How do I type this???

[Risseybug]

Ok, working on my WIP, I ran across something I'd never had to worry about before. My main character finds a journal and reads a few passages from it. But how do I type it up so that it looks different.
I know publishers don't like italics in ms's. So if I indent it all the way down, what else can I do to set it apart from the rest of the ms?
Thanks!

[James D Macdonald]

You could try changing the margins for that section.

But why bother? Set it off with line-breaks and continue.

Later, when the book is being copyedited, the copyeditor will draw a line down the side of the page and write the word "extract" in the margin. That'll tell the typesetter to set that section in whatever the house style is for extracts.

[SRHowen]

I think as an author you can get too caught up in how something in your ms "looks." Do what you have to in order to let the publisher or agent know it is set off from the rest, follow industry standards (when there are some) and move on.

The ms when it becomes a book will look nothing like the ms you submit anyway.

Shawn

[Risseybug]

Thank you. I wasn't worried so much about what it looked like, just wondering if there was a standard I should be following for that sort of passage.

I was just gonna indent it all the same and put in a line break.

[maestrowork]

I usually just set the margins. If it's a short segment I'll underline it. If longer, I'll leave it alone.