Ridiculously stupid question: When they say "First Ten Pages..."

Not stupid! Worth checking!

Yes, first ten as formatted in MS format (DS, TNR, 12 pt), but leave out the title page and such if you have one.

They won't notice small stuff like that

I put my em dashes with no space (although that is counter to British English) and do add a space after ellipses. Oxford comma is a style choice (and also a hill I will die on...)

I think most of these things are style choices, and being consistent with them is the main thing.

I space around ellipses too, but not for the quote mark like above example.

Search and Find can help you quickly go to the ellipses and em dashes if you decide to edit them.

Best of luck!

You can do that (or use no spaces before or after--as long as you're consistent. Same goes for em dashes. And OT: curly or straight quotation marks.

Trade publishing uses Chicago, not AP, but agents won't care about that. (I'm a production editor at a publishing company. We're the ones who care, but we're several steps past your book already being acquired ) Just make it readable and you'll be fine

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

The key is to be consistent. Which you use doesn't matter at the query point.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Not a stupid question, one of my fastest form rejections (like an hour later) was when I crammed 10 pages in single spaced (I wasn't trying to bend the rules, I made a genuine error from basic cluelessness). I console myself with the fact that it was the spacing and not the writing that she objected to so quickly

JUST asked this very question myself! Got a reply straight from an agent on Twitter:

"2spaced Times 12 (or other reasonable font at a reasonable size). Give us a good sample of your book but don't make us strain our eyes plz! "

Patty said:

I'm putting spaces before and after my ellipses, but when they are at the end of a quoted piece of dialog it looks wrong to me. Ah well.

"I'd like to go ... "

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Better would be:

"I'd like to go . . . "

And be aware that if you are using this form of punctuation for the end of a a trailing-off sentence, the convention is four periods:

The dog exploded. . . .

But Harlequin is right. Little stuff like the presence or absence of an Oxford comma isn't going to be a determining factor in consideration of a manuscript. Lots of typos/misspellings and bad grammar might be.

caw

Step back from obsessing on punctuation. So long as the basics for commas, quotes, and periods are in place, you're fine. Agents know that not everyone has the rules on ellipses and em-dashes. They are agents, not 5th grade English teachers. Messing up on one or the other won't get your work rejected.

They want a look at your writing. Ten standard manuscript pages--what you'd send to any publisher--tells them what they need know.

I'm not saying it's okay to be sloppy, but focus on what's really important. Don't give yourself excuses to not send things out. This info is readily available on the 'Net. Use your common sense.

Get your words together, make sure they kick arse, and send them out to conquer. Be working on the next batch so your head doesn't explode during the wait.

Patty said:

If an agent specifies that authors query including the first ten pages of the ms, are those pages double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point?

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Yep. Formatted just as if they were in a manuscript or something.

Patty said:

OK Thanks.

What about -

Chicago vs. AP style manual? Is there a preference for one or the other?

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Nope. Just do things as consistently as you can.

I'm specifically thinking about (1) the oxford comma, and (2) spacing before/after/within ellipses, and (2.5) maybe m dashes (which my processor only makes when I include spaces but it looks like those spaces aren't proper and I need to find a way to remove them all.)

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Either use the Oxford comma throughout, or don't. Pick one or the other. The same with your ellipses, and your em-dashes. Consistency is key here. And stop worrying about such small things: while it's important to get things as right as you can, the words are the most important part.

lolly334 said:

Trade publishing uses Chicago, not AP, but agents won't care about that. (I'm a production editor at a publishing company. We're the ones who care, but we're several steps past your book already being acquired ) Just make it readable and you'll be fine

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Some do, some don't. I've worked for imprints that use both.

blacbird said:

Better would be:

"I'd like to go . . . "

And be aware that if you are using this form of punctuation for the end of a a trailing-off sentence, the convention is four periods:

The dog exploded. . . .

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Not always, blac. Many imprints don't use spaces between the dots, or terminal punctuation of ellipses.

I am a fan of the oxford commas in short lists, but not sentences that read like sequential orders of events.

I am no grammarian though. Go with what feels right and/or what a proofreader says if you have one and dont stress.

Old Hack said:

]\
Not always, blac. Many imprints don't use spaces between the dots, or terminal punctuation of ellipses.

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The published imprints might not use them, but it is pretty bog-standard in a manuscript. Just for readability. But, again, this is a minor thing, not likely to present any problem.

caw

blacbird said:

The published imprints might not use them, but it is pretty bog-standard in a manuscript. Just for readability. But, again, this is a minor thing, not likely to present any problem.

caw

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In my experience, it's not.

Having read that a standard 'page' is 250 words, I take 10 pages to be 2500 words, to the nearest scene end (rounded down). Or 5 pages = 1250 words, etc. Since most agents I've queried ask me to paste the words in the body of the email, actual pages are pretty meaningless.