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Formatting Your Manuscript for Submission and Print

Updated February 02, 2004 (Orig. Post Date: 11.01.02)
By Stephanee Killen

reparing your manuscript for submission in the publishing industry can sometimes be a confusing and time-consuming process. Often, beginning authors may not consider how much the formatting of a manuscript or query letter can play a role in its initial acceptance or rejection from editors, agents, and publishers. Though there are many factors in determining what gets published in traditional publishing, first impressions can often determine whether or not your manuscript is even read. Though this may not be the case in self- or e-publishing, the format of your manuscript and, ultimately, the appearance of your book, can play an important role in determining your sales success.

When submitting to a traditional publisher or agent, you often need only worry about the appearance of the hardcopy (printed version of the manuscript). If your work is accepted, many publishers will take over all stages of production. When submitting your work to an e-publisher, this may not be the case. This is due to the fact that many e-publishers either require specific formatting or they publish work "as is." Though they may alter some aspects of your work, more often than not, these alterations are made simply so that your book will fit specific margin or print specifications. At times, this means that your final work, the book you will eventually hold in your hands, can turn out to look little like you expected. However, there are a few simple things that you can do to avoid these future "publication disappointments."

Know Your Options
Perhaps the most important step in determining the format of your work is to ask your publisher what formatting options they handle. Depending on the content of your book (whether or not it contains graphics or tables as well as text), you may need more organization of your material than they will offer free of charge. You can then decide whether it is something that you can complete yourself or whether you would like to hire the publisher or an outside company to complete the work.

Discover What's on the Market
Pick up your favorite book and take a look at it. Examine the format of the contents. Frequently, you will discover that the font (the style of text) is small to medium in size but easy to read. The text is normally single-spaced and chapter headings often begin at least a 1/4 of the way down the page. You may also discover (with both hardback and paperback books) that the margins are sized so that you can easily see the text without the necessity of overly "cracking" the spine. Though you may not have much say in the margin settings of your book, depending on the size you obtain, there may be a small amount of room to negotiate. You will also notice that the text lines up on both the right and left side. This is called "full justification."

When examining fonts, you will notice that it is unusual to find a large font (outside of large print books made for those with failing sight) or a "typewriter" font in published books. Though you may choose these and consider them stylistic, more commonly chosen fonts include Times New Roman, Garamond, and Bookman Old Style. (Arial or Courier fonts are less common but may be requested by the publisher.) Common font sizes or points can range from 10pt to 12pt.

These choices can also depend on the length of your work. (For extremely large books, lowering the overall page count can help to lower an otherwise high retail price for your book, encouraging sales. Formatting options can include beginning chapters only a short space from where the previous one ends rather than on a new page.) Some publishers choose fonts and font sizes based on length in order to meet certain print requirements. Shorter works might use larger fonts or font sizes in order to increase page count, whereas larger works might use smaller fonts or font sizes. Less common fonts may also require a special license to use, so check with your publisher if you feel the font might be an unusual one.

Standardization
Once you have made the basic decisions, you may find yourself facing a myriad of smaller choices. These can seem complicated at first, but with the help of many of today's word processors, small changes can be made relatively effortlessly.

A few extra things to consider include:

Smart quotes or straight quotes. Smart quotes are otherwise known as curly quotes, and appear as “ ”. Straight quotes are just as they sound—straight—and appear as " ". Though it may simply be a matter of preference, smart quotes are more commonly used in publishing, as straight quotes are used to indicate feet and inches. (There is a debate among web designers as to whether smart quotes should be used in html documents, but at this time, not all browsers recognize these particular symbols.) Regardless of what you decide, you should always be consistent. Quote marks are among one of the easiest things to miss, as auto-format functions can be disengaged, causing a mixture of smart and straight quotes to appear in your manuscript. Most e-publishers have no interest in checking the hundreds of manuscripts that pass their desk for this small discrepancy. It's up to you—or your editor!

Em-dashes, en-dashes, or hyphens? These three symbols can seem very confusing due to the often subtle difference between them. Em-dashes are "long dashes" and are often seen represented as two hyphens together. Most published works change all hyphen dashes to em-dashes, as it presents a much cleaner looking text (compare — to --). En-dashes are "medium dashes" and are often used to separate numbers, such as 45–48. Hyphens are a single dash and may be used to indicate syllable separation or a compound word, such as self-publishing. All of these symbols are available in word processing programs such as Corel WordPerfect and Microsoft Word.

Sentence and paragraph spacing. The issue of whether there should be two spaces after a period is currently a matter of debate. Some copyeditors believe that there is no longer a need for this rule, as extra and inconsistent spacing can make typesetting difficult. However, in manuscripts with smaller fonts or tighter tracking (the spacing between characters), placing two spaces after a period can improve readability—especially if the final, published copy is to be an electronic book. Regardless of what is chosen, spacing should be as consistent as possible.

Paragraph spacing may also be decided on by you. However, it is more common, especially in works of fiction, to have paragraphs indented rather than double-spaced in your printed work. In technical works or workbook-style books, you may choose to alternate styles.

Once you have considered these things, you should be well on your way to having a well formatted manuscript. As mentioned earlier, for more complicated tasks, such as including graphics (pictures) or tables with your work, you may want to consider getting outside help if you are less familiar with your computer software or simply find that you do not have the time. If you should choose to obtain assistance, make sure you prepare a list of things that need completed. If you aren't sure, you should be able to discuss your options with the person formatting your work. You may even want to request samples, which can give you an idea of what different layouts will look like. (This is an especially good way to choose a nice font.)

For more information on how to format your manuscript, review the Tutorials section of this website. There you will find information on how to complete some of the tasks mentioned here, such as changing your font and font size and altering the spacing of your manuscript. Keep in mind that there are always tricks that can be done to make your work look professional and marketable, so be sure to ask questions and take an active role in the process.

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