Submission Format

By Rory C. Keel

When writing a novel or even short works, you will need to format your work.

There are many different format styles. When submitting your work, make a diligent effort to understand and follow any specific guidelines regarding formatting requests.

Below is a good standard format that will be accepted by most editors, agents, and publishers in the industry.

Page Information

• Margins — 1.5 inches all the way around
• Font — Courier, Courier New, or other clean monospace serif font from 10-12 pt.
• Line spacing — Double-space
• Paragraph indent — first line, 5 pt.
• Header — right justified, contains the following information: Last name/ TITLE/ page#

A header does not belong on the cover page. Start headers on page one of the actual manuscript.

Cover page — depends on whether you’re agented or not.

      Unagented:

• Contact information — Name and address, phone number and e-mail address in the top left corner of the page, single spaced, left-justified
• Title — centered, just above the middle of the page
• by — centered and one double-spaced line beneath the title
• Name or pen name — centered and one double-spaced line beneath the word by
• Word count — centered and rounded to the nearest thousand, one double-spaced line beneath your name or pen name

     Agented:

• Title — centered, just above the middle of the page
• by — centered and one double-spaced line beneath the title
• Name or pen name — centered and one double-spaced line beneath the word by
• Word count — centered and rounded to the nearest thousand, one double-spaced line beneath your name or pen name
• Agent’s contact information — Name, business name, mailing address, phone number (e-mail address if you have the agent’s okay first), left justified, single spaced, bottom of the page

First page

Header — should be in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and page number should be 1.

• Chapter header — can be anywhere from one to six double-spaced lines down from the top of the page, and can be centered or left justified. You can title your chapters, or just write Chapter One or Chapter 1.
• Body text — drop down two double-spaced lines to begin your story.
• Scene breaks — drop down two double-spaced lines, insert and center the # character, drop down two more double-spaced lines, and begin your new scene.

Subsequent chapters — start each chapter on a fresh page. Keep chapter formatting and titling consistent with your first chapter.

Happy submitting,

Roryckeel.com