Hi, I plan on starting to write a book soon. I also was planning on sending it either into a publisher or self publishing, I really haven't decided yet. Anyways, I was wondering if there was any specific format that I need to follow to write a book. I am using Microsoft Word 2003. Format, meaning spacing, font, font size, margins, layout, etc. Thank you :D

All Answers To Questions

Use 12 Point Ariel, Courier, or Times New Roman. Double Spaces. One inch margins. Indent each paragraph. Don't use double spaces unless you're ending a scene.

Find the submission guidelines on the publisher's or agent’s website and follow them exactly, including not sending a manuscript unless it's requested (which you get them to do by sending a query letter). When the guidelines are not specific about format details, stick with: Courier 12 (or Times New Roman 12, for some publishers--but I'd go with Courier to be safe) One-inch margins on all four sides, producing 25 lines per page Double spacing Indent paragraphs 1/2 inch using the tab, not spaces No extra blank lines between paragraphs Underline text which would be italicized in the printed book Ragged right margin (not justified) Turn off hyphenation Turn off widow and orphan protection Slugline, upper right corner: Surname/ONEWORDTITLE/# (example: Dickens/CITIES/75) Start chapters 1/3 of the way down the page

Go to google and look up "Standard Manuscript Format." 10 OR 12 point font; Times New Roman, Courier, and sometimes Arial; double spaced; 1-inch margins all the way around; header w/ page numbers, title of work, and author/pen name; .5 or .25 inch indentations; italics (and sometimes underline) welcome, but no bold (unless it's a chapter heading, which can be bolded or even a font size up). All pages should be left-aligned, but chapter headings, time/scene-skip symbols, and your header may be centered if you want. I think that's it, but I might have missed something. Standard Manuscript Format is what an agent or acquisitions editor expects to see every single time. They don't want anything funky or different -- that'll just make it harder for them to read, since they've adapted to seeing the same professional format. If in digital format, it should be saved as a .doc unless otherwise noted. If sent as a hard-copy manuscript or partial, it should be printed on standard white paper without anything special. Page numbers should ALWAYS start on the real first page -- where chapter 1 begins, or where your preface begins. DO NOT tamper with the standard headers and footers. As tempting as it can be, it's not considered alright to shrink the footer space when it's not being used. The same goes for the header. Another important NOTE: pages should be on-going. In other words, don't feel the need to leave a lot of space empty at the end of a page because it's cutting your paragraphs and making them look silly. It's perfectly acceptable -- and in fact natural -- for your paragraphs to be segmented between separate pages. HOWEVER, if someone's specifically requested you change up the Standard Manuscript Format to fit their submission guidelines, do that instead. If something is said concerning a format element, heed that advise but change nothing else. Example: Marry requests you send a 2 page synopsis, a query, and a 10 page sample of your story in size ten Albanian Principle font. In this case, keep everything in your manuscript the same -- the indentation, the margins, etc -- but change the font to fit her needs. When sending a synopsis, proposal, query, etc, use your most comfortable business format. What I mean is: don't use "standard manuscript format" on your business letters, synopsis, etc. Use business letter formats for your business letters. For a synopsis -- because it's short and it's very business oriented in purpose -- you would be best off using a business style format. Times New Roman is perfectly fine for query/proposal/synopsis font. Go with whatever font size is easiest to read with what you have, but don't make it huge and annoying either. Exceptions to the rules: Manuscript: Time signature symbols are fine, and so are double-enter breaks for time skips. However, DO NOT use symbol-punctuation ("smart punctuation"). Quotation marks that curve towards your words intelligently are not alright. Don't use an ellipsis symbol, either. (You can turn all of these symbols off in your word processor.) Synopsis: It's fine to all-caps important words when you use them for the very first time. This helps to catch the reader's attention and show them that, not only is the all-capsed item important, but "this is where you can refer to for basic information if you get lost." Underlining is acceptable in a synopsis, as is bolding, but italics are generally looked over. There's lots of cheating that goes on in synopsis-making, but try to keep yourself from doing it too much! (Hint: the reader will notice your .4 inch margins and .2 inch header/footer IMMEDIATELY.) Query: Strictly business unless otherwise directed. Never go past one page unless it's mentioned that you're allowed to. Proposal: This is not a query letter. Use google to find out what a proposal is. Also, keep it businesslike unless otherwise instructed. Bio: Feel free to be creative unless you find out the person you're sending it to doesn't like that sort of thing. Follow directions strictly if given any. There you go! Those are my tips. Keep in mind that a synopsis is not a summary. A synopsis is longer (though admittedly not that much longer) and gives away all of the surprises of the book. A summary can act much like a teaser (which is also different than a summary, but only a little bit). Teasers and pitches are much alike, but they're not exactly the same. A "pitch" is more or less a 1-3 sentence summary that intends to pull a reader in to being interested in a query -- or being interested in the completed project being proposed. Make sure to copy and save this. I put a lot of work into it, and it covers anywhere from 3-10 pages of online research that otherwise would have caused you a lot of hell. Hope this answer helped! Good luck! EDIT: "Chapter breaks" are expected. A chapter break is simply a PAGE BREAK (using "ctrl+enter" in Word) that ends a chapter and begins the next one on the next page. Also, it's considered proper to give the first sentence of your first chapter enough space down the page that the reader is flipping to what looks like this: 1-2 spaces, chapter heading, 1-3 spaces, indentation, beginning word/sentence/paragraph. This is a lot of information, I know, but it's necessary. You'll get used to it with some practice! In fact, you'll end up liking Standard Manuscript Format a lot more than anything you would have used otherwise, because it reads a lot like a printed book.