Monday, March 13, 2006



For more details go to Charlottedillon.com under formatting! She has a great deal on this on her site!

The formatting rules for big print publishers and e-publishers aren't the same. People started

mixing the two up. E-pubs use the word count you get from WP's like Word, they ask writers to use italics

instead of underlining, and so on. Some pint on demand and smaller presses ask for different things too.

Even some of the newer normal print publishers have different guidelines. (Some of these new guys are

coming up with almost strange formatting and submitting guidelines.)



The battles over which formatting is correct and which isn?t, when it comes to the bigger print pubs, often

gets heated. In fact, I?ve heard it and seen the arguments so much that I finally sat down and typed up a

survey. I then sent it out to more than two dozen print-published authors. Some had just been through

their first sale; others had many published books to their credits. I picked a mixture of publishers too.

Some of the authors wrote for Dell and Avon, some for Silhouette and Harlequin, plus a few others.



When I got my surveys back from those kind authors, guess what I found.... More than 95% of them still

use the same old standard novel formatting that most sites and most writing books suggest you use. That

old well-known courier font size 12, 25 lines per page, the one inch or so margin....or the 10 words per

line. They also still use underlining instead of italics and skip two spaces at the end of each sentences

instead of one. All of the old standard formatting we have been using for years, that so many say or dead

and gone.



So If you are sending your work to a print pub, an agent, or an RWA chapter writing contests.....you

should feel safe to stick with that old standard. It?s not really that big of a deal, and no one who isn?t

brand new to the writing world will think you are odd or not a pro for using the normal novel formatting

rules. The standards really do help you and the publisher figure word count in a way that tells them just

how many pages that manuscript will become when it?s a printed book, and with the cost of ink and paper

and postage always going up, you can see how that would be an important thing to know.



If you are sending work off to an e-pub, a small press, or even a new print press, look at their guidelines

and if they have formatting suggestions, FOLLOW THEM. In fact, if any pub, agent or contest list a

preferred font, size, or formatting in their guidelines...GO WITH THAT. If the publisher you want to send

your work to asks for Bookman size 18 font, 12 lines per page, on purple paper, then that?s what you

send them. (Smile) If they don?t ask, the standard is a great way to go.



If not, big deal, don't sweat sticking with the tried and true. It's easy, and you'll find all the info you need

on it below. Then you can let the important things drive you nuts, like grammar, pace, plot, and all of that

other great stuff. I promise you that the most important thing you put on those pages you will be sending

off -- is the writing.

Manuscript Format & More







Print work on clean, white, letter-size paper, 20 lb. weight. Print on one side only. Standard

novel formatting is using a font like Courier size 12, Courier New 12, or my favorite, Dark

Courier 12. All print should be clear. Most houses don't like dot-matrix. Using colored paper

doesn't catch an editor's eye, it only shows how new you are. The same holds true for strange

fonts or work printed too small or too large.



Click here or here to get a free Dark Courier download. To find out how to install a new font

-- Click Start, Windows Explorer, Help, Fonts, and then Adding to Your Computer. There

should be step by step instructions there.



A few fonts just for fun. 1001 Free Fonts -- Thundrune's Free Fonts -- Gnome FONT

Database -- FontFile.Com



Leave at least a one inch margin on all sides. You might find one inch is fine, or you might

need to set your side margins a little larger. You want your lines on the page to come out to

about 10 words each...and for once I am talking about using the word count you get from

which ever program you are writing in.



A header should be on each page, giving your manuscript's title, name, and page number.

Example....



A COWBOY'S WILL DILLON 1

or

A COWBOY'S WILL/Dillon 1



Title Page. This is your info dump page. A lot goes here. I've seen this done two ways, and

have been told both are fine. 1) At the top left of the page list your full real name, your

address, phone number, and e-mail address. On the top of the other side of the page, list

word count. About halfway down the page, center the MS title in caps, the word "by" goes

below that, and then your name. If you wish, you may add your pen name below your read

name. 2) Go half way down the page, center your MS title in caps, the word "by" goes below

that, and then your name, just like above, but instead of your name, address, phone number,

word count, and the rest, going at the top of the page, with this type it goes at the bottom of the

page, in the right corner.



On the first page type Chapter One about half way down the page. Center it. Skip a line, and

start your story. Each new chapter should start on a new page, and be set up the same way.



Chapter length. Most chapters kind of find their own place to break, where something major

is about to happen or where there is some kind of question left hanging. A place where the

reader won't be able to put the book down for at least a few more pages. A good length to

aim for though is somewhere between 15 and 25 typed pages. The 15 being for shorter

novels, say 70,000 words, and the 25 better for novels around 100,000 words. In the end,

you'll feel what is right for your story and for each chapter, and that's what you should go by..



Word count. Each full page should hold 25 double-spaced lines -- all but the first and last page

of each chapter . An editor will count each page, full or not, as 250 words. {Of course this is

for standard MS formatting -- a courier 12, 25 lines per page, 10 words on each line = 250.}

So a 400 page manuscript is a 100,000 words. To get those 25 lines, if you are using Word,

instead of clicking on double space, click on exactly, and then 25. (Find step by step info on

setting up Word at the bottom of this page.)









Word Count by Page





PLEASE NOTE: This word count only works if you use the standard MS formatting of a

courier 12, 25 lines per page, about 10 words per line. If you are using some other format,

then you'll need to figure your word count with another formula.





160 pages = 40,000 words

180 pages = 45,000 words

200 pages = 50,000 words

220 pages = 55,000 words

240 pages = 60,000 words

260 pages = 65,000 words

280 pages = 70,000 words

300 pages = 75,000 words

320 pages = 80,000 words



340 pages = 85,000 words

360 pages = 90,000 words

380 pages = 95,000 words

400 pages = 100,000 words

420 pages = 105,000 words

440 pages = 110,000 words

460 pages = 115,000 words

480 pages = 120,000 words

500 pages = 125,000 words











For print pubilsher don't italicize words. If you have text that should be italicized, underline it. I know there is a lot

of talk about underlining being old hand, but most print published writers I asked, still use it. If you are going to

enter your MS into an RWA writing contests, most judges will expect underlining as well. (But like I said above, if

the publisher you are targeting ask for it to be done some other way, do what they ask -- and e-pubs and small

presses almost always ask for some other way.)



How many spaces after the end of a sentence? This is another thing that I hear a lot of talk about, but it seems

when asked, most print published writers still skip two spaces at the end of sentences. I don't think it's really a big

deal, so do which ever you prefer, unless an editor tells you one or the other. (Of course if you use two spaces,

and then the next publisher you sumbit to asks that you use only one, it's easy to do a find in Word for two spaces

and then a change to one. You can't do a search for one and change them to two, since that would be every

space.)



Skip a line for a scene break. If it falls as the first or last line on a page, I show it with three pound marks. In fact,

I places those marks between every scene break. That way if things move around, say I reformat or do a rewrite,

I don't lose those breaks. Example...

# # #



You should NOT submit a query letter, or even chapters, until the manuscript is completed and ready to go;

unless you already have a couple of books published. There are just so many people who start novels and then

never finish them, that publishers and agents like to deal with completed works until you have proven yourself.



How to submit. After that finished manuscript is polished and ready to go, it's time to send out a query letter.

Some publishers will take chapters, but most want only a query letter and a short synopsis. {You can click on the

highlighted words here to get to my pages on them where you will find samples and links.} A query letter often

gets you a quicker answer. If the query and synopsis are good enough and the editor thinks your story could fit

her needs, you also might get to skip being asked for the first three chapters and get a request for a complete

instead. With waiting times being nearly a year, and even much longer, who wants to wait that long to hear on

three chapters, and then wait again just as long, or longer, to hear about a complete. If you send in a query and

short synopsis, they can be folded and placed in a normal size business envelope -- don't forget the SASE. If you

send in chapters or a complete, of course you are going to need a large envelope for this. The large brown kind

works well for chapters, or even a short manuscript, but for a long one I've found the larger Priority envelopes you

can get for free from the United States Post Office are great. Do not staple pages. Bind them by placing a large

rubber band around them. If the manuscript is long, you can place one rubber band length ways, the other width

ways. Don't forget an SASE envelope that is large enough to have the work returned to you. When you send that

manuscript, don't send it in a way that will cause the editor or agent to have to sign for it. Either send it with a

simple delivery confirmation slip, or enclose a SASP that the editor can place in her out box to be returned to you.

Note that your SASP might not come right back though, since the package might not get open for a long while.

Depends on the house.
Posted by Lisa Renee Jones :: 9:22 AM :: 0 Comments:

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