THE ICE PICK

Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript, by Cynthia Laufenberg & the Editors of Writer’s Digest Books. 2nd ed. Cincinnati, Writer’s Digest Books, 2004. 282 p. $19.99. Includes: index and sample submission forms, letters, manuscripts, outlines, proposals, synopses, etc. ISBN: 1-58297-290-7.

Are you struggling with decisions like the preferred margin size and line spacing for your short story; which pages to number or what font to use for your novel; where to put paging, word count, contact information, and the title of your article; or what you should include and/or exclude with your submission? Are you uncertain how far down on the page a new chapter should start, whether a short story should have a separate title page, or if you should fax a query to an editor?

If you want to know the correct way to format and submit your work, this book will show you how. It includes short stories, novels and nonfiction books, children’s books (including picture books), articles, poetry, scripts, essays, and even greeting cards, fillers, columns, op-eds, radio and television commentaries. If you need to know how to set up a query, a cover or follow-up letter, a proposal, a title page, a sidebar, an outline or a synopsis, you can find the answers here along with mistakes to avoid.

"Why is proper formatting so important when sending a submission?" Because you are competing with so many other authors, and "proper formatting helps you to distinguish yourself as a professional" and get your work read and accepted.

Bearing in mind "that the examples presented here are only models and are not set in stone," these guidelines can allow you to stop worrying about mechanics and concentrate on your work.

You may still run into questions this book cannot answer, and you must always prefer the publisher’s guidelines if they differ from what is stated here, but this book can provide you with a standard formatting, that you can have confidence in and that can give you a starting point from which to handle any exotic formatting problems.

Should you buy the new edition if you already have the first?

The new edition omits some samples, e.g. the shorter query letter for a short story, but includes more samples on mistakes to avoid, as well as information on faxing and electronic querying and submissions.

Errors and conflicts in the first edition have been corrected. For example, in the first edition you were instructed on one page to use third person in novel synopses even if the book was in first person (correct) and on another page to use first person even if the book was in third (incorrect). They’ve straightened that out. And the book’s organization has been improved, along with more "Submission Tips," "Formatting Specs," and "Other Dos and Don’ts" for things like epigraphs and title and acknowledgment pages.

If you are serious about wanting to submit and sell your work, and especially if you don’t have the first edition, you definitely should have this book on your shelf.

Very highly recommended.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Aug. 2004.}