When submitting your MS to agents, how do you format the chapters? Do you do a new page, halfway down, for each new chapter, or just a couple of lines?
Thank you x
Thank you x
Chapter spacing?
- Thread starter LadyA
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Start a new page.
Ten lines down maybe. Whatever you go for, be consistent and if the Publisher has a different house style it will be changed.
But be sure and format it to start that way - don't just hit Return ten times every time you start a new Chapter.
Ten lines down maybe. Whatever you go for, be consistent and if the Publisher has a different house style it will be changed.
But be sure and format it to start that way - don't just hit Return ten times every time you start a new Chapter.
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For new chapters, 1/3 of the way down from the header start 1st paragraph. When it goes to print, the publisher will change the format to whatever the house style is.
Some publishers may even change the font to increase the page count if they feel a need to do so to justify a higher price. Or so I have read...
Some publishers may even change the font to increase the page count if they feel a need to do so to justify a higher price. Or so I have read...
Michelle Maibelle
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Wow, I had no idea that people submit their work as one large file... I break chapters up into separate .docx files, and assumed that was the general format for everyone.
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LOL, I've been breaking my chapters into separate sections and storing them in a chapter folder!
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So my question then would be, how do you format the file so that new chapters start in the appropriate place on the new page? I've been hitting return about 12 times, but then, I'm not exactly savvy when it comes to MS Word. Every time I think I have it down, they release a new version. And like a sucker, I keep buying them...
Yes, Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, always move crap around on the menu selections and create new useless whizbang icons for stuff with every new release. But:
They always have somewhere in there a "manual page break" function. That's what you need to insert at the end of every chapter. Then hit ENTER six or seven times (be consistent) for the start of the next chapter. And you are, of course, double-spacing lines, right?
caw
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And this way when you edit, you never have to go back and fix all those enters you hit when you add or take stuff out. The new chapter has a new page. Period. Also this is not a book, it a manuscript. No need to center or hit enter down so many lines, at the top is fine.
The less you do that can be messed up with changes to font, size, editing etc., the better for you and more pro your work looks. Also don't use tabs, or manual section breaks. A lot of editors these days use an ipad or some such for reading electronic subs, tabs and all those enters can mess it up to look pretty bad. And all those enters etc to make a new chapter can create blank pages.
Even .docx isn't the standard file format for a lot of people, and you'll find agents and editors who, if they want electronic files, won't accept it. .docx came along with Word 2007, and is not backward-compatible to older versions of Word.
As for keeping chapters in separate individual files, I started out doing that, and found it such a pain in the tuckus that I went to a single comprehensive file. Far simpler to work with, in my experience, and I know from other discussions of this issue that I'm by no means alone.
caw
This is true, of course. I was commenting primarily on the formatting of actual physical paper manuscripts. Lesson being: Know what format your intended agent/editor wants before submitting.
caw
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Thanks for the info, all. I'm with you, Tettsuo, I'm going to have a lot of editing to do, haha. I was doing what the books I'd read on formatting for submission said to do, but I guess they're either outdated or just plain wrong.
So many places and agents take only electronic subs these days that is it best to get in the habit of doing stuff the electronic way.
One advantage to doing it this way is that when you edit each chapter stays the same, I am sure you have edited and then gone back and had to fix ever chapter heading after the edit because it moved and shifted everything else?
Using the auto indent and the ctrl enter for the new chapter, keeps it all the same even if you take out or add an entire page, or just a few words, the chapter starts on a new page without messing anything up. Saves you time and frustration in the long run.
One advantage to doing it this way is that when you edit each chapter stays the same, I am sure you have edited and then gone back and had to fix ever chapter heading after the edit because it moved and shifted everything else?
Using the auto indent and the ctrl enter for the new chapter, keeps it all the same even if you take out or add an entire page, or just a few words, the chapter starts on a new page without messing anything up. Saves you time and frustration in the long run.
Yeah, docx did come with windows seven, but it's an easy fix. Just save it to be compatible with older versions. I do it all the time for people with older versions.
Yes, but if you save as an older version, it ain't .docx no more. It's just .doc. Which was my point.
Another point being that the most popular version of Windows, by a big margin, is still Windows XP, and many many people still use a version of MS-Word from that earlier era.
caw
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