Preditors and Editors ™

A guide to publishers and publishing services for serious writers

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Submission Formats:

To begin with, not all publishers want submissions in the same format. Clearly, it would be a daunting task to list every possible format. Instead, only a few will be described. Regardless of what's described here, always consult the publisher's guidelines and follow those carefully.

By far, this appears to be the standard print format for most publishers. Most publishers prefer that submissions be in Courier font, ten characters to the inch. Times Roman is the second preferred font. First off, you should have your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the upper left corner of the first page. Put the total word count in the upper right corner. For novels, drop down to the middle of the page and center the title. For short stories and poetry, drop down two lines below the last line from the identification block and center the title. If you use a pen name, drop down two lines from the title and put "by Xxx Xxxx" substituting your pen name for the X's. For short stories and poetry, drop down two more lines and begin the text of the story. For novels, begin the text on the next page. For short stories and novels, the text lines should be double-spaced. For poetry, many publishers are willing to accept single-spaced lines so as not to lose the poet's intended appearance which might be obscured otherwise.
For all works, the second and all subsequent pages should have the following listed at the top of each. The title, a slash, and the last name of the author should be in the upper left corner. The page number should be in the upper right corner. Most word processors can do these for you as an automatic header once you set up the first occurrence.
Some publishers want a blank line between paragraphs. Almost all publishers want either a blank line between paragraphs of different scenes or times within a chapter. Many will accept a series of three asterists on the line separating different scenes within a chapter as it makes the change even more clear.
When you reach the end of the story, you should drop down two lines from the last line of text and center the word "end". It doesn't hurt to offset it by adding some asterisks on each side of it, either.
Another print format used mostly by short story publishers is nearly the same. One major difference is that the text is single-spaced throughout the text of the manuscript. Many of the publishers using this method are using a photocopy process.
Another major difference is that they usually don't want a header showing the title, author's last name, and the page number since that would be copied along with the rest of the manuscript and make the overall page numbering task difficult for the publisher. When in doubt, ask the publisher using this method about those.
As well, they don't want a blank line between paragraphs unless it's to denote a major change of scene or time within a chapter. Using lines with asterisks to separate changes of scene or time also appear to be acceptable in this format. Again, ask the publisher when in doubt.
Electronic formats are yet another nightmare for both the writer and publisher. Many will accept submissions sent in ASCII as that eliminates the need for the publisher to have different word processing software on hand. As with the print formats, certain information must be provided to the publisher so that the publisher will know who to contact once the submission has been read. After all, you don't want to be rejected because you forgot to tell the publisher how to contact you.
One of the problems with ASCII is that tabs, double-spacing, and other features of word processors don't show up or convert readily. However, the ease of loading the electronically submitted manuscript permit the publisher to allow for this as, once the ASCII file is read into the publisher's word processor, it can be returned to double-spacing very easily. However, the writer must be aware to begin with that some features are strictly forbidden as they cause more than their share of grief for everyone. One of those features to avoid like the plague is "smart quotes" as it is known in some word processors. Thought the smart quotes look great when printed out, they aren't converted to ASCII as quotes. ASCII documents with those inside are nearly impossible to read clearly and require major editing. Many publishers will not accept submissions with problems such as those caused by smart quotes so the writer is well advised to turn that feature off in the writer's own choice of word processor.
As well, italics and other features often don't convert. For those, consult the publisher's guidelines to learn how the publisher wants words needing special treatment to be marked when submitted in ASCII.
As well, there are differences in how electronic submissions should be sent. Some publishers want the submission inside an e-mail letter. Some want it attached as a file to the e-mail. Some won't accept it as e-mail. They only want it on diskette sent by regular mail. Again, the publisher's guidelines must prevail if you want your work considered, so follow those as best you can.
Most publishers don't want to see graphics within your submission. They generally have their own artists to do such work. An exception, of course, would be if you were submitting graphic material for a non-fiction work on art, for instance. Then it would be expected that you have secured rights to use all the graphics you are providing.

Consult with the publisher if you encounter difficulty remaining within the guidelines. Many publishers are willing to discuss alternate proposals for submission when it doesn't place a burden upon them.