#Manuscript style sheet template for free#
#Manuscript style sheet template how to#

#Manuscript style sheet template for free#

Join for free today Title page format for manuscripts Join our community of hundreds of thousands of writers and get feedback and beta reads for your novel! Use italics when necessary, but never underline in novel manuscripts. This will reassure the reader that pages aren’t accidentally missing. Skip a couple of lines and begin the text of the chapter.Īt the end of the manuscript, center a hash mark (#) one double-spaced blank line after the last line. Center the chapter title, even if it’s only Chapter One, about one-third of the way down the page. You can add headers and page numbers in Word automatically.īegin chapters on new pages. Use a blank line to indicate scene breaks, and center a hash mark (#) in the middle of the blank line.Ĭreate a header in the top right corner by using your last name, then selecting a keyword from your manuscript, followed by the page number. Single space between sentences, after periods.

Don’t do this by hitting the tab key instead, set indentation in Word using the Format → Paragraph → Section menu, or see this tutorial.ĭouble space lines, with no extra space between paragraphs.

Indent each paragraph by half an inch (1.25cm). Courier and Arial fonts may also be acceptable, but to be safe stick with Times New Roman unless otherwise specified.īlack text on a white background only. Use Times New Roman font, at 12 point size. (I.e., don’t set your text to be justified.) This is usually already the default setting in Word, but double check on your computer to make sure.Īlign text to the left the right hand side should remain ragged. Set a margin of 1 inch (2.5cm) on all four sides of your manuscript. But if they just ask for “industry standard manuscript formatting,” then these are the rules you want to follow to the letter: If they do, then you should of course follow their requirements. Some of your recipients might have their own special rules that they’d like you to follow when formatting your manuscript. Include a header with your last name and page number at the top right of each page, and a title page with the book title and your contact details. Luckily for you, correctly formatting your book manuscript can be summarized in just a few bullet points.Ī manuscript should be formatted using 1 inch (2.5cm) margins, Times New Roman font at 12 point size, double-spaced lines, and paragraphs indented half an inch (1.25cm).

#Manuscript style sheet template how to#

You don’t want that! How to format a book Manuscripts that don’t follow these industry-standard formatting rules are much more likely to be discarded unread, because not only does it waste the reader’s time, but and it also suggests that the writer is an amateur. This makes it easier for them to read through the tens and hundreds of submissions they get every week.

When submitting your manuscript to agents, editors, and publishers, they expect your writing to be formatted in a specific way. The words and sentences themselves haven’t changed, only how we present them-that’s formatting. The same text could have a larger or smaller font it could be set in Times New Roman, or Courier, or another font it could be on a white page, or a cream page the page size, or the size of the margins could vary and so on. Manuscript formatting is the way in which the text of your book or novel is presented on the page. They get way too many submissions, and they’ll simply move on to the next one without giving your manuscript a second look. They won’t spend time with an author that hasn’t done the necessary preparation. The professionals that do this work will charge more if your manuscript format doesn’t adhere to industry standards, because that means they’ll need to re-format your manuscript before they can start their work.įor authors going down the route of traditional publishing, correct manuscript format is also an important step-the agents and publishers you submit your writing to won’t even look at your manuscript if it’s not formatted according to the industry standard.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be an independently published author or a traditionally published author-submitting a manuscript that follows the industry-standard manuscript formatting rules is critically important for getting your work read.įor writers wanting to be independent published authors, this process will cut down your costs when the time comes for manuscript assessment, proofreading, editing, and typesetting.