Editors greatly prefer (agents and publishers expect/require) that authors send their manuscripts in a "standard" Word format. But what does that mean, specifically? (You should always check the house style requirements for specific agents/publishers, but this is pretty standard.)
In Word's Layout tab, Page Setup section:
In the Home tab, Font section:
In the Home tab, Paragraph section, Indents and Spacing:
Please - only ONE space between sentences. (Modern kerning eliminates the need to double space between sentences like we used to do with typewriters. See this article by Erin Wright for help with this.)
Indicate a Scene Change (in location or time or POV) with extra space between paragraphs and a centered 'dingbat' such as ***. If you don't signal to readers in any visual way other than a space, it might end up at the bottom of a page where they wouldn't notice, resulting in confusion.
Please label your document pages with title and author in top right (Header) and page number in bottom right (Footer).
Your title page should be centered and start a third of the way down the page with:
In Word's Layout tab, Page Setup section:
- Margin: 1 inch
- Size: Letter
- Orientation: Portrait
- Use Page Breaks after title page and chapters (rather than tabbing down to the next page)
In the Home tab, Font section:
- Size: 12-point text
- Font: Times New Roman
- Color: black on white background
In the Home tab, Paragraph section, Indents and Spacing:
- Alignment: Left (ragged right)
- Indentation: Special - First line: 1.27 cm (use this settings rather than tabs or spaces to indent paragraphs)
- Spacing: Before - "0" and After - "0" (no extra space between paragraphs)
- Line Spacing: Double
Please - only ONE space between sentences. (Modern kerning eliminates the need to double space between sentences like we used to do with typewriters. See this article by Erin Wright for help with this.)
Indicate a Scene Change (in location or time or POV) with extra space between paragraphs and a centered 'dingbat' such as ***. If you don't signal to readers in any visual way other than a space, it might end up at the bottom of a page where they wouldn't notice, resulting in confusion.
Please label your document pages with title and author in top right (Header) and page number in bottom right (Footer).
Your title page should be centered and start a third of the way down the page with:
- Title
- Subtitle
- Your Name
- and (latest word count to the nearest hundred)
Let's chat about how I might help you refine your story
so that it clearly communicates your message
in a way that engages and informs.
so that it clearly communicates your message
in a way that engages and informs.
