When sending a ms to an agent/editor, does anyone have any tips on formatting etc? Should it be one sided double spaced only or can one play around with the format? It's just that sending 500 pages can make for a large package.

Mark

Mark, the industry standard does indeed seem to be one side only double-spaced with indented paragraphs. I use Times New Roman 12pt which is easy to read, but I've heard of some people using smaller fonts.

Good luck,

Adele.

I used to work as an editor, and the formatting of a document really makes a difference to how it is received. If you spend all day, every day reading mss, then you want them to be clear, clean and easy-to-read.

You also need them to be double-spaced, so that you can scribble comments as you go, if you decide to take the writer on.

So, the essentials: double-spaced, single-sided; wide margins (an inch and a half all round, at least); good-quality paper (nothing thin like airmail paper); good-quality print (never draft quality, tiring to read for too long); pages numbered sequentially throughout the document (don't start a new page number for each new chapter--it's a disaster if the mss gets dropped); if you can, it's useful to add a header or footer with something like your intials, phone number and/or the title of the piece, to differentiate the pages from anyone else's.

And finally, use a good font, preferably one with serifs, which is far less tiring to read than a sans-serif font. That means Times New Roman for me, although Book Antiqua (I think!) is a useful second. Arial is right out. Make it 12-point, no smaller; 14-point if you must, but I don't think that's necessary. Indent paras (except for the first one in a new section or chapter) and don't leave a line space between new paras.

And finally: no odd gifts with your mss, no coloured paper, scented paper, pretty little pictures or smiley faces. Just my opinion, but they are irritating, not amusing, and mark you out straight away as an amateur and speed your way to the reject pile!

There. That's my opinion anyway. I don't think I missed anything but I am sure that someone else will point it out if I did!

Mark,

Adele and Jane seem to have covered it pretty well. Only thing I would add is don’t send the full ms unless the agent/publisher has asked you for it. Generally what they want is a synopsis and a sample of your writing. See what they specify in the Writers and Artists Yearbook or, at the most, send the first three chapters and a synopsis.

As for font, I always use Verdana 10 point. It’s a very clear font and extremely easy on the eye.

Good luck

Dee

I use "Courier New" cos it looks like a typewriter font. I find it very easy to read too, so it's great for editing.

I've even been toying with adding a sound to my computer that makes that old "click-clack" sound as I type.

Colin

Colin, I never liked Courier because it wasn't proportionally justified--so an i took up as much space as an m, which led to gappy, ragged text. It always felt dififcult to read, to me. Is Courier New a PJ font, or is it non-PJ, like the old Courier?

(Not that I'm obsessive, you understand. I just like to know.)

It's a PJ font. That's the only difference. I agree, the old courier used to look like an array of text, in perfect vertical columns.

As for bells and whistles, I once put my first three chapters on a cassette and sent it that way (god knows why) thinking the agent could listen to it in the car. I almost included a walkman in the package. On another occasion I sent a full manuscript in a big red sparkly box together with a 500g bar of chocolate.

My last submission was taken more seriously. That was just 400 pages, bound with nothing more than a few elastic bands. A very simple cover sheet and introductory letter.

Odd isn't it, but to look more professional you have to hold back and stop trying to make it "look" more professional.

Colin

I hate courier too - I can't bear to read it think it looks unsophisticated! (that's just an aesthetic thought not casting aspersions)

Jai, I have to agree. Courier looks to me as though it is unfinished, somehow, and I don't like to read great blocks of text typed in it. Times New Roman does seem to be the font of choice (!) for the editors that I know. So it's what I use.

I never got a bar of chocolate in any submissions when I worked as an editor, although I did once get a bunch of bananas. Which, due to their arriving at the bottom of a large postbag late on Friday were somewhat unpleasant when I unpacked them on Monday morning. They had squashed all over the accompanying text (which was printed in full colour, all sorts of colour, and sprinkled with pictures of monkey-faces), and so the whole lot had to go into the bin. I have no idea what the proposed book was about, I'm afraid.

Well, I think I better change. Just to be on the safe side.

Ta.

Colin

and so the whole lot had to go into the bin.

Ahhh… I wondered why it didn’t come back…