? presentation ?

There are a lot of sites which give guidelines for manuscript formatting. Here's one of them - no better or worse than others: www.shunn.net/format/story.html

The only caveat I would have is that a lot of sites insist you must use Courier font, but none of the agents I've talked to care, and a few of them actively don't like it. I use Times New Roman, but as long as it isn't something totally unusual I don't think it matters.

I know lots of people are very concerned with how to present their proposals, and worry about type size, font, etc. I have never been concerned about it at all. If I can read the proposal or the manuscript easily, I don't care what font it's written in or what size typeface, or if it's double or single spaced. I'm aware that many agents and the big publishers have fairly strict guidelines, but in the end I think anyone who is proposing or submitting should focus far more attention on the quality of their writing than the format of their pitch.

For print submissions, keep the font at 12 point. I've heard many editors griping that their eyes can't handle anything smaller. Courier or Times New Roman - anything else comes across as unprofessional. Underline to show italics (easier to see on the page). Name, address, e-mail in the top left corner. Word count (for a short story) in the upper right. Title about halfway down the page.

For e-mail submissions, it gets much trickier. You're better off reading the formatting guidelines of whoever you're submitting to, since this varies so much.

And it goes without saying, if an editor or agent or publisher request a specific format, ignore everything I've said and do what they tell you.

Yeah, some folks won't care. Some will. Don't obsess about it, but do take the time to make sure it's a professional-looking manuscript.

Lucida Fax is one of the easiest fonts to read, better than Times New Roman.

This thread should help you out with some of your questions. Good luck!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126