The em dash, often simply called the dash, is the most commonly used. Dashes can be used instead of commas, parentheses, or colons, and to show interrupted dialogue. One of the more common mechanical problems authors seem to have is with the dash. Published page numbers will, of course, be different. Having a page reference is helpful when editors and authors correspond. Start the header (or footer) on page two. This is the traditional order for the more common divisions of a book: Front Matter: Title page, Copyright page, Dedication, Epigraph, Table of Contents, Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgments, Introduction (if not part of text), First text page (Introduction or Chapter 1) Back Matter: Acknowledgments (if not in front matter), Appendix, Notes, Glossary, Bibliography or References, Index.Ī useful option is to provide on your manuscript’s cover page your contact information and a word count, like this:Īnother useful touch is to add a header with your surname, the book’s title, and page numbers. All content to be included in the finished book, such as Dedication, Acknowledgments, Foreword, Preface, Appendix, and Index, should be included in one file. Manuscripts should be one contiguous file for all text. If you use British, Canadian, or Australian spelling, make a note to the editor to keep it British or to Americanize it. An alternative style is to insert a blank line, but a reader can miss this extra line if it falls at the bottom of a page.
If you want to show that a scene changes within a chapter, use a row of three asterisks on an extra line, set on a line by themselves. It’s one of the most widely used typefaces. There are other acceptable fonts, but Times New Roman is a standard in book publishing for its legibility and classic look. Font throughout should be Times New Roman, 12 pt. Manuscripts should be set up 8.5″ x 11″ with one-inch margins on all sides. (APA formatting for academic manuscripts is a different animal.) If you need help with the mechanics, I’ll provide that later. Here’s how to format your novel or memoir so it looks professional. Part of my job as a copy editor is to fix the formatting to publishers’ standards. Authors submit manuscripts in a hodgepodge of formats.
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