DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF!

I know I said this blog would not be addressing writing concerns, but something happened on another loop I’m on that made me decide to talk about this here. So this post is for all you aspiring writers out there.

One of the posters on the aforementioned loop asked how she could get 250 words/25 lines per manuscript page and seemed quite stressed that she couldn’t manage it. Replies poured in giving her all kinds of clever ways to adjust this and that and assuring her that "their method" would work. Whether any of them did or not, I don’t know.

The entire series of posts immediately brought to mind a Spotlight on Harlequin/Silhouette panel I attended at one of the RWA conferences. I can’t recall who was on the panel, but when one editor’s turn came to speak, she held up a sheet of paper, whipped out a ruler and began to dramatically measuring the margins. When she was done, she laid both down and looked at the audience and smiled. She said "I have neither the time nor the inclination to measure your margins. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Concentrate on what I need to see to buy your book–the story."

It seems that aspiring writers spend so much time worrying about the size or their margins, the number of lines per page, the type of font and size that they don’t give enough attention to the elements that will ultimately sell the book. To my knowledge, no book has ever been rejected because any of the things that I just listed were wrong.

That’s not to say that you can use an elegant, ornate script type face for the book or that you should single space the lines or print out your proposal/manuscript on colored paper. There are basic no-nos. So I’m going to list some of the do’s and don’ts of formatting a book and the reason for each, and I hope that it will relieve a lot of the tension. After all, trying to sell your first book is stressful enough without worrying about things that don’t matter all that much.

PAGE FORMATTING:
Margins – 1' to 1 1/4" is acceptable
Double-spaced – only in a synopsis is 1.5 line spacing acceptable
Both of the above measurements leaves room for editors to make notes
Headers -- the title of the book, your name and a page number must appear on EVERY page
Use your full name, especially if your last name is a common one such as Smith
Drop down approximately 1/3 of the page to start the chapter text
The text on all the other pages should begin at the top of the page
Each chapter should start on a new page

Paper, font and type size:
Use only 20 LB, white bond, 8 ½ x 11
12 point New Times Roman or Courier (Preferably Dark Courier) is acceptable or any type face with a foot (serif)
It’s proven that these type faces cause less eye strain than sans serif (footless type faces such as Arial or Helvetica). Since editors look at 100s of manuscripts a week, preventing eye strain is a huge benefit to them.

Word count:
Most publishers are no longer asking for an approximate word count. This is a word count derived from multiplying the number of words per line x the lines on the page x the number of pages. This counts a line with one word as aline with 13 or 15 words.

They are now asking for exact word count or machine word count, which is found on a drop-down menu in your word processing program. This way counts only the words in the document, no white space fill-ins IE: phantom words.

In Word, the word count can be found by clicking on "Recount" on the upper right of the tool bar.
In Word Perfect it can be found by clicking on the "Tools" drop down menu, then clicking on "Word Count/Info."

Please keep in mind that publishers and agents may have different requirements and that this is only the standard formatting.

Good luck!
Blessings,
Elizabeth