Properly formatting one's manuscript is the bane of existence for any beginning author. Questions about how to properly prepare a manuscript for submission to a potential publisher or agent is one the questions most frequently asked by beginners. I’ve taken the time to write up a listof the definitions of many of the common formatting topics and how they are handled by traditional publishers. It is my hope this article will help a lot of you to navigate the hurdles successfully.
Formatting: Formatting is the method of manuscript presentation. Included in this are the margins, line spacing, font style, and size, etc.
Industry Use: Every publishers or agencies have their own specific manuscript preferences for presentation. The best practice for any author is to seek the company’s preference. You can obtain these by writing for guidelines or visiting their website. If their specific preferences are not listed, the following list is considered "standard for the industry."
Chapter Breaks = Hard Page End
Font Style = Courier New
Font Size = 12 point.
Headers showing title of book/name of author = Required - TITLE/AUTHOR/PAGE#
Indentations at Paragraph Beginning = Required, One tab stop/First Line Indent, equaling five spaces
Italics for emphasis = Underscore where italics would appear.
Justification = Left justified (ragged right margin)
Line Spacing = Double
Margins = one inch all around.
Page Numbering = Yes, bottom or top of each page.
Paper Size = 8-1/2" x 11" white, single sided.
Paragraph Breaks = Hard Return
Headers: A "header" is a string of text to be inserted at the top of every (or every other) page that does not appear until printed or in "print view."
Industry Use: For the purpose of submitting manuscripts in print, headers are considered industry standard. Headers should contain some combination of: Title – Author – Page Number and Date. However, some companies discourage using them when sending an electronic file, since the header command might not translate to the agent’s/publisher’s computing platform (PC, Mac, Linux.) Since there is no specific industry standard with regard to submitting in electronic, the author should check the guidelines for the publisher.
Indentations – Tab Stops: Indentations, also known as tab stops, are used to signal a change in thought. They are most often used when changing paragraphs or adding dialogue, and are created by pressing the "Tab" button one time.
Use in industry: Tabbing once at the beginning of a new paragraph is industry standard.
Italics: Usually used to make text stand out from surrounding text, "italics" is an appearance attribute that is available in most word processing programs.
Industry Use: In non-fiction and article writing, italics are used for headings, or lists when the use of bold text is undesirable. In fiction writing, italics are used for:
a) Emphasizing text. "You want to go where?"
b) Internal dialogue (character thoughts that aren’t spoken.) I shouldn’t have had that last burrito.
c) Telepathy in SF/Fantasy novels. When characters can speak mind to mind, italics set this off for
the convenience of the reader.
Courier New (Normal Font)
Courier New (This is Courier New in italics)
The use of italics in a manuscript can be tricky. Using Courier New font, the italicized words are slightly slanted, making it difficult to see Italics words. Therefore, most publishers request that words which the author intends to italicize should be underlined (or underscored) instead in the manuscript. This means you underscored, not both italicized and underscored.
Justification: Justification is how the text appears from left to right, or where on the page they appear.
There are four styles of justification:
1) Left Justified = all lines of text are even only on the left side. The right side will end where appropriate for the word length.
2) Right Justified = all lines of text are even only on the right side. The left side will begin in a ragged fashion.
3) Center Justified = lines of text appear centered from left to right between the margins.
4) Full Justified = lines of text are straight on both the left and right sides. While common in business and book printing, full justified relies on adding or subtracting microspaces between words or letters to achieve a smooth finish. This will cause uneven spacing between the words and I do not recommend in a manuscript.
Industry Use: Left Justification is industry standard for manuscript submission for both fiction and non-fiction.
Scene or Line Breaks: Used when moving to a different location, forward in time, or to a different person’s perspective (Point Of View) in fiction without ending the chapter, a scene break is called for.
Industry Use: One of the most confusing issues in writing, a "Scene break" is the scene break or POV switch. An author should either use an extra double space (the only time when this is acceptable) or a single or double hash mark ("#", symbol above the number 3 on your keyboard), against the left margin to indicate a scene break. Another way to handle a change in POV is to end a chapter. This give the reader a break in mentally and the shift in perspective is more natural. This is not always possible but for a POV shift it is easier for readers to track.
Chapter Breaks: A chapter break is most commonly achieved through the use of a hard page return (pressing Ctrl + Enter – Return after the final line of a chapter to start a new page, regardless of where on the page a chapter ends.) This keystroke method is the same in both Corel WordPerfect and MS Word.
Industry Use: Both non-fiction and fiction books use hard returns to signal chapter breaks. It is the industry standard.
Chapter Start Point: When beginning a new chapter, the point on the page where the first word of text should begin is often a question.
Line Spacing: Word Processors such as Corel WordPerfect and MS Word have the ability to single or double space lines of text. Confusion often occurs about proper line spacing in manuscripts.
Industry Use: Double spacing of manuscripts is the industry standard when submitting to a publisher or an agencies. However, this DOES NOT apply to spacing between paragraphs. Paragraph breaks are NOT quad spaced. ( in other words two double space hard returns) For Paragraph breaks a single hard return is placed between paragraphs, and the indentation of the new paragraph is the reader's guide to where the break occurs.
Manuscript Length: The length of you manuscript (or word count) to determine what term to call a piece of fiction is often confusing to first time writers.
Industry Use: Industry standard for length of manuscript varies by type and genre. Guidelines vary from publisher to publisher. The following word count is a good place to start.
Very, short: Under 2,000 words
Short story: 2,000--7,500 words
Novelette (General Fiction): 7,500--15,000 words
Novelette (SF & Fantasy): 7,500--17,500 words
Novella (General Fiction): 15,000--30,000 words
Novella (SF & Fantasy): 17,500--40,000 words
Novel (General Fiction): 30,000 words
Novel (SF & Fantasy): Over 40,000 words
Margins: Margins on the page of a manuscript page is the distance of space between the edge of the page, top, bottom or sides, to the closest typed letter and or symbol.
Industry Use: Industry standard for page margins is one inch on top, bottom, left or right though some publishers or agents prefer a wider margin on the left and right sides. This is so they can write notes while reading. As a writer your best practice is to seek from any company you plan to submit your work those particular guidelines. The absence of any other guidelines, rely on one inch margins.
Page Numbering: Modern Word Processing software offers the writer the ability to quickly to add page numbering so as to easier keep track while reading. In Corel WordPerfect, this can be found at Format > Page > Numbering. In MS Word, this can be found at Insert > Page Numbers.
Industry Use: Page numbering is recommended for all manuscript submissions. While often not required by publishers or agencies it is preferred for ease of reading and strongly recommend for a professional look.
Line Numbering: Modern Word Processing software offers the writer the additional ability to number the lines of their manuscript. This feature is useful when reviewing your manuscript with an editor. Line numbering make it easy for an editor (who may or may not be in the same town to refer to a problem such as, page 7 line 14
Industry Use: While I have not found an industry standard for this function I never-the-less use it in all my writing for ease of editing.
The Paper Size: Different countries use standard sizes of paper to print manuscripts. In the United States, tour standard size is known as "Letter Size", 8-1/2" wide by 11" long. In the United Kingdom and other European countries, their standard size is "A4", 8.3" wide by 11.7" long.
Industry Use: American publishers or agencies prefer Letter Size paper. If an author is submitting in any country other than the U.S., it is suggested that they check to see the standard size for that country.
No comments:
Post a Comment