Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript—Part IV

This week, I’m shifting the focus from synopsis to the manuscript itself. When a request for your manuscript does come, you’ll need to know precisely what to send and how to organize it, and what to send. This week, we’ll talk about Submission Tips for your manuscript.

What should your manuscript look like? How should it be formatted? What should be included in a package? What other things should I think about?

We’ll be talking about all those things in the next series of posts from this resource.

It is recommended that manuscripts should be double-spaced with no extra spacing between paragraphs, using a one-inch margin on all sides. Click to Tweet #amwriting #manuscript We’ll talk about more general formatting tips next week. Disclaimer: remember this resource is about six-seven years old, and each publisher or agent has their own specific formatting requirements.

Package:

• Cover Letter
• Title or Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Chapters

Optional Front Matter:

• Author Bio
• Endorsements
• Epigraph (a short quote from the beginning of a chapter that has something to do with the theme of that chapter)

Accepted Package:

• Cover Letter
• Title or Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Chapters

Optional Front Matter:

• Acknowledgements
• Author Bio
• Dedication Page
• Endorsements
• Foreward
• Preface

Remember, these are guidelines. Unsolicited manuscripts are often ignored and returned (and sometimes even recycled or thrown away). Click to Tweet #amwriting #manuscript

What about you? Have you had a request to submit your entire manuscript? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment and let me know.