When you need to send your manuscript for review, to an agent, or a publisher, you want to have a professionally formatting manuscript. What does that mean? Today we will talk about formatting a document for review.

Use a Document Format

It should go without saying, but in our modern world, we need to say these things... Use a document format! When you save a computer file, the computer gives it an 'extension' that tells the computer how to handle that file. The file types, themselves, also contain information like fonts, formatting, characters, etc. When saving a document, you will have the option of what type of file you want to use. Most applications will default to a specific type. My preferred application for writing is LibreOffice, which defaults to the .odt document type. Microsoft Office defaults to the .docx type. Either of these are good for submitting your manuscript. Always look for submission guidelines and follow that.

If you are using a cloud-based word processor like Office365 or Google Docs, you will need to export the file from the menu. Use one of the two file types unless your submission guidelines say otherwise.

Do not use .txt or .rtf file formats for submitting manuscripts unless specifically instructed to do so. These types strip out formatting styles you may want to retain in your document.

For more information on making LibreOffice more compatible with your colleagues or reviewers using Microsoft Office, watch our compatibility video.

Avoid 'Cute' Fonts

You may be tempted to put in a cute font you found online, but don't do this! You want to make an impression with your work, but you don't want to create a distraction. Additionally, when you use a font that is not on the recipient's computer, their software will make a substitution and that make your document look unprofessional on their computer screen even if it looked perfect on your screen.

Stick with the fonts that are the default for your word processor. If in doubt with those, go with a safe and sanitary font like Times New Roman, Arial, or Georgia, as nearly every computer has those fonts or an acceptable alternative installed.

Use Basic Document Structure

Your document should be well-structured. All major word processors make good and easy use of document styles. In this case, we will be mostly talking about header structures. The title of your manuscript use with the Title style, each chapter should be a Heading1, sections and subsections are Heading2, Heading3, etc. Watch our Introduction to LibreOffice video for tips on basic styling.

Do not use Bold to indicate chapters or headings, as those inline styles could be stripped away by your reviewers software, making the document much harder to read. Stick with headers to be safe.

Use Proper Text Structure

Just like using headers is important, it is also important to consider the body of the text. Many people are tempted to hit extra spaces or the enter key a few times to make the document 'look' better. Do not ever do this. Five spaces is not the same as a Tab and two enter keys is not the proper way to put space between documents. Your manuscript should contain only the visible characters and the natural spaces required to type the text. Anything else you place in the document will probably hurt yoru manuscript's consideration because firstly, those extra spaces may show up on the reviewer's screen. Secondly, when your book is finally formatting for printing, all those extra marks will have to be removed. If any are missed, it will result in errors in the text of your book.

Basic rule of thumb: Never hit random keys to 'make' your document 'look' good on your screen. If you want to fix what it looks like, edit the styles. You can learn more about editing styles in our guide to LibreOffice Styles.

Don't Attempt to 'Format' Your Book

The review stage is not a time to cast the vision for your interior design. That comes later. Right now we are concerned with making a good first impression on your decision makers. They will not be impressed if you attempt to format your manuscript to make it look like a book. They want to have a reliable and predictable format to review. Just stick with the basics we mentioned here: document file type, boring fonts, and well-structured text. That is the best impression you can make.