doubling spacing in an email?

tko · Oct 9, 2011

How do you double space in an email?

http://www.wsherman.com/submission-guidelines/

For fiction, please include a query letter and your first 10 pages copied and pasted in the body of the email.

Include a double spaced 1st chapter (fiction)
Provide us with your email, phone number, and address

JoyMC · Oct 9, 2011

i usually just paste the chapter in from my Word document and it pastes in double spaced. did that not work for you?

Christyp · Oct 9, 2011

JoyMC said:
i usually just paste the chapter in from my Word document and it pastes in double spaced. did that not work for you?

I can never get the format to stay when I copy and paste. I always end up having to go back and space it myself!

backslashbaby · Oct 9, 2011

Try these key combos after highlighting the pertinent part of the email:

CTRL-1 / CTRL-5 / CTRL-2
Single, 1.5, double line spacing, respectively

tko · Oct 9, 2011

how can you manual double space?

Aren't you doing your email serious harm, because you need hard returns to do double spacing manually?

My MS Word stuff turns out like junk when I cut and paste, formatting I'd long forgotten about gets revealed, sometimes double space goes to quad space, especially if the recipient isn't using HTML. I usually try to "purify" my Word document by sticking into a text file, then pasting back and formatting using HTML.

I didn't know about the CTRL-1 / CTRL-5 / CTRL-2, I'll have to try that.

Christyp said:
I can never get the format to stay when I copy and paste. I always end up having to go back and space it myself!

Susan Coffin · Oct 9, 2011

If your email is rich text format (.rtf), then pasting directly from Word or your word processing program will retain the same formatting as your document. If you email is plain text, everything you past in will be plain text.

Sorin · Oct 9, 2011

I cut and paste from the MS, but I also always send the email to myself first to make sure that the formatting comes through.

JSSchley · Oct 9, 2011

Honestly, I always use double-spaced pages to figure out where to cut my sample, but then send my sample single space, left-aligned, no indent, all special characters removed and with two hard carriage returns at the end of each paragraph. No matter what the agent specifies. I have absolutely no idea what the agent is going to read my pages on, and I know that that formatting will get through and look nice on virtually every email client.

I figure if the agent was really hoping to get double-spaced text in an email (which is a tall order, since people use all sorts of email clients), sending them nice-looking single-spaced text is a very minor query sin. I'd rather commit that sin than send something that ends up getting garbled and makes it difficult to read my sample.

Old Hack · Oct 9, 2011

I agree.

Don't try to make your work double-spaced by manually adding carriage returns at the end of each line: as soon as the window size of that email changes it'll all be out of whack, and it could make it so bad that the agent stops reading it as a result.

Susan Coffin · Oct 10, 2011

JSSchley said:
Honestly, I always use double-spaced pages to figure out where to cut my sample, but then send my sample single space, left-aligned, no indent, all special characters removed and with two hard carriage returns at the end of each paragraph. No matter what the agent specifies. I have absolutely no idea what the agent is going to read my pages on, and I know that that formatting will get through and look nice on virtually every email client.

Yet, if they specify a certain way to send the material, your safest bet is to stick to their guidelines, not do whatever you choose to do.

I figure if the agent was really hoping to get double-spaced text in an email (which is a tall order, since people use all sorts of email clients), sending them nice-looking single-spaced text is a very minor query sin. I'd rather commit that sin than send something that ends up getting garbled and makes it difficult to read my sample.

It's not a tall order, but it sounds to me like you are deliberately ignoring the agent guidelines. Think of it this way: if they ask for something to be emailed double spaced with formatting intact, then they are probably smart enough to have their preferences set in their email client to receive your email all nice and pretty like they asked for it.

JSSchley · Oct 10, 2011

Think of it this way: if they ask for something to be emailed double spaced with formatting intact, then they are probably smart enough to have their preferences set in their email client to receive your email all nice and pretty like they asked for it.

In my experience, actually, this isn't the case. (Not speaking specifically for agents, here, but just general emailing.) A lot of times, people don't realize that the person on the other end might be using an email client that is incompatible with theirs and which won't allow the formatting to be preserved. Especially in office environments where everyone is using Outlook--it's easy to forget that most of the rest of the world doesn't use such a formatting-preserving client. If it's a 50 page sample, that's a different story (and in my admittedly limited experience, they've always requested that as an attachment anyway).

In my case, it's a desire to follow the spirit of the law--"Send me something that looks professional." I would WAY rather have an agent go, "This isn't double-spaced" and make a little face but have a ten-page sample that's easy to read than have them have to struggle through my text because the lines don't flow correctly on their screen. I figure no agent is going to throw me into query jail because I didn't send double-spaced text (and if they do, is that someone I really want to work with?), but someone *might* have a worse impression of my writing if it's hard to read.

I know on which side I want to err.

Susan Coffin · Oct 10, 2011

Jesicca,

It agents don't specify format, then that's one thing. But, when they request something a certain way, even it's triple space with purple wallpaper (okay, this is an exaggeration

), then it is up to us writers to follow their submission guidelines. There is a reason for guidelines.

An example is an agent on my list who I will query. It's an online form with your first so many pages in Times New Roman 18 pt. in PDF. It sounds kind of odd to me, but perhaps this agent can't see real well and prefers large print. I don't know the whole story of why they want things a certain way. However, I will follow their guidelines because they are there for a reason.

Terie · Oct 10, 2011

Susan, the point you don't seem to understand is that asking for an e-mail to be double-spaced is completely and utterly pointless because there's no way to guarantee you'll get what you asked for. So those of us who understand e-mail are trying to point out that the agent is probably NOT asking for the e-mail itself to be double-spaced. E-mail is, quite simply, impossible to control.

I know that there are people here who say you can control it, but they're wrong: you just can't.

Since a picture says a thousand words, here are some. My e-mail client doesn't offer a line-spacing setting, so I composed the following e-mail and manually entered two returns at a place that looked about right:

Here's what the e-mail looked like in the very same e-mail client upon receipt:

And here's what it looked like in my host's web-interface client:

This is why we're saying not to double-space sent mail. If the recipient wants to read it double-spaced, they'll copy-and-paste the material into a word-processing document and reformat it.

This is in no way comparable to the agent who wanted a PDF in TNR 18, because the PDF will look the same to both sender and recipient. E-mail is NOT guaranteed to look right.

Susan Coffin · Oct 11, 2011

Susan, the point you don't seem to understand is that asking for an e-mail to be double-spaced is completely and utterly pointless because there's no way to guarantee you'll get what you asked for. So those of us who understand e-mail are trying to point out that the agent is probably NOT asking for the e-mail itself to be double-spaced. E-mail is, quite simply, impossible to control.

Terrie, I think you're making an assumption that I do understand the point some of you are trying to make and that I do not understand email. Of course, we have no way of controlling how it comes out the other end. To be honest with you, I see few agent guidelines which asked for double-spaced chapters, etc. in the email itself. Therefore, if they do ask for it, then don't we need to at least try to comply? Why would they ask for double space if they didn't really want it?

Since a picture says a thousand words, here are some. My e-mail client doesn't offer a line-spacing setting, so I composed the following e-mail and manually entered two returns at a place that looked about right:

[This is why we're saying not to double-space sent mail. If the recipient wants to read it double-spaced, they'll copy-and-paste the material into a word-processing document and reformat it.

This is in no way comparable to the agent who wanted a PDF in TNR 18, because the PDF will look the same to both sender and recipient. E-mail is NOT guaranteed to look right.

I'm wondering if we there is a communication barrier going on. I never said to manually double-space. That would be silly. I am talking about copy and paste double spaced prose from your word processing program into the email, if that is what they ask for. I can only control what happens from my end, not theirs.

And, PDF does look the same to everyone. I used it as example of a guideline example only.

Terie · Oct 11, 2011

Susan Littlefield said:
I'm wondering if we there is a communication barrier going on. I never said to manually double-space. That would be silly. I am talking about copy and paste double spaced prose from your word processing program into the email, if that is what they ask for. I can only control what happens from my end, not theirs.

And as I said in my post, my e-mail client doesn't offer line-spacing settings. When I copy text, no matter what the original line-spacing, my e-mail clients pastes it as single-spaced. Period. This is true of MANY e-mail clients.

This is why we keep saying that the agent is probably NOT asking for double-spaced e-mail. I'm nearly 100% positive that their designation of 'double-spaced' was relevant to how much of the manuscript to copy, not how to format it in your e-mail client. Because many people simple can't double-space any way other than manually, and manually doesn't work.

Old Hack · Oct 11, 2011

Susan Littlefield said:
if they do ask for [double-spaced work], then don't we need to at least try to comply? Why would they ask for double space if they didn't really want it?

Because when agents ask for "fifty pages, double-spaced" they're asking for the writer to send them the amount of writing which would fill fifty pages when double-spaced.

This isn't the same as "send me your work in a double-spaced email" because, as Terie has so neatly demonstrated, it's impossible to ensure that your work arrives with that agent in the same state that it left you in.

I'm wondering if we there is a communication barrier going on. I never said to manually double-space. That would be silly. I am talking about copy and paste double spaced prose from your word processing program into the email, if that is what they ask for. I can only control what happens from my end, not theirs.

That lack of control over what it looks like when the agent receives your work is the problem, isn't it? As we've already worked out if we cut-and-paste double-spaced text it's not going to look right when the agent receives it. But we can do our best to ensure that it's readable, clean text.

Terie · Oct 11, 2011

You know, I just went to the link in the OP, and guess what? Their e-mail submission guidelines don't say anything about using double-spacing in the e-mail:

E-Mail:

Please send all e-mail submissions to (redacted). We ask that you include your last name, title, and the name of the agent you are submitting to in the subject line. For fiction, please include a query letter and your first 10 pages copied and pasted in the body of the email. We will not open attachments unless they have been requested. For non-fiction, please include your query letter and author bio.

Reading comprehension is critical for writers, especially reading submission guidelines. This entire conversation is essentially moot.

Renee Collins · Oct 11, 2011

Terie said:
This entire conversation is essentially moot.

Not moot! I've found it very interesting.

I've always copied and pasted straight from the word doc, and then put a manual line break inbetween paragraphs. Do you think this creates funky formatting?

Terie · Oct 11, 2011

Renee Collins said:
Not moot! I've found it very interesting.

I've always copied and pasted straight from the word doc, and then put a manual line break inbetween paragraphs. Do you think this creates funky formatting?

No. That's exactly what you should do: copy-and-paste single-spaced with an extra return between paragraphs. (I do all the reformatting in a spare copy of the file in my word processor, then just copy it over into the body of an e-mail.)

What I've been talking about is trying to double-space e-mails...that is, line spacing, not paragraph spacing (Paragraph spacing is what you're talking about.)

One of the really bad things about putting manual breaks within paragraphs to make an appearance of double-spacing is that if it comes out wonky like my screen captures above, the recipient can't easily copy-and-paste the text into a word processing document and reformat it; they'll have to futz around with it, replacing all the extra returns with spaces, and possibly not even being able to tell where real paragraph breaks actually are.

So manually double-spacing an e-mail is neutral at best and has the potential to be very negative.

Which is why I get (admittedly) frustrated when people give bad advice on this subject; I don't want my fellow writers to lose opportunities to make good first impressions.

DeaK · Oct 11, 2011

Terie said:
You know, I just went to the link in the OP, and guess what? Their e-mail submission guidelines don't say anything about using double-spacing in the e-mail:

E-Mail:

Please send all e-mail submissions to (redacted). We ask that you include your last name, title, and the name of the agent you are submitting to in the subject line. For fiction, please include a query letter and your first 10 pages copied and pasted in the body of the email. We will not open attachments unless they have been requested. For non-fiction, please include your query letter and author bio.

Click to expand...

Reading comprehension is critical for writers, especially reading submission guidelines. This entire conversation is essentially moot.

Hmm, below what you quoted on the website it says this:

Guidelines for your query: DO:

Include a double spaced 1st chapter (fiction)

My reading comprehension is pretty okay, but I'm confused by this. Seems they are saying to do two different things: send first 10 pages copy pasted, AND/OR? send first chapter double spaced.

Or are you thinking this is for snail mail, even though the site says they strongly prefer email, and they do not specify that this guideline is for snail mail?

I'm not saying double space manually in the email, but when it says send first chapter double spaced, which obviously has nothing to do with how long the first chapter is... what is a submitter to do?

Terie · Oct 11, 2011

DeaK said:
Hmm, below what you quoted on the website it says this:

My reading comprehension is pretty okay, but I'm confused by this. Seems they are saying to do two different things: send first 10 pages copy pasted, AND/OR? send first chapter double spaced.

Or are you thinking this is for snail mail, even though the site says they strongly prefer email, and they do not specify that this guideline is for snail mail?

I'm not saying double space manually in the email, but when it says send first chapter double spaced, which obviously has nothing to do with how long the first chapter is... what is a submitter to do?

The bottom section is general guidelines for submissions. The upper section contains explicit instructions for e-mail submissions, and nowhere in the e-mail submission instructions does it say anything about line spacing. You might also consider the differences in what they ask for on non-fiction paper subs vs e-subs.

Okay, it would probably be a good idea for them to clarify things. The bottom section is probably old stuff from before they started accepting e-subs, and maybe they just slapped the e-mail instructions at the top without reading the original material to see if it needed tweaking. But I didn't have any trouble parsing out which parts of the e-mail apply to paper subs and which apply to e-subs. Direct, explicit instructions clearly supersede general guidelines; they do to me, anyway.

But it's safe to say that their guidelines do not explicitly say they want double-spaced e-mails.

DeaK · Oct 11, 2011

I think you're right, Terie, and this:

Direct, explicit instructions clearly supersede general guidelines

is a very good point. It's something I'm going to be keeping in mind as I seek out agents – because I know I can get a little frazzled if guidelines aren't super clear (because writers are constantly told that failure to follow the guidelines are reason enough for some agents to reply with a rejection).

Susan Coffin · Oct 11, 2011

Terie said:
And as I said in my post, my e-mail client doesn't offer line-spacing settings. When I copy text, no matter what the original line-spacing, my e-mail clients pastes it as single-spaced. Period. This is true of MANY e-mail clients.

This is why we keep saying that the agent is probably NOT asking for double-spaced e-mail. I'm nearly 100% positive that their designation of 'double-spaced' was relevant to how much of the manuscript to copy, not how to format it in your e-mail client. Because many people simple can't double-space any way other than manually, and manually doesn't work.

So sorry, I missed that part about your email client not allowing double-spacing. It is clear manual does not work at all.

Terie said:
You know, I just went to the link in the OP, and guess what? Their e-mail submission guidelines don't say anything about using double-spacing in the e-mail:

Reading comprehension is critical for writers, especially reading submission guidelines. This entire conversation is essentially moot.

Well, I guess moot is the word.

Renee Collins said:
Not moot! I've found it very interesting.

I've always copied and pasted straight from the word doc, and then put a manual line break inbetween paragraphs. Do you think this creates funky formatting?

I do the same, but without the manual break between paragraphs. Perhaps I should put those in.

Old Hack · Oct 11, 2011

This thread is an excellent example of how we writers get all tangled up about stuff that isn't that important.

Write a really good book; write a really good query; send it out to the very best agents you can find who are interested in your genre. Follow their guidelines as closely as you can but if you can't do it exactly as they say then don't worry too much: they're not going to reject you for it and if they do, you probably wouldn't have wanted to work with them anyway.

An agent asks you for the first three chapters or fifty pages, but your three chapters come to 48 or 54 pages? No problem, send them the full chapters.

An agent asks you for a three-page synopsis but you only have a two-page one and don't have time to write a new one? Send them the two-pager.

An agent asks you to paste your work into the body of the email but you can't work out how to double-space it reliably there? No problem, just do the best you can to make it clear and readable and consistent.

The quality of your book is the most important thing. If that's there they'll forgive you the line-spacing in your email.

JSSchley · Oct 11, 2011

All of this. If there's one thing I've learned from lurking/posting on AW for eighteen months before starting to send out queries, it's to focus on the forest and not get lost in the trees.

doubling spacing in an email?

just thanks fore everything

Lizard Lady

~~~~*~~~~

just thanks fore everything

Tell it like it Is

Rollin' up my sleeves

Have Harp Will Travel

Such a nasty woman

Tell it like it Is

Have Harp Will Travel

Tell it like it Is

Writer is as Writer does

Tell it like it Is

Writer is as Writer does

Such a nasty woman

Writer is as Writer does

Plotting . . .

Writer is as Writer does

Writer is as Writer does

Tell it like it Is

Such a nasty woman

Have Harp Will Travel

*