A manuscript is the working version of your book before it becomes the finished product readers eventually see.

And if you’re planning to send that manuscript to an editor, beta reader, literary agent, or publisher, the way it looks matters more than most authors realize.

That doesn’t mean your manuscript needs to look like a professionally formatted book. In fact, it shouldn’t. A finished book and a properly formatted manuscript are two very different things. Your book formatting is meant for readers. Your manuscript formatting is meant for the people who need to review, edit, evaluate, or potentially represent your work.

The good news is that standard manuscript format is not complicated. You don’t need fancy software, elaborate design, or a beautifully styled document. You just need a clean, consistent format that makes your manuscript easy to read and easy to work with.

This matters whether you’re pursuing traditional publishing or self-publishing. Literary agents usually have their own submission guidelines, and editors may have manuscript preferences as well. If your formatting is messy, distracting, or hard to edit, you’re making their job harder before they’ve even had a chance to focus on your writing.

So in this article, I’ll walk you through the standard manuscript format most authors should use, including page size, margins, font, spacing, headers, title pages, chapter formatting, and the file format you should use when sending it out.

What do I mean by “Manuscript”?

Manuscripts have been around for centuries, but today the word usually refers to the unpublished version of your book before it becomes a finished, formatted product.

In other words, your manuscript is the draft you send to an editor, beta reader, agent, or publisher. It’s the working version of the book before final publication.

Why is Manuscript Formatting Important?

While it may seem like a small thing, how you format your manuscript can make a big impression. A correctly formatted manuscript shows that you're professional and that you take your work seriously. It also makes it easier for the person reading your work to find specific information, such as your contact information or the title of your book.

Incorrectly formatted manuscripts can be a turn-off for agents and editors, who receive hundreds or even thousands of submissions each year. If your manuscript is difficult to read or doesn't follow the standard format, it's likely that the agent or editor will simply move on to the next submission.

13 Steps to Format Your Manuscript

Below are the 13 steps you need to take to properly format your manuscript (including technical guidance for Microsoft Word).

Pro tip: Google Docs can work for shorter manuscripts, but it may become sluggish as your document gets longer, especially if you have lots of comments, images, suggestions, or revision history. Google’s official document limit is much higher than 20,000 words, but for full-length books, many authors prefer to split chapters into separate files or use a dedicated writing tool to avoid lag.

Step 1: Page Size

Use the industry standard page size of 8.5”x11” — the exact dimensions of a standard piece of paper. In Microsoft Word, this option is found under File > Page Setup.

Hopefully, this goes without saying, but the page should be white. Don’t format your manuscript on a black- or cream-colored page.

Step 2: Margins

Set one-inch margins on all sides. 1 inch around the top, bottom, left, and right margins is the default for most word processors. This can be found in the “Layout” tab of Microsoft Word.

Step 3: Font

Set the font to black 12-point Times New Roman unless the agent, editor, or publisher specifically requests something else. Some submission guidelines may vary, but 12-point Times New Roman is still one of the safest defaults. In most cases, you also shouldn’t highlight any of the text.

Step 4: Indentation

Indent the first line of every new paragraph by 0.5 inches. Do not press the TAB key or SPACE-SPACE-SPACE-SPACE-SPACE. You can easily adjust automatic indentation settings in all word processors.

Step 5: Line Spacing

Double-space your entire manuscript. Do not set any extra space or a line break between paragraphs. All you should have is standard double spacing. (For some non-fiction books, you may forego paragraph indentation and opt for extra line spacing between paragraphs).

Step 6: Alignment

Make your text left-aligned, not justified. The right side will have a lot of rags (un-uniform line endings). That’s perfectly normal.

Step 7: Page Breaks

Use page breaks. When creating a new chapter, don’t press ENTER over and over until you reach a new page. Page breaks make everyone’s life easier.

Step 8: Headers (including Page Numbers)

Add a simple header with your manuscript title and page number, unless the agent, editor, or publisher asks for something different. Some formats also include the author’s last name in the header, so always check the specific submission guidelines before sending.

In most manuscript submissions, page 1 begins on the first page of the manuscript body, after the title page. Front matter like a foreword, table of contents, or copyright page is usually more relevant to final book formatting than to a manuscript you’re sending to an agent or editor.

Step 9: Scene Breaks

Use industry standard scene breaks. It’s important to note that scene breaks are optional in a story as a way to break down chapters into smaller sections.

If you have scene breaks within your chapters, simply type and center 3 asterisks (***) or 3 hashes (###) or 3 hyphens (—) on an otherwise blank line. These are the standard markings for scene breaks.

Step 10: Italicized, not Underlined

Use italics for emphasis. In most cases, authors shouldn’t use underlined words. Italicization,  rather than underlining, is standard in manuscript formatting.

Step 11: Single Space After Period

Type a single space after a period. Do not hit the spacebar twice after a period. Standard practice dictates one space after each period. (During the editing phase of my book, I search my whole document for a double space, using the “Find” feature in every word processor).

Step 12: “END” Your Manuscript

Type “END” or a hash (#) after the last line of your manuscript. Center align it. This way, whoever reads your manuscript will know they’re not missing pages.

Step 13: Export

Finally, export your manuscript. Export it all as one document, not separate files for each chapter.

When you export your novel manuscript, you should export it into a DOCX file format. Give it a helpful file name: “Lastname_Title_Date” so that people can easily search for it. 

This file and naming format is what most editors and agents prefer. However, always consult manuscript submission guidelines for each submission.

Now, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Title Page of Your Manuscript

The title page of your manuscript will not look like the title page in your final product.

Your title page should include the key details an agent, editor, or publisher needs to identify your manuscript and contact you. Always follow the specific submission guidelines, but a typical title page may include:

• Contact information, usually in the upper left-hand corner:
• Book title, centered about one-third or halfway down the page
• Author name or pen name, preceded by “a novel by” or “by”
• Approximate word count, rounded to the nearest thousand

Some submission guidelines only ask for the story title, author name, word count, and email address on the cover page, so don’t add extra personal information if the recipient doesn’t need it.

All of these components of the title page should be the same font as the body text, including the size. Only the alignments will be different.

What is the purpose of a title page? The main purpose of the title page is to tell editors and agents who wrote this book and how to contact them. Obviously, it also tells them your book’s title.

What are the different parts of a manuscript? There are really only 2 parts of a manuscript:

1. Title page.
2. Body text, split up by chapter breaks, which can be split up with scene breaks.

How to Format New Chapters

In a manuscript, you should properly format new chapters in these 3 ways:

1. Use a page break to begin a new chapter. (Don’t press ENTER until you reach a new page.)
2. Center the chapter title either one-third or halfway down the page. (Almost everything else is left-aligned, except the manuscript title and the chapter title.)
3. Type the chapter number (e.g., “Chapter 1” or “Chapter One”) on one line, then the chapter title (e.g., “Amanda’s Vision”) on the following line.

If you make minor adjustments to this new chapter formatting, be sure to make them consistent across the entire manuscript.

Also, there’s a little conflict over first paragraphs on new chapters. Should they be indented or not? Standard manuscript formatting dictates that you do not indent the first paragraph of each chapter. 

However, this is a somewhat subjective matter. Few editors or agents will scoff at an indented first paragraph. If you can spare the time, feel free to un-indent those first paragraphs. If you aren’t able to, or don’t like the look, it’s alright to skip this minute step.

Why do I need to format my manuscript?

You need to format your manuscript because it tells editors, agents, and publishers that you know what you’re doing.

Why is formatting important? Formatting is important because if you properly format your manuscript, editors and agents assume you took the time to learn about other important aspects of publishing. 

When your manuscript is formatted correctly, potential agents and editors are more likely to see you as knowledgeable on marketing, book categories, story structure, etc.

Some publishing professionals may overlook minor formatting differences, but ignoring submission guidelines can still hurt you. Agents and editors read a lot of material, and clean formatting shows that you can follow directions and respect their time.

A poorly formatted manuscript may not get rejected for formatting alone, but it can create the wrong first impression before anyone has had a fair chance to judge the writing.

Your manuscript is not for publication. Your formatted manuscript is for:

• Editors
• Beta readers (who are usually less picky than others on this list)
• Potential literary agents
• Traditional publishing houses, if you’re vying for a book deal (for which you will likely need a literary agent)

Do I need to buy a formatting program to format my manuscript?

No, you probably don’t need any special program to format your manuscript. Whether you’re using Word, Scrivener, or Google Docs, most word processors possess the basic formatting tools needed to properly format your manuscript.

When you’re ready to format the final book for publication, that’s a different job. At that point, you may want a book formatting tool like Atticus or Vellum, or you may hire a formatting service like Damonza or Ebook Launch to make the finished book look as professional and neat as possible.

Just like an unprofessional-looking manuscript can turn off agents and publishers, a haphazard final book format can deter potential readers and encourage negative reviews.

Manuscript Format Example

What does a manuscript look like? Here is an example of what a manuscript body text page looks like:

You can use this example as a manuscript template.

Manuscript Formatting vs Book Formatting

What is the difference between a manuscript and a book? A manuscript is a preliminary draft of your novel or short story, formatted for sending to editors and agents. A book is a finished product, the final draft — formatted, proofread, and ready to be published.

Where your manuscript should be formatted to look like a draft or an essay, your book should be formatted to look like any other professionally sold book on Amazon or in a brick-and-mortar bookstore like Barnes & Noble.

If readers crack open your book only to find weird margins, uneven rags on the ends of lines, widows and orphans, inconsistent spacing, distracting fonts, etc., they are much less likely to buy your book. If they’ve already bought it, they may leave a bad review online because of how unprofessional it looks.

If you need to format your book for market (especially if you didn’t recognize any of the words in the above paragraph), read my comprehensive mastery guide on How to Format a Book.

More Resources for Authors

Now you know how to format your manuscript for editors, agents, beta readers, publishers, etc. I’ll leave this How to Land a Book Deal article right here in case you want to read it.

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