Welcome to June, y’all. I know things are crazy in the world, so I thought I’d use this month’s writing craft posts to get back to some fundamentals. If you have any specific topics you’d like for me to cover, let me know in comments!
Today’s topic is: Proper Manuscript Submission Format
Why care? Because not caring about format marks you as an amateur. Don’t get rejected because you were too lazy to do a few little tweaks to make your work come across professionally. I personally think you should get in the habit of using this format with every piece of fiction you write, even if it’s a draft or you’re just sending it to your buddy for a quick beta read. If it’s habit, it’ll be habit when it matters.
Note: These general guidelines are the basic industry standards. Please note, however, some magazines and publishers have specific rules that should be consulted before submitting for publication.
1. Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt. (Courier is an alternate, but due to its design it adds lots of space to your page count. Basically, TNR allows you to submit more words within the page limit guidelines)
2. Line Spacing: Double
3. Indent first line of each paragraphs .5 (Format, paragraph, Indentation, Special, First Line by .5)
4. Do not add extra spaces between paragraphs
5. Only one space after a period
6. Scene breaks are indicated with a single # centered on a line
7. New chapters require a page break
8. Margins: 1” all around
9. New chapter: Hit return to about a third of the way down. Center “CHAPTER #” on a line alone. Hit enter twice. Begin text of that chapter.
10. Turn OFF widows and orphans
11. For critique submissions there is no need to create a title page the header (see next item) identifies you and the title of your work
12. Header Format:
Last name/KEYWORDS FROM TITLE IN CAPS Page#
Note: Title pages never have page numbers or headers, though these are not required for critique submissions—only publication submissions.
Below is a screenshot of an example I created for reference.
Update: I found a typo in the post that went out via email (it was in the instructions for setting up your First Line Indent, which accidentally said .25 instead of .5). I corrected it on the Substack post (I can't edit the emails once they've been sent), but I just wanted to acknowledge it in case anyone was confused. Just goes to show that taking extra time to proof read should also be part of your habit. Mea culpa.