Manuscript Format for Novel Submissions
Nobody signs a novel because of its margins. But an agent reads the page before the prose, and a manuscript in standard format says one quiet thing: this writer has done their homework. Here is the format, the reasons behind it, and the folklore you can drop.
What the format is for
Standard manuscript format is a working document's format, built for people who have to read, mark up, and estimate a book before it is a book. Double spacing leaves room for an editor's pencil. A plain serif font keeps the eye on the sentences. A header on every page means a dropped stack of paper, or a file split into pieces, can always be put back in order.
That is also why the rules are dull on purpose. A submission is the one place where looking like everyone else is an advantage: the agent notices your story instead of your typography.
The page
- Font: 12-point Times New Roman, in black. Courier is still acceptable; other plain serif fonts at 12 point rarely bother anyone. Decorative fonts do.
- Spacing: double-spaced throughout, with no extra space between paragraphs. A few UK agencies say 1.5 spacing is fine; their guidelines will tell you if so.
- Margins: one inch on every side.
- Paper size: US Letter for American agents, A4 for the UK and Europe. It matters most if anyone prints the file.
- Alignment: left-aligned with a ragged right edge. Justified text opens uneven gaps between words and makes the page harder to read and edit.
- Paragraphs: indent the first line half an inch, set with the ruler or paragraph settings, never with the Tab key or spaces. Many writers leave the first paragraph of a chapter, and the first after a scene break, unindented, the way printed books do. Either choice is fine if it is consistent.
- Header: top of every page after the first, usually on the right: Surname / TITLE / page number. Short titles can go in full; long ones can be shortened to a keyword.
Chapters, scene breaks, and the first page
- Every chapter starts on a new page. Use a page break, not a column of blank lines, so an edit in chapter three cannot shove chapter four halfway down its page. Many writers drop the chapter heading a third of the way down; that part is optional.
- Scene breaks get a centered symbol on its own line, usually # or * * *. A blank line alone disappears when the break falls at the bottom of a page, and the reader loses the jump in time or place.
- The title page of a full manuscript carries your name, email, and phone number in the top left, the approximate word count on the right, and the title with your byline centered about halfway down. Include one when an agent requests the full manuscript; for a sample pasted into a query, their guidelines decide.
- Italics are italics. Underlining for italics was an instruction to typesetters from the typewriter age. Word processors retired it.
- "The End" centered after the last line is optional. It tells a reader the missing page is not missing.
Word count, done the modern way
State your word count as your word processor reports it, rounded to the nearest thousand: approximately 87,000 words. The old method of multiplying pages by 250 existed because typed pages could not count themselves. Yours can.
The number matters more than writers expect, because agents read it as a signal of whether a book fits its market. Adult genre novels commonly land between about 70,000 and 100,000 words, with fantasy and science fiction allowed to run longer. A debut far outside its genre's usual range invites a question before the first page is read, so if yours is an outlier, know why.
Formatting myths you can ignore
- Two spaces after a period. Another typewriter habit. One space.
- Courier is required. It was the standard when manuscripts were typed. Today it is permitted and uncommon.
- A copyright notice on the title page. In the United States and in every country that has signed the Berne Convention, your work is protected from the moment you write it. A © line on a submission reads as nervous, and agents are not in the business of stealing manuscripts.
- A small error means instant rejection. An agent does not decline a strong opening because of one stray indent. What hurts is the pattern: an unusual font, single spacing, and a missing header together suggest a writer who did not look anything up.
- One format suits every agent. Standard format is the default, and an agent's own guidelines override it every time. If they ask for the first ten pages pasted into the email, a beautifully formatted attachment is the wrong answer.
A pre-submission pass
Formatting is the last pass, after the book is finished and checked. Our self-editing checklist saves the proof pass for last for the same reason: there is no point perfecting the margins of a chapter you are about to cut. When you do reach it, open the file at 100 percent zoom and look at five random pages. Check the header and page number on each, confirm every chapter starts a fresh page, search for double spaces and stray tabs, and read the agent's guidelines once more against the file you are about to send. Then name the file plainly: Surname_Title.docx.
Exporting from Storskarvia
In Storskarvia you write in the editor and leave the page layout alone until the draft is done. When you are ready, the Export menu gives you two useful files. The Typeset PDF lays a novel out in 12-point Times with one-inch margins, a running header with the author, the title, and the page number, centered chapter headings, and scene breaks set as a centered * * *: a clean proof to read on paper before anyone else does. Word (.docx), the file most agents ask for, carries your text, italics, and chapter headings into a document you can set to the agent's exact specification, spacing included, in a couple of minutes. Before any of it leaves your desk, the fact-checker and the continuity editor can read the draft for the errors formatting cannot fix. Storskarvia never writes a word for you; it makes sure the words you send are the ones you meant.