A standard book manuscript uses a readable 12-point font, double spacing, one-inch margins, left-aligned text, a first-line paragraph indent, and a header with the author name or manuscript title plus page number. Chapters begin on new pages. The title page contains contact information, title, author or pen name, genre, and approximate word count.
That is a submission manuscript, not the interior readers will buy. Its job is to make editing, annotation, and evaluation easy. A published book uses trim-specific margins, professional typography, single-spaced typesetting, running heads, book page numbers, designed chapter openings, and separate print and ebook outputs.
Always follow the named agent, editor, contest, or publisher’s instructions when they differ from a general standard. Submission guidelines outrank templates.
Standard manuscript format at a glance
| Setting | Safe default |
|---|---|
| Page size | US Letter in the United States; A4 where requested |
| Margins | 1 inch on all sides |
| Font | 12-point Times New Roman or another conventional readable font |
| Line spacing | Double |
| Alignment | Left aligned, ragged right |
| Paragraphs | First line indented 0.5 inch; no extra paragraph space |
| Sentence spacing | One space after punctuation |
| Header | Author surname / short title / page number |
| Chapters | Start on a new page, heading placed consistently |
| Scene breaks | Centered # or *** on its own line |
| File type | DOCX unless the recipient requests another format |
| Word count | Rounded approximate count on title page |
These settings deliberately look plain. The evaluator needs to read and mark the prose without deciphering an author’s attempt at book design.
How to format the title page
Put the contact block in the upper-left corner:
- legal name;
- mailing address if requested;
- email address;
- phone number if requested;
- agent information when applicable.
Place the approximate word count in the upper-right or as the recipient requests. Round reasonably—typically to the nearest thousand for a novel—rather than presenting an artificial exact count.
Center the manuscript title around the middle of the page. Put the byline beneath it. If you publish under a pen name, the byline can use that name while the contact block gives the legal identity required for business correspondence.
Do not add cover art, a copyright symbol, decorative borders, a table of contents for an ordinary novel, endorsements, retailer copy, or an ISBN. This is a working submission, not a sales listing or final edition.
Choose a readable font, not a “book” font
Times New Roman at 12 points remains a safe submission default because it is familiar and widely available. Courier was once common in typewriter-era manuscript estimation and may still appear in specific guidelines. Some recipients accept Arial, Calibri, or another conventional font.
The decision is not an opportunity to express genre. A fantasy manuscript does not need a medieval display face, a romance manuscript does not need script, and a thriller does not become more tense in condensed sans serif. Let the prose carry the voice.
The final printed book is different. A professional interior may use Garamond, Baskerville, Minion, Source Serif, or another licensed reading face chosen for the trim, paper, line length, and genre. Do not confuse that design decision with manuscript submission formatting.
Set real double spacing
Use the paragraph settings in Word or Google Docs to set line spacing to double. Do not press Return twice after every line. Manual returns turn each line into a paragraph, break text reflow, and create major cleanup during editing or import.
Set paragraph spacing before and after to zero unless the guidelines say otherwise. The double spacing already provides room for marks and comments. Extra space between every paragraph makes the manuscript appear fragmented and changes page count without helping readability.
Use paragraph indents, not tabs or spaces
Set the first-line indent to 0.5 inch in the paragraph or style settings. Do not insert a tab at every paragraph and never line up text with repeated spaces.
The first paragraph after a chapter heading or scene break may follow the recipient’s preference. For a submission manuscript, consistency and clarity matter more than reproducing the convention of a typeset novel. If no special rule is given, using the same paragraph indent throughout is defensible.
In the final book, first paragraphs after headings often omit the indent. That rule belongs to the interior design system and should be applied automatically, not encoded as a manual exception in every paragraph.
Build a simple manuscript header
Starting on the first page of the story—some guidelines include or exclude the title page—place a short identifying header in the upper-right. A conventional pattern is:
Surname / SHORT TITLE / 23
Use the document’s automatic page-number field. Do not type page numbers manually. Keep the header in the header area rather than in the body text, and use a shortened title when the full title would crowd the line.
Published books use different running matter. A novel may alternate author and title, use a single book title, or omit running heads entirely. Front matter and chapter openings have suppression rules. The submission header exists to reunite loose pages with the manuscript, not to preview the retail interior.
Start every chapter on a new page
Insert a page break before a new chapter. Do not press Return until the heading reaches the next page; edits will move it.
Place the chapter label at a consistent position, often about one-third down the page or simply after several blank lines if a specific submission style asks for it. Use a straightforward label such as CHAPTER ONE or Chapter 1. If the chapter has a title or point-of-view name, put it on the following line using the same pattern every time.
In a final print book, chapter openings become a design element with exact vertical rhythm, display typography, ornament, and header suppression. In a manuscript, they only need to make structure obvious.
Mark scene breaks so they cannot disappear
A blank line alone can vanish at a page boundary or during conversion. Put a centered hash (#) or three asterisks (***) on its own line. This tells an editor and later formatter that the break is intentional.
Do not paste a decorative image into the submission unless requested. The published edition can translate the semantic scene break into a space, rule, fleuron, or ornament. Preserving the meaning in the source is more important than choosing the final decoration early.
Handle italics, bold, and special text conservatively
Use italics for text that is genuinely italic in the work: internal thought if that is the manuscript convention, titles, emphasis, or a foreign word. Modern DOCX workflows preserve italics; underlining as a universal substitute is usually unnecessary unless the recipient asks for it.
Use bold only when the content requires it, most often in nonfiction hierarchy. Avoid colored text, text boxes, columns, drop caps, decorative small caps, floating shapes, and complex layout. A submission manuscript should be structurally clean enough to survive editing and later production.
Letters, messages, poems, reports, and other inserts need a consistent, readable treatment. Indentation or a clear label is usually enough. The final interior can give each recurring type a designed style.
Fiction, nonfiction, and memoir differences
The base manuscript format is similar, but structure varies.
Fiction
Use chapters and clear scene breaks. A novel submission rarely needs a generated table of contents. Prologues and epilogues are chapter-level parts. Keep unusual formatting easy to interpret.
Nonfiction
Use actual heading styles to express the hierarchy, even if every heading remains visually plain. Include a contents page if requested or useful to the proposal. Tables, figures, notes, citations, permissions, and reference material may need separate publisher instructions.
Memoir
Format narrative chapters like fiction while identifying photographs, captions, letters, timelines, or source notes clearly. Do not embed low-resolution copies as the only originals; retain the source assets separately.
What not to do
- Do not justify the body text.
- Do not simulate a paperback trim on letter paper unless asked.
- Do not add drop caps, running heads from the imagined final design, or ornamental chapter art.
- Do not use tabs and spaces to create layout.
- Do not create page starts with repeated returns.
- Do not insert hard line breaks at the right margin.
- Do not send a PDF when the recipient needs DOCX for editing.
- Do not ignore a specific guideline because a general article says something else.
- Do not make the submission difficult to read in order to look “published.”
Manuscript format versus published book format
| Submission manuscript | Published print interior |
|---|---|
| Letter or A4 page | Chosen book trim such as 5.5 × 8.5 or 6 × 9 |
| One-inch equal margins | Mirrored inside/outside margins and binding-aware gutter |
| Double spaced | Professionally typeset leading |
| Left aligned | Usually justified with controlled hyphenation |
| 12-point conventional font | Reading face tested at the final trim and paper |
| Identifying header | Designed running heads with suppression rules |
| Simple chapter label | Coordinated chapter-opening system |
# or *** scene break | Space, ornament, or rule with page-boundary fallback |
| DOCX for editing | Print-ready PDF plus reflowable EPUB |
The transition between these formats should not happen through hundreds of manual changes. Finish editorial work in the submission manuscript, preserve clean structure, then import it into dedicated book-production software or send it to a professional formatter. If you plan to format it yourself, pick your book formatting software before that import.
Final manuscript-format checklist
Before sending the file:
- Read the recipient’s current guidelines.
- Use the requested file type and naming pattern.
- Confirm title page contact details and approximate word count.
- Set one-inch margins and double line spacing.
- Use a conventional 12-point font.
- Remove extra paragraph spacing.
- Apply real first-line indents rather than tabs.
- Insert real page breaks before chapters.
- Use automatic page numbers in the header.
- Mark every scene break visibly.
- Check italics, special extracts, and images.
- Remove comments and resolved Track Changes unless requested.
- Open the exact attachment you will send.
- Keep a dated copy of the submitted version.
Once the manuscript is accepted or editorially final, make a clean production copy. That is the moment to choose trim, typography, chapter design, print PDF, and EPUB—not while the document still needs to serve agents and editors.