Formatting "Part 1," Part 2," etc.

Sage · Mar 5, 2014

Pretty minor thing, I know, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. If your book is separated into (4) different parts, with multiple chapters within, how do you format the Part chapters for submission? Often in books, I see Part titles given their own page, so my instinct is to do so, but this is merely a submission, so it might be more prudent to make it like a chapter heading with a just a few spaces after it before the chapter heading.

Currently I have it with "Part #" like the chapter heading, but centered, and then a few spaces down, I have "Chapter #" justified left. But then I wondered if there was standard formatting for this.

Or maybe it just really doesn't matter

Sapphire135 · Mar 5, 2014

Sage said:
Pretty minor thing, I know, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. If your book is separated into (4) different parts, with multiple chapters within, how do you format the Part chapters for submission? Often in books, I see Part titles given their own page, so my instinct is to do so, but this is merely a submission, so it might be more prudent to make it like a chapter heading with a just a few spaces after it before the chapter heading.

Currently I have it with "Part #" like the chapter heading, but centered, and then a few spaces down, I have "Chapter #" justified left. But then I wondered if there was standard formatting for this.

Or maybe it just really doesn't matter

I am no expert, but my book is in parts and each part and the title to that part was on an individual page. I had a really good response to my submissions, so I don't think it hurt me at all. But I don't know if they would have preferred it to be in another format. However, I will say, that when I submitted queries that asked for the first few chapters in the body of the email, I didn't include a title page or the Part One page; I just started right in with the first chapter.

Just my own personal experience

mayqueen · Mar 5, 2014

I don't know if there's a standard way to do it, but I have "Part One: [Title]" left-justified over "Chapter One", etc, in the ms I'm querying. Not sure if that's current or not.

Old Hack · Mar 5, 2014

It's fine to have a full page dedicated to telling your reader that they're now entering Part One, Part Two, and so on.

It's equally fine having the heading Part One at the top of the page and a few lines down, Chapter One.

So long as you're consistent and clear, you're good.

Siri Kirpal · Mar 5, 2014

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Also, the chapters are usually numbered sequentially without regard to which part they're in. I made the mistake of numbering them from 1-[whichever] starting new in each part. That's not the way it's usually done.

Hope that was clear.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Sage · Mar 5, 2014

Old Hack said:
So long as you're consistent and clear, you're good.

That's what I figured, but I thought that just in case there was some sort of "official" formatting, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Siri Kirpal said:
Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Also, the chapters are usually numbered sequentially without regard to which part they're in. I made the mistake of numbering them from 1-[whichever] starting new in each part. That's not the way it's usually done.

Hope that was clear.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

This one I did know, and since the chapters were all numbered before I made the part break-up, this is easy.

Thanks, everyone!

Tazlima · Mar 5, 2014

Siri Kirpal said:
Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Also, the chapters are usually numbered sequentially without regard to which part they're in. I made the mistake of numbering them from 1-[whichever] starting new in each part. That's not the way it's usually done.

Hope that was clear.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Eeep! I didn't know this!

*Tiptoes away to correct manuscript.*

Formatting "Part 1," Part 2," etc.

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

Sapphire135

mayqueen

practical experience, FTW

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

Tazlima