Publishing Your Book essay

Once you've written your novel, the process of getting it published begins. Since you would like to give your manuscript in a format that is acceptable to the publisher you should know and fulfill the basic requirements, so that the publisher's attention is not diverted from the content to the nitty-gritty of formatting and publishing.

As for the length of your first novel, the rule of the thumb is to keep it short, say, between 60,000 and 120,000 words, a fairly standard size. You can make it even shorter if your target readers are younger. If you are not going through an agent, you should look at other things the publisher has published to get an idea of what kinds of word counts they like to accept.

You will need to format the manuscript in a word processing document. Even if you are more comfortable typing on a typewriter, you must get your manuscript typed on a computer. It looks more professional and, in any case, you might need to send it via email. If you do not have a computer of your own, you can pay someone to type up your manuscript for you.

The manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman or Courier font in twelve point font size. The text should be double spaced throughout the text. The title page should include your contact information in the bottom right hand corner, including name, address, and email address. If you have an agent, then your contact information will be in the top left hand corner and your agent's contact information will go in the bottom left corner.

The title of the manuscript should be typed in all capital letters and placed in the center of your title page.

The following pages will include the page number in the top right hand corner as well as your name and title in all capitals, separated by a backslash in the upper left hand corners.

The chapter titles will be in all capital letters about a third of the way down the page, skipping four lines, and then proceeding to the text.

It's important to indent new paragraphs and dialogue with either the TAB key or with five spaces.

Be sure to have your document be edited by a professional copyeditor or yourself. You'll want to print the document out and read it word by word. It's amazing what can be missed when the document is on the computer screen.

A thorough editing job should make your document free of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Otherwise, your agent or publisher might think that you are not professional or committed to the manuscript. These apparently simple
errors can ruin your manuscript.

You have to comply with the industry standards to create a professional manuscript even if you have to spend a lot of time doing it. If you present something flashy, it will attract more annoyance than attention of the reader.

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