Get Editors' and Agents' Attention by Properly Formatting Your Writing

The entire purpose of formatting your work - whether it be fiction, non-fiction, or poetry - is to help whoever reads it to read it easily. Every factor, tip, trick, rule and occasional exception is to allow for readability.

That said, submitting a poorly formatted manuscript is the smooch of death for any writer. It's the very first thing an editor, agent, or publisher looks for when reading a manuscript. And the sad thing about it-for you, mostly-is if your formatting stinks, your work will get trashed, unread.

The rules to formatting are not set in stone, but carved in butter. They change, continue to change as new technologies come, and can be manipulated base by base, situation by situation. What will work in one place won't always work in another. One editor may want this, while another may want that. You, the writer, may want to do things one way and take up the cross of effective leniency to do so-there is leeway with formatting, not much, but it does exist. You may want to use a certain font over another, or put your header in the top left instead of the top right, and that's fine, just so long as your work is readable-as readable as you can possibly make it.

Simply put, you can change some of the formatting guidelines and get away with it, but there is no excuse for the crime of submitting poorly formatted, hard to read writing.

On the first page of every manuscript:

Single spaced text and flushed left, you should include your name, then your street address, state, country, zip code, and below that, your email address. On the same line as your name, but flush right, place an approximate word count, i.e., about 100,000 words (or 10,000 words, or 1,000,000 words, if that is the case) rounding to the nearest round number. If your true word count is 98,927, round up to 100,000.

Half way down the page, at about four inches down the page, double space and place your title in the center, and below it, your byline (name or pen name). Press enter, hit flush left, and begin your manuscript. You should have the first five or six lines of fiction or non fiction on this first page.

Basics of Formatting Fiction and Non Fiction:

Your Manuscript should always be double spaced. Use an appropriate, readable font. By double spacing the text, you enable an editor or agent to read your work easily. The extra space gives the feeling of less to read, and even if there are six hundred pages instead of three hundred, the reader goes from page to page feeling as though there is less to read. By choosing a readable font-Time New Roman or Courier New (preferably Courier New)-you further help whoever is reading your manuscript, you, an editor, or an agent, which is a big thing when you think of the dozens of manuscripts editors and agents read each year.

Always use black ink. Not red, not blue, not green, but BLACK.

Stay away from fancy text designs or colors. They are not necessary and will, 100% of the time, make you look like a naïve, ignorant fool. In other words: an inexperienced writer. You might think it's unique to use green or red font, or to highlight key passages, or use neat little text effects (like Las Vegas Lights or Blinking Backgrounds) but an editor only wants plain vanilla-Times Roman or Courier, maybe Chicago.

Font size is very important. Almost everyone prefers reading font that is just the right size, and just the right size is about "12." Whether using Times New Roman, Courier, Chicago, or Georgia as your font of choice, make sure you use 12 as your font size-if you use Courier, you can safely get away with a size "10" font, but do it only if you really feel you must.

Indent! Indent! Indent! cried the copyeditor! You're committing a sin against every editor if you don't. And when I say indent, I mean pressing the tab button to give a half inch margin (no more, no less) before each paragraph. When I say each paragraph, I mean each paragraph. New paragraphs should begin with every new speaker of dialogue and shift in POV.

To offset one scene from another, use a centered # (pound sign). This can be effectively used when you switch from one character to another or from one topic to another.

Allow one inch margins on both sides of your manuscript. This allows ease of reading and enough space for your or an editor to doodle notes or changes (if your work is printed, which is also another reason to double space your text).

Begin each new chapter on a new page (at the end of your current chapter, no matter how much space you have between the last period and the end of the page, skip down to the end and go to the next page), half way down, or about four inches from the top.

Use a header for each page (except the very first page) to include your last name, a keyword from the title of the work, and the page number. Number each page in succession. 2, 3, 4, etc. Your page numbers should start with number 2, on the second page of your manuscript. When on the computer, it won't matter much, but when the manuscript is printed off for whatever reason (to edit, to read) it becomes a very big deal. The header should be placed on the right side of the page: Name / Title / Pg. Number.

Underline any word you mean to italicize. Instead of writing formatting, instead write formatting. It makes it easier for the reader-and especially the copyeditor-to find the words that are meant to be italicized in the finished product. It can be difficult to catch all the italics with fonts such as Times Roman, and especially Courier New.

Don't use a double space between paragraphs, meaning, don't hit enter twice after the end of a paragraph.

When using an em-dash, replace the long line with two disconnected dashes. - should be written as --.

Always remember to read submission guidelines. If an agent or editor or publisher wants you to submit your manuscript formatted a certain way, they will tell you. Some publishers want your manuscript single-spaced. Some publishers may only want your font in Verdana. Some publishers may want your font size at 14, instead of 12.

Basics for Printing Your Manuscript:

Use white paper of a decent quality, the kind you can find at Office Max or Wal-Mart. Don't use a slick paper that allows the ink to smear, and don't use a thin, transparent, or onion skin paper. But don't use a very high quality paper, either-the kind used for resumes.

Print on only ONE side of the page. For page one, there should be text on the front, emptiness on the back. For page two, there should be text on the front, emptiness on the back.

When submitting a printed manuscript to a publisher or agent, LOOKS ARE EVERYTHING. You should do all you can to ensure each page is free from smudges, creases, dents, or any other wrinkle that may look poorly in the hands of a professional. Use a printer with enough quality that the letters of your work won't look faint. Use a dark ink, and change the ink before it begins to fade.

Don't use staples when submitting a manuscript. Paperclips are fine.

Don't ever send your only copy. Always make sure you have a backup, whether another printed version, or preferably, something saved on a disk, hard drive, or in email.

Formatting poetry:

Single space poetry.

When submitting multiple poems, each one should be kept to its own page, or pages.

Each line should be flush against the left of the page. The exception to this is when you've written a poem you purposely created to have lines that are not orthodox (centered poems do not count) such as Shape Poems-a poem about water and written in the shape of a water drop, or a poem about a dog written in the shape of a dog (good luck getting that one onto paper).

Formatting Myths:

You don't have to put The End at the end of your fiction. In fact, you shouldn't. The editor will know it's the end when the end comes, and placing The End appears amateurish.

Not everything has to be perfect, and there isn't any one right way to format a manuscript so long as it's readable. No publisher is going to turn down a good story just because you put a footer in instead of a header, or didn't break up your em-dashes.

And Another Thing:

Formatting your manuscript is not rocket science, but it's not a walk in the park, either. Get a jump on formatting by incorporating as much of these tips as you can right at the beginning, in your rough draft. That way, when it comes time to clean the work up to submit, you will have most everything done and won't have to go through it for hours making sure everything is accurate.

And good luck, do your best, and don't worry about the formatting police...they don't exist.