{"id":273,"date":"2012-10-11T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2012\/10\/11\/thursdays-tips-formatting\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-formatting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-formatting\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursdays Tips: Formatting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt was such a pleasure to meet some of you at the recent
\nAmerican Christian Fiction Writers\u2019 conference. Whether we met at the
\nconference or not, perhaps you\u2019re gearing up to submit a query through our
\non-line system (the only way to do so). Here\u2019s the main link for submissions to Pelican Book Group: http:\/\/www.pelicanbookgroup.com\/ec\/write-for-us<\/a>.
\nOnce there, choose the imprint you\u2019d like to submit to:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhite Rose Publishing:
\nChristian romance <\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHarbourlight Books: Christian
\nnon-romance<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWatershed Books: Christian
\nyoung adult (YA) fiction <\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen I was first writing full-length manuscripts and getting
\nready to submit them to houses, I wondered how to format them. Back then, there
\nwere few resources for finding out. But here are some tips for you, in case
\nyour editor asks to see your manuscript:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ MARGINS: One-inch margins all around. Also, turn off \u201cwidow\/orphan
\ncontrol\u201d in Word so we truly get that one-inch bottom margin. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ NO TABS: Please do not use tabs (or repeated spaces) anywhere
\nin your manuscript. Instead, for first line indent, highlight the entire
\nmanuscript and find the direction for Indentation: Special: First Line. Now, go
\nback through, highlight scene separators (# or ****) and chapter headings and
\njust pull the top margin marker back to be flush left so the element is truly
\ncentered. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ NO END-OF-LINE HYPHENS: Please allow your word processor to
\ndetermine line length. Do not right justify and do not hit \u201center\u201d or \u201creturn\u201d
\nuntil you\u2019ve reached the end of the paragraph you\u2019re typing (or for chapter headings
\nand scene breaks). Please do not go through and insert end-of-line hyphens on
\nwords. With different formatting, they could end up be-ing off. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ PARAGRAPH SPACING: Normal paragraph spacing involves a
\nblock of text and an \u201center\u201d or \u201creturn\u201d command followed by another block of
\ntext. There should not be an extra space (empty line) between paragraphs. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ END-OF-CHAPTER HARD PAGE BREAK: Immediately at the end of every
\nchapter, insert a hard page break (CTRL+enter in Word on a PC). This will help ensure
\nthe layout stays correct throughout.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ CHAPTER HEADINGS: Begin the chapter heading halfway down a
\nnew page. Use \u201cChapter One\u201d (and so on) for headings. Titles are fine. Just
\ncenter the title below the chapter number. Then, drop down two “returns” and
\nbegin the text. If we contract the title, we\u2019ll change that a bit, but for ease
\nof reviewing, this is a helpful format.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ FONT: Use Times New Roman 12-point font. Exception for me
\nis that while I was reading at conference, Courier New 12-point font was the
\neasiest to read in that condensed amount of time with distractions all around. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ OVERALL SPACING: Set the entire manuscript (by
\nhighlighting all) to double space.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ AFTER PUNCTUATION SPACING: Use one space after punctuation
\nlike periods, colons, question marks, etc. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ QUOTATION MARKS: Insert punctuation before quotation
\nmarks. Use double quotation marks (\u201c or \u201d) for dialogue, or to set information apart
\nthat is not in dialogue. If you\u2019re already in dialogue and need to set
\nsomething apart (an additional quote, for example), use single quotes. Do not
\nuse single quotes outside of dialogue. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ NO BOLD: There should not be any bolded text anywhere in
\nyour fiction manuscript. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ NO UNDERLINING: Fiction manuscripts should be void of
\nunderlining.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ ITALICS: Use italics sparingly. Use it for present-tense
\nintrospection and the occasional emphasized word. That said, it\u2019s best to write
\nthe sentence and surrounding sentences so the reader automatically emphasizes
\nthe key word. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ NO REPEATED WORDS: One of my personal pet peeves is
\nrepeated words within a short span (say, four pages). Use a thesaurus or
\nrework the entire sentence in order to avoid repeated words. Lack of repetition
\nis the sign of a strong writer who has learned to take the time to find those
\nsynonyms that keep the writing fresh.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ AVOID REDUNDANCY: Nearly the same as the previous tip, but
\nthis one involves expressing the same thought in another way. If our heroine
\nhas already ruminated on something once, don\u2019t reword the worry and include it
\nagain and again. Dig deeper and give us something more that relates with the
\nheroine\u2019s angst, or move on with the action.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAll that being said, we know that when you cut and paste
\nyour first chapter into our online system, the formatting will not match these
\nrequirements. However, if we ask you for the full, it\u2019s important that it does. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHaving these elements in place helps us in the review
\nprocess by making our time more efficient. We look forward to seeing your
\nsubmission!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was such a pleasure to meet some of you at the recent American Christian Fiction Writers\u2019 conference. Whether we met at the conference or not, perhaps you\u2019re gearing up to submit a query through our on-line system (the only way to do so). Here\u2019s the main link for submissions to Pelican Book Group: http:\/\/www.pelicanbookgroup.com\/ec\/write-for-us. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[147,148,202,203,138],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-formatting","tag-formatting-manuscripts","tag-links-for-submission","tag-submission-tips","tag-thursdays-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}