format – Jill French

Read time: 3 mins

Once your first draft is done, and you have taken a well-earned break, the manuscript will need some more work. You may make further drafts and do some self-editing. Then could be when you feel it is ready for someone else to read. If your presentation lacks uniformity, you should consider resolving this before anyone else reads it. This standardisation will reduce the reader being distracted from the meaning of the words.

Who will the next reader be?

Who you choose to read through your manuscript could be a family member, a beta reader, a friend, a publisher, an agent or any combination of these. Maybe you will decide to collaborate with a professional editor, as you could feel that the writing would benefit from their expertise and fresh eyes. Whoever you present your writing to, you will want them to form an opinion and probably offer some feedback, advice and their suggestions for improvement.

Why good presentation matters

How your manuscript looks to a reader will make an impression, favourable or otherwise. Clear writing will take the reader less time to read. This would be desirable even if they were family, but if they’re an editorial professional, a difficult-to-read manuscript could end up costing you more in their time. Presenting your manuscript well will reflect how seriously you take your writing and how well you respect their time.

How to set out writing clearly

Some agents and publishers offer authors a predetermined style, in the form of submission guidelines or author guidelines. Experienced authors may have a style or convention they like to follow for all their writing as their own preferences or guidelines.

If you do not have a documented format that your manuscript should follow, there is flexibility, but aim to be consistent. As a general guide, the following choices will present a clear, readable manuscript:

Use a title page (unnumbered)
Begin numbering on the first page of the text
Typeface: keep to one font throughout and use a commonly available one such as 12 point, regular (not bold in text), Times New Roman, Black
Margins 1 to 1.5 inches all round
Each chapter on a fresh page, following a page break (not multiple spaces down to the start of the new page)
Line spacing 1.5 or double-spaced
Align left (also called ragged right)
Only one space between sentences
Do not use tabs (use Word Styles with indents of five spaces for each new paragraph)

Care with formatting your manuscript will make your work easier to assess and eventually to typeset. This level of presentation will help with reader experience, and reduce distraction from the message of your writing.

By doing this, you will come across as having a professional attitude to your writing and help everyone concentrate on what you have written rather than how you have written it.

The final arbiter is you

The more people you get to read your manuscript, the more opinions and suggestions you will collect. Once two readers have seen your manuscript, but be prepared for them not to agree on everything. Professional editors are likely to back up their suggestions with reasoned explanations, but on reviewing their edits, if you feel that you need more explanation or are unclear, you should ask for clarification. Whoever you get to check your writing before it moves to the next stage, always remember that you will be the one attaching your name to it and as author you are the final arbiter.

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

To let me know about your fiction or creative nonfiction writing do get in touch, perhaps we can collaborate.

Read time: 3 mins

Often writers will ask me variations of the question ‘how many words make a proper book?’ This question suggests the questioner is probably a new writer. They may not have spent long looking at the types of books they are writing or aspire to write.

As with many questions about writing, my immediate thought is, it will depend. Although some will say that a creative should let their writing flow and produce the manuscript which tells their story and writing should not be constrained by a set word count, this is not going to help a new writer. In the early stage of getting a first draft written, flowing creativity is most helpful and story is paramount. The beginning, middle and the end need to be crafted. At some point in the writing process, perhaps still at first draft or when self-editing and editing, manuscript length is worth considering.

When does it NOT matter how long a book is?

When the words are precisely as the author wants and the intention is to self-publish, the word count does not matter. Some books may be made in this way, for example, where a poet has invested a great deal of time crafting their lines and verses and has a group of themed poems to go into a volume. The author is the final arbiter and if this is their process the reader could be presented with any word count in a book. Once an author has become established and has a loyal following, they can be less concerned about the word count of their manuscripts.

When DOES it matter how long a book is?

With digital publishing, typesetting constraints are not what they once were, but physical books still have the same issues.

Picture books are typically thirty-two pages long, as they need to be in page count multiples of eight. The words need to fit within this construction.

Most books are not tied to a fixed page count, and equally, most are not entirely free from an expected word count norm.

At any stage in the writing and publication process, the word count of a manuscript comes with implications.

Getting it written – if you know the word count you are aiming to write for a project (whether book, blog post or article) you can use it as a gauge for how far remains to completion. The word count can be helpful to break the writing down into chunks which are more manageable to consider as chapters, scenes or acts to help bring a balance or pace to the narrative. Grouping word counts within a long-form manuscript can help outline and plan.

Managing the project – word count can be used to monitor progress. Awareness of word count helps with scheduling dependent activities such as self-editing, copyediting, proofreading, beta readers, publication and marketing.

Meeting genre expectations – book genres come with standards for the number of words they require, which is based on traditional publishing. Staying within the recognised word count appropriate to the genre will prevent frustrating the expectations of others.

Word count will have a bearing on editing and proofreading costs; production costs and perceptions of value. Books which seem short may appear as poor value for money, and books that are longer than readers expect may be perceived as drawn out or demanding.

What are standard traditional publishing wordcount guidelines?

These are benchmark word counts and come from various sources including Hill (2016), and the Writers and Artists Yearbook (2020):

Children’s Picture Books: up to 500 (absolute maximum 1,000)

Short Stories: 1,000 to 8,000

Children’s Chapter Books: 6,000 to 10,000

Novellas: 20,000 to 50,000 (some recommend a maximum of 40,000)

Novels: between 40,000 and 100,000 but typically 90,000

Young Adult: 50,000 to 80,000

New Adult Novel: 60,000 to 85,000

Horror, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller: 70,000 to 90,000

Mainstream Romance: 70,000 to 100,000

Literary Fiction: 80,000 to 110,000

Women’s Fiction: 80,000 to 110,000

Crime: 90,000 to 100,000

Science Fiction: 90,000 to 125,000

For a new writer, it is advisable to keep within word count guidelines as it is less likely to succeed as an exception than by conforming, although there will always be some exceptions.

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

To see how I can help with your fiction or creative nonfiction do get in touch.

Resources:

Hill, B. (2016). The Magic of Fiction: Crafting Words into Story: The Writer’s Guide to Writing and Editing. Atlanta: Title Page Books

Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook (2020). Writer’s and Artist Yearbook 2020 113^th ed. London Bloomsbury Yearbooks