1 inch top margin

Your Real Name Goes Here Type of Book

Street Setting
City, State, Zip App. Word Count
Phone Number

[ ... space down about 10 lines ... ]

Title of Book
by
Your Pseudonym (if you use one) Goes Here

[ ... space down 3 lines ... ]

1 1/2 Here is where you start Page #1, Chapter #1. You don't need 1 1/2
inch inch
marg. to put a page number on this one; it's obviously the first page of marg.
your book and won't be confused with other pages.

This first page is the only page without the header [see Page 2,
which will appear at the top of every
Page 3, and Page 4]
subsequent page of your manuscript.

Regarding the information you include for Page 1: In my

case, where it says "Type of Book" in the upper right corner of
this first page, I put Historical Romance. I also add a line
beneath it stating the book's setting and/or time period; it's
optional -- I like to include it because I want my editor to have
all essential information about the manuscript as soon as
possible.

1 inch bottom margin

 Page Two
(beginning a new chapter)
 1 inch top margin

BOOK TITLE (Ch.#) PSEUDONYM (Real Name) -- Page #.

[leave 2 spaces to separate header from manuscript text]

[ ... space down to the middle of the page ... ]

Chapter Two
[ ... space down 3 lines ... ]

This is the first page of Chapter Two. All subsequent

chapters will start exactly the same way; halfway down the page
1 1/2 on a new sheet of paper. 1 1/2
inch inch
marg. Take a good look at the header up top since it will appear on marg.
every page of your manuscript except the very first. If the title
of your book is long, abbreviate it in the upper left corner of
your regular page header. Putting in the Chapter # -- [(Ch.#)
above] -- is something I started doing for myself, however, I've
had several editors say they also found it helpful. It's optional.

The page number traditionally goes in the upper right corner.

If you use a pseudonym, you can put it there (I use CAPS) then
put your real name in parentheses beside it. Why? Well, imagine
your editor lugging around five unbound manuscripts, bumping
into someone, and dropping them. Without the appropriate
header information on every page, putting those five
manuscripts back together would be a nightmare.

1 inch bottom margin

 Page Three
(all the other pages)
 1 inch top margin

BOOK TITLE (Ch.#) PSEUDONYM (Real Name) -- Page #.

[leave 2 spaces to separate header from manuscript text]
This is what all pages except for chapter beginnings will
look like (note the same header does appear at the top). This
time I haven't dropped down more than a couple of lines from
the header, just far enough so the header is nicely separated
from the manuscript's text.

All pages of the manuscript also have good-sized left and

right margins. There's a reason for this. Margins are the perfect
place for editors to jot down notes and corrections. Right and
left margins should not be less than one inch wide.

I still use Courier 10 pitch font, which is pretty much

standard. You don't need fancy fonts, and you definitely don't
need any colored fonts. Your font should always be a nice, dark
black. As for size -- be careful. Fonts that are too large or too
small will throw off your word count (250 words for one full
page of text is the standard, not your word processor's word
counter). Make sure the text is crisp and easy to read -- change
your printer ribbon or cartridge if necessary. Editors and agents
do a lot of reading, eye-strain is a very real job hazard. If you
make them squint over type that's too small, or print that's faded
and barely legible, you risk predisposing them to not liking you
1 1/2 1 1/2
inch
or your manuscript. Why start off on the wrong foot if it can be inch
marg. avoided? marg.

For italics, the traditional way to emphasize words in your

manuscript is by underlining the word or phrase to be italicized,
like this. I have seen manuscripts recently that simply put italics
in italics, like this, however it makes it more difficult for editors
and typesetters to distinguish (you don't want them to miss any).
Underlining words to be italicized is the standard format.

When setting up a transition (extra spaces designating a new

scene within the same chapter), drop down two double lines.
Like this:

[2 double lines]

The next scene in your chapter will start here.

Some authors prefer to designate a change in scene even

more strongly by putting a # centered in the middle of the extra
lines above. This is especially handy when your next scene will
Page Four
(the end)
 1 inch top margin

BOOK TITLE (Ch.#) PSEUDONYM (Real Name) -- Page #.

[leave 2 spaces to separate header from manuscript text]
As you can see, having designated on the previous page that you've
ended a scene within the current chapter and plan to start a new scene,
your editor expects the next scene to start here, on the top of your next
manuscript page. If you haven't designated the change of scene at the
bottom of the last page (or at the top of this one if there was no room on
the preceding page), you'll confuse your editor by such the sudden
switch in focus -- something you do not want to do!

Here are a few last-minute tips:

Justification should always be to the left, never full. Even if a word

is long and looks awkward to you starting on the next line, let it; proper
hyphenation (for words not normally hyphenated, of course) is the
typesetter's job.

Tab in 5 spaces to start each paragraph.

Always put two spaces after the punctuation at the end of all
sentences. [Because of html coding, two spaces between sentences does not
appear in this article.]
1 1/2
inch Color of paper should be white. 20 pound paper is fine. I use 20
marg. pound copier paper for my laster printer, and it gives very little "show
through". (Show through: Take a couple sheets of paper with printing on
them, lay them down one on top of the other, then notice how much of
the second page's printing shows through the top page.) You want as
little show through as possible to keep your editor's eye-strain to a
minimum. I probably don't have to add this, but . . . Please, your
manuscript should be printed on one side of the paper only!

Time to end this article, and to end your manuscript. The last bit of
formatting needed is to alert the editor that the manuscript has indeed
ended. This is done simply by dropping down three spaces (minimum)
and typing THE END in caps. Alternately, you can type simply END,
either way is acceptable.

[drop down three lines, then center]

THE END
[In Caps]