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How to format a manuscript

October 5, 2020 by Nathan Bransford8 Comments

Proper formatting is by far the easiest thing you can do to make your book project appear as professional as possible to literary agents and the various professionals you will work with throughout the publication process.

There isn’t an ironclad industry standard format for manuscripts that’s as exacting as, say, a Chicago Manual of Style. Instead, there are a mix of “must haves” and “some people do these things.”

Here are the must-haves:

  • A cover page. If you’re submitting to literary agents it’s helpful to have a cover page that includes the title, your name, your contact information (phone number and email are fine but include your physical address if you want to), and the word count.
  • Times New Roman, 12 point font. It used to be Times New Roman or Courier, but in my experience Courier has gotten a little old school. Go with Times New Roman.
  • Double spacing. This means, very simply, double spacing without any other changes. Do not add any extra spacing before or after paragraphs. And absolutely do not get crazy with facing pages or trying to make your manuscript look like a book. It’s a manuscript. Go with it.
  • 1″ margins. Just 1″ margins all around. Double-check this because some programs default to 1.25″ or 1.5″.
  • 1/2 inch indent for a new paragraph. Best: Setting an automatic indent for new paragraphs (this saves your future interior designer a step). Fine: Tabs for new paragraphs. Red flag: Spaces. Don’t. do. this.
  • Numbered pages. The best way to drive a publishing professional insane is to send them a manuscript where the pages aren’t numbered or, even worse, where the pages start over with every chapter. NUMBER YOUR PAGES. Optional but not a bad idea: include your last name or the book title in the header or footer case an agent prints out your manuscript and gets trapped in a wind storm.
  • Page breaks after the end of a chapter. New chapters should start on a new page. And use the page break function in your word processing program, not returns, so future additions or subtractions don’t turn your manuscript into a hot mess. Also, I would still number chapters even if you decide to use chapter titles so that the people giving you feedback can easily reference the chapter #.
  • Section breaks. If you have a section break within a chapter, at minimum include an extra space between the paragraphs denoting the break. I would advocate including three asterisks or some other symbol denoting the break so it’s clear it’s not a mistake and for situations when it falls near the end of a page and the break might be easily missable.

Here are some areas where people tend to vary a bit more:

  • Spacing for chapter breaks. Some people don’t include extra spacing for chapter breaks, some include quite a lot of extra padding. I just include one extra space before the chapter title and one extra space after.
  • Denoting alternate text like text messages, handwritten letters, signage. There aren’t hard and fast rules here, but I would recommend extra spaces around the alternative text and italicizing or changing the font to denote that it’s a break from the narrative voice. If you change the font, don’t get too crazy, and err on the side of legibility (e.g. don’t use some hard to read cursive font for a handwritten letter).
  • Italicizing a character’s inner monologue in a third person narrative. It’s become a convention but it’s not a standard to italicize a character’s thoughts in a first person narrative, such as: “Why is this all so complicated, he thought.” (There was quite a Twitter beef about this a few weeks back). There’s room for author discretion here.

Once more for emphasis: Don’t try to make your manuscript look like a physical book. Publishing professionals are used to working with manuscripts in industry standard formula and it’s sort of baked into their brain, meaning they have a sense of how long chapters and entire books are with this formatting in mind.

See anything I missed? Have any questions? Take to the comments!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my guide to writing a novel (now available in audio) and my guide to publishing a book.

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Art: Fabrique de cartes à jouer dans une maison de la place Dauphine, à Paris by Anonymous

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Filed Under: Publishing Industry

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Neil Larkinssays

    October 5, 2020 at 6:02 pm

    This is great. Thanks! Question: Is it necessary for the chapters to have titles? I’ve read books that numbered the chapters and gave the page but no titles.

    Reply
  2. Nathan Bransfordsays

    October 6, 2020 at 9:14 am

    Chapters definitely don’t need titles, those are optional. But even if you decide to use titles, at the manuscript stage I would still number the chapters so that people who are giving you feedback can easily reference the chapter # rather than having to cite the chapter name.

    Reply
  3. Neil Larkinssays

    October 6, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Nancy S. Thompsonsays

    October 7, 2020 at 9:07 am

    Here’s one more: Turn off widow/orphan control and maximize words per page.

    Reply
  5. Neil Larkinssays

    October 8, 2020 at 11:39 am

    I have no idea what that means. Sounds intriguing. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip.

    Reply
  6. Bobbi Beallsays

    November 7, 2020 at 10:41 am

    What is the Page Break Function in Word and how does it work?

    Reply
    • Nathan Bransfordsays

      November 7, 2020 at 10:43 am

      Rather than tell you the answer that, I think it’s ultimately more helpful to you to give you this: https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2009/07/importance-of-basic-computer-skills/

      Reply
  7. ceil otissays

    December 4, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    Hello. If images under each chapter title are planned, should they be included in the formatting? Thanks

    Reply

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