Now, strictly
speaking, formatting doesn’t have an effect on whether a publishing house
decides to take on your novel or not. But I’m speaking loosely today.
Submitting an oddly
formatted manuscript is a kind of subconscious first strike against you in the
evaluating process, while the assessor might deny any conscious disapproval.
Let me be clear,
though. I’m not saying that a manuscript in size-eleven font is going to be
thrown directly into the no pile. I’m
not even sure if there is a
physical “no pile” in this digital age.
No, what I’m
warning against is putting your entire book in 18-point font, bolded, and
italicized with you own page numbers, randomly spaced line breaks, and double
spacing your own lines by leaving a blank line between them (as opposed to
using the handy-dandy double space tool… which was made for that).
In case you’re
wondering, yes, I have actually received a manuscript that looked like this.
Still, I didn’t immediately discount it. But did I have a low expectation for
an author who couldn’t even keep a consistent font style throughout the entire
novel? Certainly.
After adjusting
the size, font, and reversing the bolding and italicizes, I finally got the
book to the point where it was at least readable. By this time, I have to admit I was
slightly put out with the author, but I tried my best to go into the story with
an open mind.
It was difficult.
But eventually, I
got past the authors special
pagination, which had sentences cutting off erratically, and was able to glimpse
a pretty good story and fairly capable writing. I couldn’t recommend the author
for traditional publishing, but I suggested the house offer
her one of their other publishing options.
The moral of
this story isn’t that publishers will pick apart books based on their
formatting before considering the actual writing—the truth couldn’t be more
opposite. Publishers are looking first
for potential in debut authors. Although, as an evaluator, I’m asked to consider
the professional nature of the submitted work and, for me, wildly altered documents
factor into that (at least a smidge).
What I want to
impress on you is the importance of keeping the formatting of your manuscripts
standard and simple. Let your words and characters speak for themselves. Don’t
hide them under special fonts and strange page layouts!
The last thing
you want is for an evaluator to have to “get past” your unique idea of a manuscript design in order to unearth your story. Present it to them as a cleanly wrapped gift.
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