When submitting your files to me for a project, please keep in mind the formatting specifications I have below. Following these guidelines will ensure ease of readability and organization of the manuscript.

Should these guidelines not be followed, I will add on additional formatting charges to files that are not formatted properly upon submission.

There are different types of formatting requirements for editing services and formatting services. Please review these guidelines carefully to ensure that your project is formatted correctly.

Guidelines for Manuscripts for Editing

For manuscripts submitted for editing services, they will need to follow standard manuscript formatting. Though there are many nuances depending on editors, publishers, and agents, many follow similar criteria that involves the following:

first page (title page):

• the title of your project
• your full name
• project genre
• mutually agreed on deadline for the manuscript’s return
• do not start numbering pages on this page

body:

• 1 in margins
• 12 pt font
• Times New Roman or Courier  Font
• Double-spaced
• indented paragraphs, with no extra space between like paragraphs
• chapters separated by page breaks
• chapter titles centered on the page
• use a header on each page, including your name, the title of your novel in all caps, and the page number

I also request that you submit your documents in Microsoft Word format for most editing services because of the necessity of Word’s features for my services. I will only accept PDF format for Proofreading and Copy Editing packages.

Guidelines for Manuscripts for Formatting (InDesign)

first page (title page):

• the title of your project
• your full name
• mutually agreed on deadline for design file
• do not start numbering pages on this page

body:

• provide all text in chronological order (copyright pages, title pages, body of document appendices, about the author pages, etc.)
• 1 in margins
• 12 pt font
• Times New Roman or Courier  Font
• Double-spaced
• indented paragraphs, with no extra space between like paragraphs
• chapters separated by page breaks
• chapter titles centered on the page
• use a header on each page, including your name, the title of your novel in all caps, and the page number
• include instructions for placement of graphics or images to insert within the body of the document

additional specifications for multi-contributor works (ex: literary magazines):

• have all pieces in chronological order as they should appear in the final document
• have individual pieces separated by a page break (treat as chapters in previous instructions)

Guidelines for Manuscripts for Formatting (Word)

This service is geared toward those who do not know how to format their Word documents to submission guidelines and want to ensure the document is formatted to the correct parameters. As a result, the requirements are significantly less.

first page (title page):

• the title of your project
• your full name
• mutually agreed on deadline for design file
• do not start numbering pages on this page

body:

• provide all text in chronological order (copyright pages, title pages, body of document appendices, about the author pages, etc.)