Getting Your Work Published

You’ve written a blockbuster so, now what do you do with it?

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Nothing stops you getting your work published more than a poorly presented manuscript. It dosen't matter if it's a book, a short story, a report, or letter. Poor presentation, projects a sloppy image of you as a writer.

Let’s face it would you want to wade through a tatty manuscript or letter full of bad grammar, spelling mistakes & typos? Of course, you wouldn’t. So, don’t expect others to look favourably on your work unless it’s squeaky clean.

Make sure you go back & check spelling, punctuation, grammar, & typos after your final edit. You can often miss something or leave in odd words when editing. Because you are so familiar with your work, your brain can add in or ignore things that others will notice.

So, it's a good idea to get someone else to read your finished work as a double check. Lazy mistakes will cost you in the end. Getting your efforts looked at by a publisher is hard enough to begin with. Don’t throw away your chance through poor presentation.

Having your work published is the final step you take on the road to success as writers. Or is it? What if we write because it’s part of our job, reports or sales letters? What if the only writing we do consists of a CV or keeping in touch with friends & family? Whatever your reason for writing presentation it is vital.

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Formatting your manuscript.

Let me put your mind a rest right now, contrary to popular belief there isn't one worldwide standard. Most editors do have a favourite format but don’t worry your manuscript is not going to be dumped on the slush pile just because your margins are slightly wider than someone expected.

However, publishers usually follow a basic formula. So, if you're really serious about getting your work published, use the following guidelines to organize your manuscript:

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Always make sure your margins are one-inch wide including top & bottom. Anything less and your words will look cluttered and even monotonous to a busy editor. I’m told editors often use the margins to make comments if they like what they’re reading. Don’t give them an excuse to reject your manuscript, they can find plenty of their own.

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All manuscript must, I repeat must be double line spaced. If you use single line spacing for your draft, the template will take care of it. If you don’t want to create a template, highlight all the manuscript text and then change the line spacing from 1 to 2. The highlighted text will automatically convert to double-space. Don’t be tempted to try 1.5 to save paper, editors can tell the difference & whoops you’re on the slush pile.

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Because your manuscript is presented in double line spacing you need to forget the usual paragraph breaks Use the TAB function in your word processing package to set indents. When you end a paragraph, press return or enter only once, indent and start a new paragraph.

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Never use different fonts within your manuscript. Choose a font that’s easy to read like Arial or Times New Roman and stay with it all through your manuscript. Size 12 is best and keeps the letters from looking overcrowded.

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Type your name, address, phone, fax and Email (single-spaced) in the upper left-hand corner of your first page. Your approximate word count should be typed in the upper right-hand corner.

Centre the title of your short story halfway down the page in a larger font (14 or 16 point font size). You can even use bold if you like.

Skip two lines, after you've typed your title - still centred - type your name in a smaller font than that of your title. Remove the centring function, skip two lines after your name and begin your short story on the same page.

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You must always include a cover page with your manuscript. Make sure all of the following information is centred on the page.

Type the title of your book halfway down the page. Skip two lines and type your name. Skip another two lines and type your address, phone, fax and Email. Skip three lines and type the approximate word count.

The first page of every chapter must begin halfway down the page with the title or number of the chapter placed before your text. The remaining pages of each chapter can take up the full page.

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Short stories and books all require running headers. They should be placed in the upper left hand corner of every page. Why? Because your manuscript must be presented, in loose-leaf format and be assured accidents do happen.

I mean what if the publisher mixed up a romance with a wood working manual because all they had were page numbers. Make interesting reading no doubt, but not much good for you.

Ok, a running header contains only three items:

Your Last Name

Title of Your book/story (If your title is long, shorten it. See example below)

Page Number

Example: The Life and Times of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by Jane Brown. The running header on page 235 of her manuscript would read:

Brown/Woodpecker/235

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If you're preparing your manuscript, then you'll want all of your page numbers to be in order. Don't number your pages according to the chapter. Don't label each chapter's page numbers at all. If chapter 9 starts on page 125 of your manuscript, it’s not page 9-1. It’s page 125 of your manuscript.

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Please, please do use good quality paper, the best you can afford. Always use plain white paper.

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Preparing your manuscript for the publishers is often frustrating. Waiting to hear from the publishers is worse. Almost as bad as... insert your worst nightmare... Using these guidelines will insure you have done all you can to present your work in the best possible light. Good luck!.

ps: If I have missed a burning question & you need an answer... contact us.
pps: If I don't know the answer, I know a woman who does:-)

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