How to format your manuscript before submitting to publishers

There are important rules to follow before submitting your manuscript to publishers. The formatting guidelines below are intended to help editors easily sift through submissions, which can come in droves from aspiring authors.

Some manuscripts can be jarring that they quickly get rejected by editors from publishing houses, even without fully reading the whole manuscript. Using these guidelines will make your draft neat and pleasing to the eyes.

• Obey a 1-inch margin on all sides
• Separate your title page
• Start your page numbering with the first page of the body of text, not with the title page
• Page numbers should be placed at the header
• Each new chapter must begin on its own page, one-third of the way down
• Chapter numbers and chapter titles should be fully capitalized and separated by two hyphens
• Start the body of each chapter between four and six lines below the chapter title
• Each new paragraph must be indented by five spaces
• Double-space the entire text for easy editing
• Use a 12-point type, such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier

These guidelines are not universal, as formatting can vary from one publisher to another. But the standards above are commonly adopted by many publishing houses.