Pasting a Manuscript in the Email

I presume from that description that they want it formatted like a manuscript, just not as an attached file? Probably the safest assumption anyway.

I just copy from the manuscript (which is already in manuscript format, 12 pt Times New Roman, double spaced), ten manuscript pages, and paste into the email. It generally stays formatted the same as in the document, although it can get quirky across some email platforms, which is out of your control. If they ask for 10 pages, they want 10 double-spaced pages.

theWallflower said:

When an agent says "Please paste the first 10 pages of the manuscript in the email. No attachments please", do they want it formatted like a manuscript (double-spaced, underline instead of italics, etc.) or formatted like an email (italics, single spaced)? And if it's the latter, do they mean the first 10 pages as if the manuscript was formatted for email or formatted for manuscript?

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My understanding:

A "page" is whatever would fit on a physical letter-sized piece of paper in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with one inch margins. Word count is of course going to depend on paragraph breaks and dialogue, but for my stuff, a page is 300-350 words. So for 10 pages, figure 3,000 - 3,500. Break in a place that's logical - a scene or chapter break is best if you can, but otherwise the end of a paragraph.

Email formatting is widely variable, and often mucked up on the other end depending on what email client they use. I go with the formatting QueryManager suggests, even when I'm not in QueryManager: single-spaced with a space between paragraphs, in plain text.

Do, of course, read specific agency guidelines before you send.

Would first E-mailing it to yourself show you how it would come out?

If it's in the body of the e-mail am I right in thinking there won't be any indenting?

Bufty said:

Would first E-mailing it to yourself show you how it would come out?

If it's in the body of the e-mail am I right in thinking there won't be any indenting?

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It depends entirely on the email clients in question.

When I first queried back in 2013, I emailed myself a bunch of stuff on accounts I had on gmail, in Outlook, and in Mac Mail. Preserving formatting was nearly impossible, and it was inconsistent. I drove myself crazy over it.

Now? I format as the agency specifies if I can, but most of them will just say "paste the first 10 pages into the email after the query" so I make sure it's clearly delineated and readable, and don't worry past that. There may be agencies who will reject at a glance if they feel it's formatted wrong, but I find it hard to believe any serious agent would read the query, be intrigued, and then think "Oh! Wrong spacing. Too bad; sounded interesting" and not scan the pages at all.

And maybe I'm wrong! But I've had some requests, so if I'm wrong I'm not wrong about everybody.

Why in this day and age are some agents still not taking attachments for samples? Are they afraid of a virus? If they have antivirus then they'll be fine if that's the reason.

Anyway, just paste it and don't worry about formatting. They know that formatting will be erased in email.

cool pop said:

Why in this day and age are some agents still not taking attachments for samples? Are they afraid of a virus? If they have antivirus then they'll be fine if that's the reason.

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I imagine having samples pasted in the body of the email makes it easier to read quickly. Opening files doesn't take a long time, but it does take some time, and those seconds could add up when you're looking at hundreds of queries with sample pages.

When pasting material into the email, I remove all formatting and use single spacing with a line between paragraphs. I think it produces more reliable results than trying to keep everything in manuscript format. Agents and publishers don't seem to mind, in my experience, and most don't state a preference for formatting material pasted into the email. I always use standard manuscript format for attachments.

cool pop said:

Why in this day and age are some agents still not taking attachments for samples? Are they afraid of a virus? If they have antivirus then they'll be fine if that's the reason.

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Former slush reader here.

Because it takes time to click and wait for the file to open. They're getting 20-50 submissions per day and always have a huge backlog of 100s more. Scrolling through the cover letter and straight into the MS shaves a few seconds off the process.

If the writing is good, then the format doesn't matter. They'll have seen everything.