Standard MS Format - Australia

TAFE's Open Learning Institute course on Editing says you should first check for the house style of the publisher. Most follow the AGPS (Australian Government Publishing Service) Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers. There is also The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide and the UQ School of Journalism and Communication Stylebook. I prefer the latter.

The most interesting formatting difference I have found between Australia and the US is that Australian publishers want MS in Times New Roman while in the US they prefer old-fashioned Courier.

The basic difference is . . . whatever the publisher wants. U.S. publishers are not all stuck on Courier.

My advice to anyone about formatting is -- use whatever font is comfortable for YOU to READ on screen, and change it to suit the needs and wants of agents and publishers at submission time. Nothing else matters. The only advantage of Courier is that it gives a good rough page count -- that is what makes it a standard. Times New Eyestrain is the Micro$ith default, intended for printed business letters.

If you are American and the manuscript is likely to be printed out, make sure you change the paper size from American letter to ISO A4.

I wouldn't worry too much. As with everything, check the agent/publisher guidelines to see what they prefer. Although I submitted over here (Aus), I followed the advice in Cathy C's post. My agent didn't complain and my publisher didn't either.

JJ