Question about Submission Requirements (email query title, line spacing, etc.)

I think it's easier to read the pages if they're double spaced. And I'd skip the title page since contact information and the title of the book are available in your email.

There's not a whole lot of consensus and standards as far as email/text submission is concerned... at least I don't think. If you have a question, probably the best thing is to ask the agent directly.

Here's what I would do, though:

- skip the title page. Put your info in the email/query instead. The whole thing is going to be in one email message, so there's no need for a "title page."

- double spaced with hard-returns, it's easier to read that way. Otherwise, you need to have a blank line between paragraphs, or else it's extremely unpleasant to read.

- turn all italics to _something like this_.

- do not format the text using the HTML editor of your email client. You have no idea what client the agent uses, and the HTML formatting may not work. Plain text is the best.

- left-justify

- just keep your text clean and readable. That's the most important thing

I agree with what maestrowork said. I tend to go single-spaced, with a font change (to Courier) from the other portion of the email, with blank lines between paragraphs, if the sample is fairly long, double-spaced only if it's short. So far, nobody's complained.

Maryn, who's got Ray's back

I think it should remain double spaced because they ARE going to be reading it and they still need something that's easy on the eyes, even if it's only 5 pages.
but check their site and see if they have the requirements.

"Easy on the eyes" to me means single-spaced and definitely not Courier -- but if I knew that an an agent wanted that I would do it. The main thing is, you don't know whether they are using an e-mail client you never heard of (I do) or webmail or what, so the less formatting the better. It is impossible to double-space plain text e-mail.

You're safest pasting into the email from an .rtf document. And I echo the "double-spaced" suggestions. TNR or Courier seem to be the usual "okay" fonts.

I've been using my computer for five or six years now and am always amazed at new things popping up!
.rtf ??????
What on earth is that, I asked myself when my publisher said he couldn't read the .wps file I sent him.
So, okay, I can be a bit dense. Thank goodness VISTA comes with Wordpad which I discovered, creates .rtf files.
So now, I write the document in .wps with all the great editting and shortcut tools - then copy and paste into Wordpad to get the file for submission.

Every day I check through writing forums I learn something new!!!!!

.rtf, in case you didn't discover this already, stands for Rich Text Format. It's readable by many different word processors, but unlike plaintext, allows for underlining, italics and so on. It's not bombproof but it's a decent enough format.

lvcabbie said:

I've been using my computer for five or six years now and am always amazed at new things popping up!
.rtf ??????
What on earth is that, I asked myself when my publisher said he couldn't read the .wps file I sent him.
So, okay, I can be a bit dense. Thank goodness VISTA comes with Wordpad which I discovered, creates .rtf files.
So now, I write the document in .wps with all the great editting and shortcut tools - then copy and paste into Wordpad to get the file for submission.

Every day I check through writing forums I learn something new!!!!!

Click to expand...

Actually WordPerfect should be able to save as RTF files. You don't have to use WordPad.

Actually WordPerfect should be able to save as RTF files. You don't have to use WordPad.

I'd give my right arm to figure out how to do that!

http://www.noblesoftwaresolutions.com/Tips_And_Tricks/Email/Word_And_WordPerfect_Emails.htm

Not being in need of a third arm, I request you mail your right arm to the charity of your choice.