Manuscript Layout

Preamble:

We ask that members submit their short stories and novels in publication ready page layout. This serves two purposes:

1. Manuscript layout was designed to make reading a work easier for editors and typesetters. It also makes life easier for the members of our group who are reading your work for assessment.
2. It is important to learn this skill in order to gain publication.

In service of members properly laying out their works, please find below a set of guidelines. These are by no means definitive. Whenever sending a story out for publication be sure to read the guidelines of each individual publisher before submission.

Layout Guidelines

• Use black lettering on a white background only.
• When using paper, print on only one side.
• Use only Times New Roman or Courier fonts in 12 point size. Do not be tempted by fancy fonts.
• All margins should be at least one inch or three centimetres on all sides.
• Text should be aligned left and ragged right. Do NOT use right-left justification.
• Use double space between lines and between paragraphs.
• Begin all paragraphs with an indent of 5 spaces.
• Turn off "smart" (curly) quotes on your wordprocessing program. Those quotes do not come up correctly on HTML or proper typesetting software.
• Do not break up a word at the end of a line unless it is normally hyphenated. Otherwise, move the whole word to the next line.
• Do not use italics. They are difficult for professional typesetters to catch when swiftly putting a book together. Use underlines instead.
• If you wish to use an em dash--a way to set off text like this--then for our group it's not a problem to use a full typesetting dash, but for a publisher you have to use the double hyphen and leave typesetting to a professional typesetter. Do not put spaces around the em dash.
• Do not rely on extra space to signify a new section in your story. Centre the character "#" on a line of its own. Do this for every line break, not just for ones that fall at the top or bottom of a page.
• At the end of your story, leave a couple of blank lines, then write "THE END" or "###" centered on a line.
• Place a header at the top of all pages, except the first. The header includes the name of your story, your last name, and the page number. Always align right the page number.

For short stories:

• First page top left margin put your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
• First page top right margin put year of copyright, word count (nearest 100 words), rights offered, and "Disposable copy".
• Place the title of your story centred and halfway down the first page. One double space below your title, place your pen name, whether that be your own or a pseudonym.
• Begin the text of your manuscript two double spaces below your byline.

For novels:

• You must have a cover page.
• Centre the title halfway down the page. Skip two lines and place your pen name beneath.
• Skip another two lines and centre your contact details: name, address, phone, email.
• Skip another two lines and include the total word count.
• Start each separate chapter of the book on its own page, beginning halfway down the page with the number and/or title of the chapter.
• Skip two lines then begin the text.

Documents and Programs

Manuscripts will be passed along to the group for assessment using "pdf" format. Manuscripts submitted for publication must be in ".rtf" or ".txt" format.

For those of you interested in doing professional typesetting or would just like a handy tool that automatically lays out your manuscripts correctly for submission to publishers, here is where you can download LyX.

http://www.lyx.org/Download

This software comes in Windows, Mac, and Linux versions. It is internationally respected and has been in development since the 1970s.

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Established 2006 September 16