What is Standard Manuscript Format?

As writers we hear these words often but what exactly does that mean? SMF or Standard Manuscript Format is a standardized way to submit your work to an editor or publisher. If you do not use SMF you look like an amateur and chances are your work will not be read.

Sounds pretty important, doesn’t it? It is! Editors and publishers are very busy people that look at hundreds of submissions a week! The goal of a submission is to get the attention of these people and hopefully get published. SMF makes their job easier and shows them that you actually know what you’re doing.

So how do you format your story in SMF? It’s actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it. There are always some different opinions and editors do have the option to create their own SMF. If they do they will include it in their submission guidelines. Always read everything completely!

Here are some basic rules that you want to follow:
1) ALWAYS use a high quality paper and be careful to use ONLY white paper. You not only want to get attention you want to look professional. Neon Pink will get you noticed but chances are it’s not going to get you read. Also make sure that you have enough ink and use ONLY black. You want your words to stand out crisp and clear on the paper.

2) You want to use 12 point Courier ONLY! The goal in fonts is to mimic the old typewriter. The key is spacing. Courier is a monospaced font. That is a font where the letters are all the same width. This ensures proper word count and spacing. Believe it or not editors can look at a submission in SMF and tell you exactly how much space it’s going to take. Remember, your goal here is to make it easier for the editor or publisher to review your work.

3) You want to set up your margins with 1” top and bottom and 1.25” on left and right. Why so big? This gives the editor room to make notes in the margins. Usually these notes are for you so give him enough room to write.

4) Start your first page with your first and last name; street address; city, state and zip; phone number; email address on the top of the left corner. Use single spacing and align left.

5) Put your approximate word count on the right side of the page across from your name. DO NOT write the words approximate or about; simply put word count then the number. The editor already knows it’s an approximation. Also you should feel free to round the word count to the nearest hundred.

6) Your last name (from your byline see below), keyword and page number will go on each page in the upper right hand corner.
7) Now you want to space down to almost the center of the page. This will leave a big blank between your name and the start of your story. So much unused space! This is again for the editor. This is where he will make notes for himself and his staff.

8) In the center of your page you want to put the title of your story. You can type it in caps if you wish. Do NOT use bold at all in your submission. Why? Spacing bold text will mess badly with your spacing.

9) After your title you will want to double space down and put your name. This is where you will put your pen name if you use one. Credit for the story will be given to the name under the title; the check to the name in the corner. EVEN if it’s the same name it must be put on the submission!

10) Triple space and begin your story. What follows now are the rules for the body of your submission: a) Use double space throughout the body of your story. b) Indents should be 5 spaces. c) Align your text to the left. d) You never want to hyphenate unless the word is mean to be. Long words should be dropped to the next line. e) Add two spaces after all punctuation and colons. f) Underline words that you intend to put in italics. g) Use two hyphens with no spaces between them and the words to represent em or en dashes. h) For line breaks you will use the # character centered on a line alone. It should have a blank line above and below. i) Separate cover pages are used ONLY for novels. j) Footnotes if used should be on a separate piece of paper. Corresponding numbers typed into the document, after punctuation, where it applies. k) Do not send photos. l) DO NOT send your only copy!!! m) At the end of your story double space down and type <end> centered on the line.

I know that this must all sound confusing. I know it did to me when I first saw it. Below are some links to some authors who have down what I have only in formation. Once you SEE it you will have a better understanding of SMF.

http://www.marketsavvybookediting.com/biggestproblem.pdf
http://www.shunn.net/writing/coach/format.html
http://www.speculations.com/format.htm