tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post7713235152965190986..comments2023-07-03T07:26:04.780-04:00Comments on The Rejecter: Manuscript Format Questions and AnswersThe Rejecterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09087643296072075641noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-11594991681518412452011-05-24T18:19:23.473-04:002011-05-24T18:19:23.473-04:00I just want to thank you for this post. I am a pro...I just want to thank you for this post. I am a professional freelance book editor, and I work with authors in all stages leading up to publication. I have heard that "the odd thing about standard manuscript formats is that there really is no standard," but there are some items that should be handled a certain way so manuscripts don't end up in File 13 just because a publisher is in no mood to stare at a certain font or too much underscoring, etc. And for anyone who agrees with what Writing Professional said, "While authors must always take responsibility for their own work, hiring a good proofreader is essential because as authors, we know what we have written or intended to write; because the words are in our minds, we may not pay attention to what is actually on the page," drop me a line! I'd love to help you with proofing and editing. autiej@gmail.comautiejhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08511174440090874453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-27042180634609856322010-11-10T03:19:45.739-05:002010-11-10T03:19:45.739-05:00While authors must always take responsibility for ...While authors must always take responsibility for their own work, hiring a good proofreader is essential because as authors, we know what we have written or intended to write; because the words are in our minds, we may not pay attention to what is actually on the page;Writing Professionalhttp://variousmarks.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-77169581304580760972009-03-24T02:51:00.000-04:002009-03-24T02:51:00.000-04:00Here's a question--I've read conflicting informati...Here's a question--I've read conflicting information on how many spaces between sentences. One space? Or two? <BR/><BR/>P.S. Thanks for the other great info!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-87246732510229143072009-03-14T16:32:00.000-04:002009-03-14T16:32:00.000-04:00Jeanette CheezumI found this enlightning. Thank Yo...Jeanette Cheezum<BR/><BR/>I found this enlightning. Thank You.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-68493211844605009222009-03-14T12:30:00.000-04:002009-03-14T12:30:00.000-04:00I am new to writing and any help is welcome. Thank...I am new to writing and any help is welcome. Thank you!Lynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16437123988202659557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-88381649884570599842008-12-04T14:50:00.000-05:002008-12-04T14:50:00.000-05:00lots of great general info here for getting my mss...lots of great general info here for getting my mss in shape! thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-18474123302451359422008-12-03T08:43:00.000-05:002008-12-03T08:43:00.000-05:00Here's a question: how do these rules differ for S...Here's a question: how do these rules differ for SHORT STORY manuscripts? I heard that magazines still want the older style (Courier, underlines, title near the text not at top of page, etc). And how about POETRY? Scant little current info online about these things.<BR/><BR/>And btw, great, great post here! This info is really needed!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-53405783539226337752008-12-02T20:29:00.000-05:002008-12-02T20:29:00.000-05:00bootsandbibles, as much fun as it no doubt was to ...bootsandbibles, as much fun as it no doubt was to post that link, that's a facile answer. (And you're scoring Funny points by characterizing the rest of us as nitwits.) Of course people should read the guidelines. Let's give people posting here the benefit of the doubt, though: you're preaching to the choir. The insecurities creep up when you need to decide on some picky little issue *not* covered by the guidelines. Most agents' guidelines aren't comprehensive; they hit the major points. Some particular agent's posted guidelines might not mention whether she prefers underlining or italics, for instance, and yet many agents and editors are oddly insistent about which is the one that "everyone" prefers--and they often don't agree. <BR/><BR/>I think the consensus here is that you do your best to follow the guidelines, and then you cross your fingers and assume the agent is not going to throw your work out for violating some rule that was never explicitly stated in the guidelines. Not if your work is good, anyhow. And I'm comfortable with that.José Iriartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03653811568201804995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-20237008373361411602008-12-02T16:22:00.000-05:002008-12-02T16:22:00.000-05:00Everyone... isn't the simplest way around all of t...Everyone... isn't the simplest way around all of this just to <I>read the publisher's/agent's submission guidelines?</I><BR/><BR/>We want to try and avoid this:<BR/><BR/>http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/uploads/2008/01/slushpiledemotivatormay07_n.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-32687480127677046092008-12-02T14:26:00.000-05:002008-12-02T14:26:00.000-05:00One of the sources of conflicting information is t...One of the sources of conflicting information is that manuscripts read for potential purchase by editors are different from already purchased manuscripts that the production department has to deal with.<BR/><BR/>Back in the pre-computer days, the Production Fairies would weep blood if the manuscript wasn't in 12pt Courier, double spaced, with underlining for the italic words.<BR/><BR/>With so many houses accepting manuscripts electronically, and then copyediting electronically, the issue has evaporated. We can change fonts or formatting with a couple of clicks.<BR/><BR/>I do recommend the # in scene breaks, though. One of the first things a typesetter does to a manuscript file is delete doubles: spaces, paragraph returns, tabs, etc. The odds of a scene break accidentally evaporating if it's nothing more than a couple of hard returns is unsettlingly high.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-71562797239215256262008-11-29T15:38:00.000-05:002008-11-29T15:38:00.000-05:00I sent a requested partial to an agent in Courier,...I sent a requested partial to an agent in Courier, <I>then</I> thought of checking her website for guidelines. Horror of horrors, there I read that she doesn't like Courier and requested TNR instead.<BR/><BR/>I felt lousy until she asked for the full. What a relief. <BR/><BR/>So the people who tell you that the font won't matter <I>that</I> much as long as everything else works... they're right. Now that I know what the agent likes, of course, I send everything in TNR. But I won't beat myself up for a small mistake.Marian Pererahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15700524210146863718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-328802096058528972008-11-29T12:11:00.000-05:002008-11-29T12:11:00.000-05:00I keep running into equally emphatic contradictory...I keep running into equally emphatic contradictory advice. *sigh* I'm just going to do what feels right, and not worry about it.José Iriartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03653811568201804995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-23931693580064148152008-11-28T10:07:00.000-05:002008-11-28T10:07:00.000-05:00At GUD everything comes in as a document file, so ...At GUD everything comes in as a document file, so if we don't like the font, we change it. Bliss!<BR/><BR/>(and no, we don't likes Arial, precious, we don't)nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-72925620123467688642008-11-26T20:52:00.000-05:002008-11-26T20:52:00.000-05:00I read slush pile stuff for a while, and I don't e...I read slush pile stuff for a while, and I don't ever recall sending something back because the font wasn't quite right or the header not the way we liked it. If your ms. is correctly punctuated and without grammatical errors, you'll stand head and shoulders above the others and your font won't matter.<BR/><A HREF="http://kristiholl.com/" REL="nofollow">Kristi Holl</A><BR/><A HREF="http://institutechildrenslit.net/Writers-First-Aid-blog/" REL="nofollow">Writer's First Aid blog</A>Kristi Hollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01480214912307187314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-35611404274372543502008-11-26T16:13:00.000-05:002008-11-26T16:13:00.000-05:00A mentor blasted me for underlines instead of ital...A mentor blasted me for underlines instead of italics, insisting that "People don't speak in italics". But there are still submission guidelines that say underlining is the way to go. (E.g., <I>Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine</I>.)<BR/><BR/>That said, it is possible in Word, and probably others, to convert all underlines to italics (or vice versa) with a single find/replace command.<BR/>(What I <I>really</I> wish for is a simple, manuscript template for Word that would take care of all this.)<BR/><BR/>For me, it is far more practical to maintain a consistent format for all my works in progress; this makes the task of tailoring format for a specific submission much less daunting.Jonathan E. Quisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13334719433572303381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-50056396206736327072008-11-26T15:57:00.000-05:002008-11-26T15:57:00.000-05:00Good to know these little nuances!ThanksShellihttp...Good to know these little nuances!<BR/>Thanks<BR/>Shelli<BR/>http://faeriality.blogspot.com/Shelli (srjohannes)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17123227845032402600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-22193860408897633302008-11-26T13:01:00.000-05:002008-11-26T13:01:00.000-05:00This helped me a lot. Mainly in that it helped ea...This helped me a lot. Mainly in that it helped ease my fear of messing up one little thing (i.e. left or right align the header) and that messing everything up. It's good to know that it really ISN'T that big a deal, as long as we get it all there.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11431700962951592287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-51577121058446971002008-11-26T11:48:00.000-05:002008-11-26T11:48:00.000-05:00Some timesaving instructions for those that must c...Some timesaving instructions for those that must change italics to underlining, or vice-versa...<BR/><BR/>Word's "Styles and Formatting" makes it the matter of a couple of minutes to do this. It's under:<BR/><BR/>Format | Styles and Formatting<BR/><BR/>Then you're shown a list of styles... usually everything that's available, which is multitudes upon multitudes. But you can change the selector to "styles used in this document." Then, find those that describe underlined words, click the option to Modify that style, and change the underline to italics.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes there will be more than one style that includes underlined words... ie: one for words that are underlined with double spacing, and one with words that are underlined with single spacing. If that's the case in your document, then do the same process for each of those!<BR/><BR/>Me... I keep my styles and formatting open and clean from the beginning, so I can change from italic to underline for the whole 90,000 word document in about three seconds.Kathleen MacIverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02263212018219137277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35623128.post-2592847777639772282008-11-26T09:46:00.000-05:002008-11-26T09:46:00.000-05:00I was submitting in TNR, but then I read a literar...I was submitting in TNR, but then I read a literary agency website that said if you are submitting electronically, sans serif fonts are easier to read on a computer screen. I tested this out, and I agree. Also this site said that both underlining and italics are hard to read on screen, and suggested boldface.<BR/>So far I have done Ariel (a no-no, says Rejecter) so I guess I can say that so far I have made it easier for agents to read what they are going to reject.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com