{"id":112,"date":"2020-11-10T16:04:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T16:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=112"},"modified":"2025-05-09T20:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T19:42:18","slug":"manuscript-presentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/manuscript-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Present A Manuscript"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Art And Craft Of Beautiful Manuscript Presentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Manuscript presentation makes a big difference to the way <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-get-a-literary-agent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">literary agents<\/a> receive your work. Yes, sure, agents are looking for wonderful writing above all, so in that sense the way you format your manuscript is secondary . . . but <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/editorial-services\/agent-submission-pack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">getting an agent is hard<\/a>, so you may as well make sure that first impression is a good one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course remember this: literary agents aren\u2019t mostly looking to accept a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/do-literary-agents-edit-manuscripts\/\">manuscript<\/a>. They\u2019re looking for early warning signs that say this author hasn\u2019t taken enough care to be worth reading further. So the lousy presentation of your book\u2019s cover page can screw up your chances of success before your book has really given itself a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sounds scary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t need to be. Follow the tips below and you\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n    <section class=\"free-signup-block  alignfull\" id=\"\" data-redirect=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/resource-downloads\/the-jericho-writers-vault\/\">\r\n        <div class=\"content-container\">\r\n            <div class=\"free-signup-block-container\">\r\n                                    <div class=\"free-signup-image-container\">\r\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Editing-Website-blocks.png\" alt=\"\">\r\n                                            <\/div>\r\n                                <div class=\"free-signup-text-container\">\r\n\r\n                    <div class=\"free-signup-text-wrapper\">\r\n                                                        <h2>Ready to clean up that messy first draft?<\/h2>\r\n                                                    <div class=\"wysiwyg-container\"><p>Join our free community for instant access to: <\/p>\n<\/div>                                                    <div class=\"features-list\">\r\n                                                                    <div class=\"feature\">\r\n                                        <div class=\"icon-container\" style=\"background-color: #F7941D\"><i class='bx bx-laptop'><\/i><\/div>                                        <div class=\"feature-text\">\r\n                                            <div class=\"feature-description\">Digital tools like our self-editing pyramid<\/div>                                        <\/div>\r\n                                    <\/div>\r\n                                                                    <div class=\"feature\">\r\n                                        <div class=\"icon-container\" style=\"background-color: #F7941D\"><i class='bx bxs-user-voice'><\/i><\/div>                                        <div class=\"feature-text\">\r\n                                            <div class=\"feature-description\">Peer-to-peer support &#038; 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A writer is anyone at all who writes. An author is a writer whose work has been published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same thing is basically true of manuscripts \/ books, so a reasonable definition of the word \u2018manuscript\u2019 would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A manuscript is the text of your novel (or work of nonfiction),<br><em>before<\/em>&nbsp;that text has been turned into the finished book.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the old days, when the industry still worked with paper, the manuscript was literally the stuff you printed off on your home printer. When I sent my first manuscript out to literary agents, the damn thing ran to more than 180,000 words and it was&nbsp;<em>enormous<\/em>. Over 600 pages of printed paper, as I recall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These days, your manuscript may well never be printed off at all, anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quite likely, you will work away at your manuscript on a laptop. You\u2019ll send it to an agent by email. Any<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/types-of-editing-how-to-choose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> editorial work<\/a> will be conducted by email and an e-copy of your manuscript. When the thing is ready to go out to publishers, it\u2019ll go as a computer file, only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s referred to as a&nbsp;<em>manuscript<\/em>&nbsp;though: it\u2019ll only become an actual book once it\u2019s been typeset and bound (and becomes an actual hard copy, dead-tree book), or once it\u2019s been formatted and packaged up as an ebook. (As a matter of fact, I think some of the kudos that still attaches to trad publishing as opposed to self-publishing has to do with the way it marks out that transition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Format-Your-Manuscript-Professionally\">Format Your Manuscript Professionally:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use double or 1.5 line spacing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use a standard font<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure to use font size 12<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use standard margins<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chapter breaks should be marked by page breaks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Insert page numbers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Indent paragraphs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don\u2019t overuse the ellipsis\u2026 Or, exclamation marks!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Title pages should also include your name, contact info, and wordcount<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"833\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-497725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4.jpg 833w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4-600x396.jpg 600w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4-768x507.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image4-640x423.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Manuscript-Basics\">Manuscript Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So your manuscript is basically just a computer file that lives (for now) on your home computer only, but may in time come to sit on the e-reader of your literary agent and (you hope) a whole bunch of editors too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the manuscript remains on your laptop and nowhere else, then you can format it just as you please. There are no rules at all. No one will see. No one will care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know one (really good) literary author who has poor eyesight and weirdly bad spelling. So he types in a huge font size \u2013 Arial, size 16, often all bold \u2013 and just ignores the spelling errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If he sent out his work out like that, it would make a terrible first impression on anyone reading it. But he doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s just the way he works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So manuscript formatting rules only apply when you\u2019re ready to go out to agents . . . and even then, you need to realise that there are no&nbsp;<em>rules<\/em>, exactly. There\u2019s no standard manuscript format. No required novel template that you have to follow, or else . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the only real rule of manuscript presentation is a simple, ordinary one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your manuscript should look like a clean, professional document.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you obey that one single rule, you\u2019ll be just fine. That said, there\u2019s a follow-up quasi-rule, which can be expressed as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You probably want to set out your manuscript in a way that is most helpful to a literary agent.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those guys read a lot of new manuscript submissions, so if you make their life harder, you are \u2013 even if just in a small way \u2013 acting against your own best interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ways you can make an agent\u2019s life easier include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Helpful choice of filenames<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe the file on your computer is called novel.doc, because you hadn\u2019t settled on a title when you started to write. That\u2019s fine \u2013 plenty of my novels have started out that way too. But remember that an agent may be looking at your submission alongside 50 others. So don\u2019t call your documents novel.doc \/ synopsis.doc \/ query.doc \u2013 you\u2019ll confuse the agent almost instantly. Best practice would be to name your file something like&nbsp;<em>The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald, first three chapters.doc<\/em>. [Except I think that title might already have been taken . . .]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Clean, clear title page<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll give more detail on that in a second<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>No unnecessary additional text<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your manuscript is just a working document, that has \u2013 prior to publication or the offer of a book deal \u2013 no special status in life. So don\u2019t write dedications in here. Or Author\u2019s Notes. Or long acknowledgements. If there\u201ds a really compelling reason why you need to do these things, then OK. But in most cases, all that stuff can wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Easy readability for the main text itself<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>More on that shortly as well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh yes, and I should probably also say that in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-write-a-script\/\">screenwriting<\/a> trade, there&nbsp;<em>are<\/em>&nbsp;fierce and important rules about formatting. They matter because of an equation like this: length of screenplay = run time = production costs. That equation does not apply if you&#8217;re writing a novel or nonfiction book, and the result is that the publishing industry requirements about format are much looser. And quite right too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"How-To-Format-Book-Title-Pages\">How To Format Book Title Pages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Applies both to novels and non-fiction books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your title page should contain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The book\u2019s title in a large font<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A subtitle, if the book has one. Most novels won\u2019t.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A quick genre specifier, if you want it. \u201cA crime thriller\u201d, for example. I\u2019ve added \u201cA novel\u201d to the page below, only because this page was prepared for the American market where \u201ca novel\u201d is quite often used as a kind of subtitle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your name<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The book\u2019s rough word count, rounded to the nearest 1,000 or 5,000 words<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your contact info (Email, phone, address) in the bottom right hand corner, or otherwise somewhat secondary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t need anything else. It doesn\u2019t need and shouldn\u2019t have a copyright notice. (See an example of the title page for one of my novels.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, and NO ARTWORK. Unless you are a professional illustrator, say, you just want to keep the front cover bare of anything except text. Remember that the publisher, not you, will decide what the final book looks like, so sticking your own imagery on the book will, in most cases, look a awkwardly amateurish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"711\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-711x1024.png\" alt=\"title-page-example-presenting-a-manuscript\" class=\"wp-image-586293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-711x1024.png 711w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-208x300.png 208w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-768x1106.png 768w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-640x922.png 640w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation-600x864.png 600w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Manuscript-presentation.png 833w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/what-is-an-epigraph\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Epigraphs<\/a>, dedications, acknowledgements and all that kind of stuff can be left for when your book makes it into print. At this stage, you really don\u2019t need that kind of thing. If you really must put in an epigraph, you can certainly do so on the second page or (probably italicised) on the cover itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your cover page would ideally not have any page number on it but, as you can see from the image, I didn\u2019t bother eliminating the number from my title page. It\u2019s no big deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Manuscript-Text-Formatting-Guidelines\">Manuscript Text Formatting Guidelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow this broad template, and you\u2019ll have a happy literary agent . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following guidelines will mean that you deliver the kind of manuscript that any literary agent will instantly consider professional and easy to navigate. If you want to deviate from any of these exact strictures, you probably can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The golden rule is to deliver something that looks like any normal, professional document AND one that is laid out like a book, not a business letter. (ie: indented paragraphs not line breaks in between.) And even that rule about indenting the paragraphs is often not followed by first time writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But are literary agents going to turn down great work just because they don\u2019t love the paragraph formatting? Of course not. So don\u2019t worry too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OK, enough preamble. For a nice looking manuscript, you want to present it in something like the following way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Make sure to use double or 1.5 line spacing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use a nice ordinary font. (Times New Roman, Garamond, or Georgia are all good choices. Arial is quite common, but maybe better avoided as sans serif text is just&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.awai.com\/2011\/10\/the-best-fonts-to-use-in-print-online-and-email\/\">harder to read at length<\/a>.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensure that you use a font size no smaller than 12, and no larger than 14.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use standard margins. Your existing defaults are probably fine, but check.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chapter breaks should be marked by page breaks, so each new chapter starts on a clean sheet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can mark each new chapter with a number, if you care to. Or anything at all, really, just so long as it\u2019s clear what\u2019s going on. (If you\u2019re worried about how long your chapters are, or how many pages are in a novel, then&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/average-novel-wordcount\/\">read this<\/a>&nbsp;and put your mind at ease).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don\u2019t forget to insert page numbers (though, truth be told, all that matters less now that everything happens in e-form. It\u2019s still a nice touch.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Indent paragraphs (using the tab key or the paragraph formatting menu \u2013 don\u2019t rely on the space bar). Do not leave a double space between paragraphs except as a section break.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oh, and don\u2019t overuse the ellipsis (\u201c\u2026\u201d) or the exclamation mark. Professional authors use those things very sparingly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This page shows my own choices: a nice looking chapter header (but mine is a lot fancier than you need.) Modest paragraph indentation, I like 0.3\u2033. A personal, but not wacky font. (I usually use Garamond, though I\u2019m not quite sure what I used in this example!) Line spacing that\u2019s clear, but not too spacey. (I generally use 1.5 line spacing, though you can go as low as 1.25 if you really want.) Plus a nice neat page number, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would be good practice to include your name and the title of the book in a header or footer, though I haven\u2019t done so in this image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"711\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-711x1024.png\" alt=\"chapter-opening-example-manuscript-presentation\" class=\"wp-image-586294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-711x1024.png 711w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-208x300.png 208w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-768x1106.png 768w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-640x922.png 640w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript-600x864.png 600w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Presenting-a-manuscript.png 833w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, and did you notice that the very first paragraph in that page was&nbsp;<em>not<\/em>&nbsp;indented? That\u2019s technically correct and looks quite classy . . . but don\u2019t worry if you haven\u2019t done it. At that level, no one will care. (And that\u2019s one big thing to remember about manuscript presentation. You need your work to look clean, professional and literate. If you check those boxes, then you\u2019re fine. Really, truly, nothing else matters \u2013 except the quality of your actual book, which needs to be amazing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Manuscript-Format-Dialogue-Presentation\">Manuscript Format: Dialogue Presentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t a full guide to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/writing-dialogue\/\">dialogue<\/a> format, so&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/quotation-marks-and-dialogue\/\">do check more complete sources<\/a>&nbsp;if you need, but for a quick refresher:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dialogue counts as new paragraphs, so it should be indented.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When speech by one character is interrupted by a descriptive line, and then the speech continues, this all counts as one paragraph. Begin the next paragraph with the next speaker.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use single quotation marks for dialogue. When dialogue is followed by \u2018said X\u2019 or \u2018chortled Y\u2019 you should not capitalise either the&nbsp;<em>s&nbsp;<\/em>of&nbsp;<em>said<\/em>&nbsp;or the&nbsp;<em>c<\/em>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<em>chortled.<\/em>&nbsp;This is true even if the dialogue ends with an exclamation mark or a question mark.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the speaker quotes someone else within dialogue, you show that inner quotation with double inverted commas. Like this, for example:&nbsp;<em>\u2018No,\u2019 said Hugh patiently. \u2018What Sophie actually said was, \u201cGo to hell, you bloody idiot!\u201d Words to that effect anyway.\u2019<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For more help on writing dialogue in the first place, then&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/writing-dialogue\/\">nip over here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, though, that rule about quotations within dialogue is hardly ever going to matter . . . and no one at all will care if you get it wrong. It\u2019s your novel or non-fiction which matters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Dialogue-Format-An-Example\">Dialogue Format: An Example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018This manuscript is nicely presented,\u2019 said the agent.<\/em><br><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018Indeed it is,\u2019 said the publisher. She paused briefly, to strike off a few zeros from an author\u2019s royalty   statement. \u2018It is well presented. And intelligent. And beautifully written.\u2019<\/em><br><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018But Oprah won\u2019t like it.\u2019<\/em><br><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018No, indeed. Nor the Chief Buyer at Walmart.\u2019<\/em><br><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;\u2018So we\u2019ll reject it!\u2019 they chorused, laughing wildly.<\/em><br><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;Their limousine swept on through the rainy streets, leaving a faint aroma of cigar smoke and Chanel no. 5 lingering on the mild springtime air.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use the example above for guidance \u2013 or, if in doubt, open any paperback book. The way it\u2019s laid out is the way yours should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"833\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-497724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3.jpg 833w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3-600x360.jpg 600w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/article-image3-640x384.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Manuscript-Presentation-Punctuation-Basics\">Manuscript Presentation: Punctuation Basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your presented manuscript needs flawless punctuation. A few last tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is one general rule for punctuation. It is there to help avoid ambiguity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commas are tricky, but often missed out before names. Get into the habit of putting them in and you will avoid absurdities like the ones noted by Lynn Truss in&nbsp;<em>Eats, Shoots and Leaves<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hyphens are an endangered species, and only the writer can save them. Again, it is vital to avoid ambiguities and absurdities \u2013 for instance,&nbsp;<em>the white toothed whale<\/em>. Is it the whale or the teeth that are white?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a good rule to avoid lists of adjectives but, when you have them, check to see if any should be hyphenated. You can have a dining room, but a table there becomes a&nbsp;<em>dining-room table<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Semi-colons are also endangered, yet can bring a deal of subtlety to a writer\u2019s style. A semi-colon links two related sentences; the second often elaborates or adds context to the first. A semi-colon is stronger than a comma, but not as strong as a full-stop.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Colons are used where one sentence introduces another. The rule is simple: use the colon when one sentence introduces the next.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The three mistakes that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/editors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our editorial team<\/a>&nbsp;sees most commonly are these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Not Enough Use Of Commas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Commas are like a tiny pause within a sentence and they can divide sentences into little blocks of meaning. They can make (especially) long sentences much easier to parse and comprehend. And commas are free. Use them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Use Of Commas Instead Of Fullstops\/Periods<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, we like commas, but commas aren\u2019t there to divide one sentence from another, if you use commas where you mean to use fullstops (periods), you will end up with sentences that never seem to end, writing of this sort will drive your editor mad, punctuation-related homicides are rising sharply as a result. (*)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Misuse Of Apostrophes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The mistake which will have most agents screaming has to do with apostrophes. These are simple, so get them right. (\u2018It\u2019s\u2019 means \u2018it is\u2019,&nbsp;<em>It\u2019s raining<\/em>, for example. \u2018Its\u2019 means the thing belonging to it,&nbsp;<em>The mouse gnawed its cheese<\/em>, for example \u2013 and \u2018its\u2019 is correct. No apostrophes are added to other possessive pronouns like his or hers, either.) If you\u2019re unsure, look these things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* \u2013 Oh and if you wanted to know how that sentence ought to look, it\u2019s like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Yes, we like commas, but commas aren\u2019t there to divide one sentence from another. If you use commas where you mean to use fullstops (periods), you will end up with sentences that never seem to end. Writing of this sort will drive your editor mad. Punctuation-related homicides are rising sharply as a result.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>If you wanted a semi-colon instead of a period after \u201cmad\u201d, that would be very elegant and your editor would probably want to give you a kiss. Instead of shooting you. Which has gotta be a win, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Frequently-Asked-Questions\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Do You Prepare A Manuscript For Submission?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many things to consider when preparing your manuscript for submission as manuscripts have to be formatted quite specifically. The first and most essential thing is to ensure that your manuscript has been thoroughly edited and is as well-written as possible. Manuscripts tend to be written in Times New Roman font in a size 12 and are double spaced with no separation between paragraphs (though each paragraph other than the very first should be indented). The most important thing is that the text itself, and the formatting, are clear and readable, and you have provided all the necessary information somewhere within the manuscript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is The Proper Format For A Manuscript?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A well-formatted manuscript will feature A4 pages, should have a font size of 12, be written in a legible font (such as Times New Roman), have regular margins, indented paragraphs, and be double spaced. Manuscripts also include a title page, a header, and page numbers and each line of dialogue should be indented and should start on its own line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Many Pages Should A Manuscript Be?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The number of pages in, and the general length of, a manuscript varies considerably in terms of genre, topic, readership, and many other important factors. Most manuscripts tend to be around 70,000-120,000 words long, which equates to around 250-450 pages. But children&#8217;s books are generally far shorter (especially ones written for infants!) while certain books, such as fantasy and historical fiction, are much longer than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Get-Help\">Get Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing a book is hard. Getting an agent is hard. Getting published \u2013 well, that\u2019s still harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And getting well published? Actually making a career out of this thing? That\u2019s never been even remotely easy, and (if you\u2019re talking about traditional publication) may be harder than it\u2019s been for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So get help. Don\u2019t start spending crazy money, but get help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re eager to polish your manuscript, but aren&#8217;t sure where to start, get help from an experienced professional <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/editors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">editor<\/a> with our <a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/editorial-services\/manuscript-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Manuscript Assessment Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Art And Craft Of Beautiful Manuscript Presentation Manuscript presentation makes a big difference to the way literary agents receive your work. Yes, sure, agents are looking for wonderful writing above all, so in that sense the way you format your manuscript is secondary . . . but getting an agent is hard, so you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[29047],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agents","tag-unwcpop1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to format your book manuscript and wow literary agents with our in-depth manuscript guide and examples.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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