Some Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation & Submission
By Ursula K. Le Guin
with heartfelt thanks to Vonda N. McIntyre
(see her article on
her web site)
and to Wendy Corsi in The Writer, July 1991
These are brief guidelines for the format of a manuscript(MS)
on paper. Increasingly often, submissions are made electronically,
or the final copy is submitted as an e-mail attachment or as a disk.
The formatting of the MS, however, remains pretty much the same.
General:
Use white paper, black type, a clear, plain typeface — no cute or
fancy fonts. Make sure your ribbon or printer or copier cartridge
has enough ink to make a good dark copy all the way through.
If you use a spell checker in your computer, don't trust it to
catch the common there/their, its/it's kind of errors: proofread
your MS before you submit it.
One or two neat, clear, minor corrections on a typescript page is
all right, but since most MSS now are computer print-outs, editors
are used to seeing perfectly clean copy, and may be put off by by many visible corrections.
Spacing and Placing:
Type or print on one side of the paper only.
DOUBLE SPACE. Always. NEVER single, 1-1/2, or triple space.
A new paragraph is shown by indenting the first line a few spaces. DO NOT put an extra space
between paragraphs.
If you compose in single space on a computer using letter style,
there will be a double space between paragraphs. If you then
instruct the computer to doublespace the MS, you'll get a quad
space between paragraphs, which means your whole MS seems to be
full of space breaks.
Where you want a space break — an extra space between paragraphs
or sections — signify it with the # symbol centered, and an extra
space below it, thus:
#
Do not justify the right margin of the text. ("Justify" means make
it run straight down like a ruler, the way the left margin does.)
Allow decent margins on all four edges of the paper — about an inch
of white space.
The Cover Sheet:
In the upper left corner, your name and address. That is, the name
you want checks made out to, and your actual address.
(If you have an agent, you may say: Represented by Suchandsuch
Literary Agent and their address, underneath your name and address.
Or your agent may replace your cover sheet with one that has their
own name and address in the upper left corner.)
Nearly halfway down the page, centered, put the TITLE of the piece
in capitals.
A couple of spaces below that, put your byline — by Jane Soandso —
in lower case. Jane Soandso may be your real name, as above, or your pen
name if you use one.
(Some of us put the wordcount on the cover sheet, down towards the
lower left corner. Round the figure. If you or your computer figure
it's 3432 words, put: 3400 words.)
First page of the piece:
Title and byline, centered, about halfway down the page.
Several spaces below that, begin the text. There will be
only a few lines of text on this first page.
All following pages should have in the uppermost left corner:
your name,
the title (if it is long, shorten it to an identifiable word or
two), and the page number.
If your name was Askew M. Torque, and your title was The Gutwrencher's
Twisted Sense of Humor, and the page was 151, the upper left corner
of it would look like this:
Torque, Gutwrencher, 151.
(Compositors — people who actually set type — always told me they
liked the upper right corner kept clear for their own uses. Of course,
compositors are rather rare these days. Vonda says use the upper
right corner. I can't; I am haunted by the reproachful ghosts of compositors.)
You may put your copyright line on the last page, but it is not necessary.
Submission or any use of a MS now gives you copyright in it automatically.
Be aware, however, that that copyright is not registered with the United
States Copyright Office until you or your publisher register it.
Do not put directions such as "First North American Rights only."
You will determine what rights in your piece you are selling to the publisher
when the piece is accepted and you study and discuss the agreement or
contract offered.
Don't staple a manuscript. Don't bind it. Use paper clips to hold short
pieces together. Use rubber bands and a box for biggies.
Never, ever, send anything you don't have a copy of.
Submitting Manuscripts:
Never, ever, send anything you don't have a copy of.
Keep a submission record for each title you send out. Keep
it in the folder or box with your copy of the MS. If you are submitting
a number of pieces, each title should have its own folder with this
submission record in it.
The submission record includes:
where the piece has been — each publisher, editor, magazine, etc. —
and a copy of the cover letter that went with it each time, and a copy of
whatever letter or message came back with it each time.
who has it now
where it is to be sent next (It's a good idea to make a list
of where this MS is to be submitted, before it starts going out. Then
if it is rejected you don't have to brood and dither and wonder if it
is unworthy — you just send it to the next place on the list.)
The contract, when you get one, and all correspondence directly
concerning the business history of the piece.
If you want the MS back, you must enclose a SASE, which means self-addressed
stamped envelope. The stamps should be glued onto the envelope, not
clipped or otherwise enclosed. Make certain the envelope is the right
size and the postage is sufficient.
If you don't care about getting your MS back, say so in the cover
letter, but still you should enclose a letter-size SASE with one-ounce
postage, for the editor's reply.
This rule holds for any submission of any MS to anybody.
Who it Goes To:
Find out who the current editor is, in a journal such as The Literary
Marketplace, or if you are submitting to a magazine, by checking a current
issue of the magazine, or by calling the editorial department of the
publishing house and asking the assistant whom you should send your MS to.
If you cannot find the name, say Dear Editor.
The Cover Letter:
Be brief and civil.
If someone at this publishing house or magazine encouraged you to
submit or resubmit, include a photocopy of their letter — don't assume
the editor remembers.
Do mention past publications, focusing on your qualifications for
this kind of piece.
Don't talk about unpublished work.
If you haven't published anything, don't say so.
Don't be confiding or boastful; stick to business. If you want to
describe your piece, do it in a sentence or two. Editors are understaffed,
overworked, and appreciate not having their time wasted. What you need
to convey is something like this:
Dear Ms Swampthing,
Enclosed for your consideration is "Braburners of Blorb,"
5500 words. It's science fiction with a fantasy element
and a slight feminist twist. I appreciate your consideration
of my story. SASE is included. Thank you.
Yours truly,
Harriet B. Stowe.
Never mention money till they do. They make their offer when they
offer a contract, and that's the time to accept, dicker, or refuse.
It's also the time, maybe, to find an agent, waving the offered
contract, and saying, Would you like to handle this (and my other
work) for me? Because agents can dicker better than you can.
Never, ever, send anything you don't have a copy of.
Copyright © 2005 by Ursula K. Le Guin
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