Manuscript Formatting: A Comprehensive and Easy Guide for Authors

How to Find a Literary Agent: Tips for Submitting to Reputable Agents

Article Written by: Wendy Mba

You have finished writing the first draft of your book. Now what?

A completed 50,000-word novel now sits at your table with a boatload of corrections to be done. The work seems more daunting than the book itself.

Writing a Book is an exciting journey for many. Once you’ve finished writing, the next step is to publish your manuscript.

However, you can’t send your manuscript to publishers with all the grammatical and spelling errors. Formatting your manuscript is necessary to make it look professional and easy for publishers to read and review.

It ensures the interior of your book and the text is ready for printing and uploading to ebook marketplaces.

And yes.

The first draft you have written is just as important, but you’ll be doing yourself harm when your content lacks structure and fails to get the main point across. The story could be well written, but readers won’t enjoy reading your book when it is difficult to understand.

Publishers will state their submission guidelines if you send your book for publishing. But, if you choose to self-publish, you can hire a professional editor from ProseMedia or do it yourself by utilizing the formatting tips here to help you format your manuscript better.

Excellent grammar-checking tools you can use to edit are Grammarly, Auto Crit, and Pro Writing Aid.

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Let’s get started.

In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the essential elements of formatting your book manuscript for publishers.

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Manuscript Formatting: Fonts and font size

Font and font size are significant in your book’s formatting. They both send a message on what kind of content your readers can expect. Your font choice should convey your words, meet the expectations of your readers, and be easy to read without the awareness of your readers.

You don’t want your readers to complain about the readability of the novel you spent weeks and even months writing.

Generally, serif typefaces are better for fiction and non-fiction since the serif helps readers track the words and paragraphs easily. Century and Caslon fonts are great for non-fiction pieces, while Bakerville and Garamond are better for fiction text.

If you publish children’s books, fonts that are more decorative and playful, like Comic sans, may be right up your alley because, for kids, you need something more attention-grabbing to keep them entertained. Remember that your favourite MS Word fonts may not be the best when formatting a book for print.

Below you can agree that the first text block is easier to read and more familiar in print books, while the second goes better in children’s books.

Font size affects elements like aesthetics, word count, and page count. If the font is too small or close together, it can be tough to read for long periods. On the other hand, if the font is too big or spread out, all the text may not fit on a single page.

The best font size and spacing for a book depend on the type of book and the audience to read it. You also have to consider the readability of your content. Not all of your readers will have a sharp vision.

Can you read easily with that font size? If the answer is yes, you’ve sorted the font size problem.

You have to go for a font that’s easy on the eye, one thick enough for readers to follow from line to line and page to page, and is fitting for the trim size of your book. Choose a font size that doesn’t eat up your pages.

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Manuscript Formatting: Margins and spacing

When formatting your book, note the safety and bleed margins. Margins enhance the aesthetics and readability of your work. They protect your content from running off the page. They also ensure vital information remains during and after the trimming process.

Place text and other data within the safety margins.

Your pages should have a minimum of 0.25 inches on all sides for books without bleeds. For novels with bleed, you can increase the margins by 0.125 (so your top, bottom, left, and right margins should all be uniform). These should be the default margins in MS Word and other word processors like Scrivener.

Line spacing is the gap between the lines of text on a page. Leave enough space between the lines so that your readers can easily follow the story.

An ample space or incomplete spacing makes the text hard to read. Line spacing can be single-spaced, 1.5, or double-spaced.

Your novel may need to be double-spaced for editors, proofreaders, and typesetters. Double-spacing your lines makes the manuscript easier to read and mark up.

Before publishing, format your manuscript to single spacing for ebooks and 1.2 or 1.3 for print.

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Manuscript Formatting: Page Numbers and Headers/Footers

Page numbers begin with the number one and are numbered continuously till the end of the book. You can only add numbers to your page with the first new page after the title page.

You can choose to have your page numbers at the top(header) or bottom(footer) of the page, depending on what you like. For ebooks, it is preferable to go with hyperlinks instead of page numbers, especially if you’re including a table of contents.

Page numbers are usually included inside your header or footer. A header is the top margin of each page, and a footer is the bottom margin of each page.

Headers and footers provide a page structure that is consistent throughout a book. Helpful information that you want to appear on every page of a document, such as your name, the title of the book, chapter titles, or page numbers.

Manuscript Formatting: Chapters and Headings

No matter what book you are writing or have written, chapters help to convey information from the author to the reader. In novels, properly utilized chapter headings can create tension, leave the reader wanting more, and allow for reflection on the events that just passed.

If your book is long, including chapters will give readers pause. It will provide a rhythm to the experience of reading.

Always start a new chapter on a blank page, halfway or one-third down the page. Keep the chapter title center-aligned and justified. Adjust the gap between the chapter title and the chapter to a single space.

Format each chapter title as Heading 1, and customize the font and font size.

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Manuscript Formatting: Paragraph Formatting

The pace you use affects the mood of your story. It helps you develop ideas and themes, engages your readers, and brings them closer to the characters. Longer paragraphs slow the pace because they take longer to read.

You always sleep while reading academic materials because of the longer sentences used in formal writing, which slow down the pace and make reading a boring thing to do sometimes.

The length of a paragraph affects the readability and clarity of the text. Short paragraphs can make the flow feel choppy and difficult to follow, while long paragraphs can make the content dense and overwhelming.

Paragraph lengths are alternated between long and short to generate a sense of rhythm and emphasis. An ideal paragraph block is concise enough to contain a single idea or point but long enough to express that idea.

Using line spacing is the most common method of separating paragraphs. An entire line space is added between paragraphs, creating a logical, visual separation of the paragraph blocks.

This method improves readability, heightens emphasis, and adds a tidy look to the passage.

Indents are another way of separating paragraph blocks and are used to save some space. For the first line of a new paragraph, indent a half-inch. For most word processors, you can do this by hitting the tab key once.

But note that the first paragraph of a new chapter is not to be indented.

Some authors prefer to leave the body text left-aligned and the right side ragged. In a published book, the wording is often Justified, but that’s after editing and proofreading, and final formatting.

Manuscript Formatting: Tables, Figures, and Images

Visual elements such as images, graphs, charts, tables, figures, diagrams, and maps capture your readers’ attention and help them to understand your ideas better.

They are illustrations that help tell your story. These visuals help to augment your written objectives and simplify complicated textual descriptions. There are no limits to the number of visuals you can add to your manuscript as long as it does not distract from the main idea.

Children’s books tend to have more pictures than regular novels. Textbooks may include tables, figures, graphs, and charts.

The correct way to add an image to your book is to use the Insert Image function of your word processor. Place the image in line with the text, which locks it on a separate line between two paragraphs.

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Manuscript Formatting: Footnotes and Endnotes

You’ll want to cite your sources if you are a nonfiction writer. Cite any information in your book from a source other than your experience.

Footnotes are used in nonfiction books as well as in fiction as well. Here are a few ideas:

• You can reveal additional details about your world. Sometimes it might be difficult to pack all the information in your book, so why not give a few extra facts in the footnotes?
• Make your world seem more real. Tolkien did this in the Lord of the Rings.
• Add comments from other characters. Use footnotes as a way of letting the character comment on the text.

Adding footnotes in fiction can be a way to stand out and make your book fun to read.

Endnotes are additional information that appears at the end of your chapter or the end of your book. The purpose of endnotes is to add additional information that is useful to have but would otherwise disrupt the flow of your book.

Above all, the writing flow and the reader’s experience are most important. Endnotes allow you to maintain that flow while providing additional and crucial information.

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Final Checks and Submission

Before submitting, indicate the end of your manuscript by writing the word “END” and center it after the last line. Your publishers and editors will know that no text got in transit.

Leave your manuscript for a full day before checking it a final time with fresh eyes. You will spot mistakes you did not realize were present. You must check the grammar, clarity, and style of your sentences.

Other things to note during your final checks include capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. You can use Grammarly, Auto Crit, and Pro Writing Aid to run final checks.

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Check the table of contents to ensure each part, chapter, and heading numbering are in the correct sequence. Update the chapter titles and subheadings if necessary.

Double-check the text and figures of your manuscript to be sure they are complete. The manuscript must not exceed the agreed-upon length. Make sure to obtain all third-party permissions. For contributed volumes, ensure that all authors have signed their Contributor Agreements.

Conclusion

Imagine your dream publishing company has accepted your book for publication. You have a team that will work on your cover design, make a test print of your book, and then proofread to ensure no hidden errors remain after editing.

Once you have worked with the publisher to get a beautiful draft of your book in print, it is time to move on to the final steps of the publishing process. The dream of every writer, and it can be a reality for you.

Follow the formatting guidelines above, and be well on your way to becoming accepted by a publication. Once you have worked with the publisher to get a beautiful draft of your book in print, it is time to move on to the final steps of the publishing process.

Done with your Manuscript it’s time for your next step, Find a Literary Agent

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