just a small piece of unedited text to use as a formating sample. I have’t yet gone and proofed my text for other things. I want to make sure its layed out right first.
Formatting dialogue in a manuscript?
I have been told that when formatting dialogue for a fictional manuscript you are to start a new paragraph for every speaker but what *exactly* does this mean?
Does it mean that you just start the next speakers dialogue on the line directly below the first speaker by pressing the Enter (Return) key?
Or does it mean that you must press the Enter (Return) key twice and start the next speakers dialogue two lines below the first speaker?
Any help will be greatly appreciated as all these rules are really getting me confused.
Can you help me with this formatting issue for my manuscript?
I was just wondering, if I am going to submit my manuscript to a literary agent/publisher, how should I format thoughts? Like Ellie thought “Why is he doing this”? should i do italics? quotes?
Formatting a Manuscript?
I have a question about manuscript formatting when you’re trying to sell a book. I know the basics. 12 point, general font like Times Roman, and all double spaced. But I am curious about extra spaces and bold text headings. Can you skip an extra line between paragraphs to make more white space? It just doesn’t feel or look right without some breaks into. And what about bold text for headings within chapters?
How do you control the header when formatting a manuscript? How do I change from chapter to chapter?
I’m using Microsoft Word. I can change the header for each chapter, can’t I?
It’s not for a publisher. I’m self-publishing. I don’t want to improperly format the manuscript, I thought every chapter had the chapters heading at the top.
Thanks, Steve!