Formatting a Manuscript for Submission

Yesterday we finished up The Writing Season. It consisted of five stages I created called Concept, Formatting, Pen to Paper and Birth. I hope you all enjoyed these articles. If you missed them you can simply scroll down or view the Blog Archive to the left.

Today we have a few questions from a reader who is a member of our Ning network.

Here are her questions:

"I was wondering if you can give some manuscript formatting tips. For example, how do you format a manuscript for submission? What are the margins? Acceptable fonts? Is Courier the only acceptable font? What should go on the first page and how should it be formatted. How should the chapters be labeled? I would like to know what to do once the final project is finished.I was also wondering if you can post information on book covers. Money is a little tight so I was wondering if I have to pay a lot of money to get a nice cover."

Ok, first you need to find out what that publishing company is looking for. All publishing companies have different guidelines when it comes to submitting a manuscript to their company. So my first tip is to find out each companies qualifications and keep in mind that each company is different.

No, Courier is not the only acceptable font. Times New Roman is also available as well as Arial but Times New Roman is the most used font for submitting manuscripts. The size that is mostly used by companies is 12. The margins are the blank spaces on the left or right edge, or at the top or bottom, of the page. Margins need to be 1 1/2" on the left side and 1" top and bottom. All manuscripts should also be double spaced. Hitting enter twice after a sentence. Dialog should also be indented every time a new character speaks. Your new paragraphs should be indented as well. Each page needs to be numbered.

On the first page of your manuscript should be the title of the book and your name centered about 12 spaces from the top. Your name again, Mailing address, email address & phone number to the left starting from the top. The word count to the right starting from the top. Page number needs to be on the top or bottom on the right.

Chapters

Chapters can be labeled any kind of way. It's up the the author. Once your manuscript is finished, then it's time to shop around for publishing companies. Read their guidelines and follow them to a tee. You do not want your manuscript to be rejected because of a small error. Here is a link for the top publishing companies of 2009

http://online-book-publishing-review.toptenreviews.com/

Book Covers

Getting a good book cover depends on the type of publishing company you decide to go with. Some publishing companies will design the book cover for you with no extra charge. (Most likely it's added to the contract that the company will design your cover for no charge) If you have a specific way you want your book cover designed, you may want to hire someone. This will cost you money. Graphic designers are not cheap. If you decide to go with a traditional publishing company, mostly likely they will include the cover design. If you go with self publishing, be careful. Some publishing companies have add-on packages and will charge you for this. Some have editing packages, marketing packages and design packages so be careful. With all these packages, you still have to pay for cost of the book to get published. So depending on what your pockets are looking like these days, you need to shop around carefully and make sure the publishing company you choose has all that you need. Some companies can create a really good cover and not cost you a thing. Other's may not so shop around!

So I hope that helps! Don't be afraid to send a comment on this blog if it did or didn't help. If you have a writing question, contact us about it: http://fromawriterspov.webs.com/yourrequests.htm

Signing off,

Dominique Watson

Another helpful link: http://www.saskpublishers.sk.ca/publication/manuscriptsubmit.shtml