I am writing a book and I need to know if you have to have the format a certain way. Like margins, and font, and double space. Stuff like that. Please help before I get to far into it. I am using Microsoft works word possessor. I heard that when you send it in to be published does it have to be double spaced or not? The book title is Seventh Spirit so what is a one word abbreviation?

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It depends on your publisher, but usually has to do with data formats and use of styles (rather than manual formatting) — since things like margins, font, etc can be adjusted by editing the styles.

There is no certain format that you have to use. A book can look however you want it to.

If you're planning on sending it to a literary agent or a commercial publisher (the sort who pay you, not the other way round), check their submission guidelines. If they don't say, you won't go far wrong with this: - Paper size A4, or whatever is closest in your country. - White paper, black ink. - Print on one side of the paper only, if it's a printed submission rather than an electronic one. - Margins of about one inch all round. - Double spaced (so you were right about that). - Font is either 12-point Courier or 12-point Times New Roman, or something close enough to pass at least a casual inspection. - Each chapter starts on a new page. - Header consists of your surname, a one-word version of your title, and the page number. E.g. "Dickens / Expectations / 75". - No footer, because there's nothing for it to contain. If you're self-publishing, you can format it pretty much however you want, because the whole point of self-publishing is that you're the boss. But if they have to do a lot of work to make look like a proper book, they might charge you extra. Or they might assume you know what you want and just let it look like crap. Their website should have some guidelines or templates. If you're using a print-on-demand service, they provides templates you can use for whatever paper size you want your book to be. Follow this carefully, because they'll print exactly what you ask them to print - there's no human intervention anywhere. EDIT: For your one-word title, I'd suggest "Spirit" (prefer nouns over adjectives), but I don't think it really matters. The reason for having a header is in case the pages get out of order or get mixed up with someone else's. Unless you have a common surname, it's unlikely that your name and the one word will match anyone else's.

Travis, the exact format is for each publisher to determine. Check Writers' Guidelines, or Submission FAQs, for each publisher. If the information provided to authors doesn't say anything about format, you're safe following the old standard: one-inch margins on all four sides Courier 12 double spaced indented paragraphs straight (not curly) quotes and apostrophes widow and orphan protection turned off hyphenation turned off chapters start on a new page, about 1/3 of the way down each page but the first has a slugline consisting of your last name, a one-word abbreviation of your title, and the page number, i.e. Dickens, TALE, 123 You do know that you don't send the manuscript until someone asks for it, right?