How to Format Your Manuscript for Professional Editing

A manuscript prepared for editing is not supposed to look like a finished book. You don’t need beautiful chapter headings, perfectly positioned text, decorative fonts, designed headers and footers, or carefully arranged pages.

In fact, most of that can make the editing and production process more difficult.

The goal at this stage is simple: give your editor a clean, consistent, easy-to-read manuscript that can be edited efficiently.

How should you actually format a manuscript before sending it to an editor?

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), one of the publishing industry’s most widely used editorial references, provides manuscript-preparation guidance that offers a strong model for authors. But it’s important to understand that these are professional conventions, not universal submission rules. Individual editors, publishers, and publishing services may have their own requirements, and those instructions should always take precedence. Before you send off that Word document, here’s how to get it ready.

Use a Simple, Readable Font

Your manuscript isn’t the place to experiment with typography.

Chicago identifies 12-point type as the publishing industry standard and notes that a serif font such as Times New Roman is a standard choice for manuscript submissions. CMOS itself doesn’t require one particular font, so the important thing is readability and consistency.

Unless an editor gives you different instructions, a safe choice is 12-point Times New Roman.

That doesn’t mean your finished book will use Times New Roman. The font used in the published book is a design decision that comes later during interior layout.

Right now, your editor needs to read and work with the words.

Double-Space the Manuscript

Chicago’s manuscript guidance calls for double-spacing throughout the manuscript.

And “throughout” really does mean throughout.

That includes regular paragraphs, block quotations, notes, and other manuscript text. Editing today happens electronically with tools such as Microsoft Word’s Track Changes and comments; the extra spacing still makes a manuscript easier to review and keeps it consistent with traditional professional manuscript preparation.

Don’t worry that a double-spaced manuscript suddenly seems enormous. You aren’t looking at your future book page count. You’re looking at a working document.

Use One-Inch Margins

One-inch margins on all sides are another standard manuscript convention recommended by Chicago. Your manuscript’s margins have nothing to do with the margins your finished book will eventually have.

An editor is working with a manuscript, not a typeset book.

That distinction will come up a lot because one of the biggest mistakes authors make is trying to complete the interior design before the manuscript has finished going through editing.

Format Paragraphs Consistently

For normal prose, indent the first line of each new paragraph rather than placing extra blank space between paragraphs.

Chicago recommends first-line paragraph indents and no additional spacing between ordinary paragraphs. It also recommends using a single space between sentences rather than the two spaces many of us were originally taught to type. Most importantly, make those paragraph indents with your word processor’s paragraph settings rather than repeatedly hitting the space bar.

The cleaner the underlying document formatting is, the easier that manuscript will be to work with later.

Do Not Try to Make Your Manuscript Look Like a Book

This may be the most important advice in this entire article.

Your manuscript is not your interior layout.

The University of Chicago Press specifically advises authors to keep electronic manuscript formatting simple because the finished book will later receive a professional design. Extra formatting added by the author may ultimately have to be removed before typesetting can begin. You generally don’t need to:

• match the page size to your desired trim size
• choose the fonts for the finished book
• create decorative chapter headings
• force chapters to begin on right-hand pages
• manually position text on pages
• create running headers and footers
• add ornamental page elements
• insert blank lines until text lands where you want it
• use multiple spaces or tabs to position text
• adjust individual pages to make them “look right”

Chicago makes the point particularly well in its manuscript guidance: manuscripts aren’t intended to look like published books. They need to be readable and editable. Layout comes later.

And there’s a practical reason for that.

Editing changes things.

Sentences are shortened or expanded. Paragraphs move. Chapters change length. Material gets added or removed. Sometimes an entire section gets reorganized.

Changes made during editing may destroy any careful page-by-page formatting you completed beforehand.

That’s why professionals generally complete the interior layout only after editing has ended and the manuscript text is final.

Clearly Identify Chapters and Headings

Simple formatting doesn’t mean your manuscript should have no structure.

Your editor needs to be able to identify chapters, section headings, subheadings, quotations, lists, and other special elements.

For a novel, that might be as simple as clearly identifying:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

For nonfiction, there may be several levels of headings within each chapter.

The University of Chicago Press recommends making different heading levels clearly distinguishable so editors and designers can understand the manuscript’s hierarchy. The goal is identification, not decoration. This matters far more than making those headings pretty.

Use Word’s Actual Tools Instead of Faking Formatting

Microsoft Word contains tools specifically designed for many of the elements authors commonly try to create manually.

Use them.

If your book contains footnotes or endnotes, use Word’s built-in footnote or endnote feature rather than typing note numbers and notes manually. The University of Chicago Press specifically requires linked notes in manuscripts because the note callout and corresponding note need to remain connected. This principle applies elsewhere.

Use paragraph settings for paragraph indents.

Use page breaks when you truly need a new page rather than repeatedly pressing Enter.

Use actual tables when information needs to be presented in a table instead of trying to build one with spaces.

Manual formatting may look fine on your computer, but it can become a mess when text is edited, moved, reformatted, or prepared for professional layout.

What About Images?

If your book contains photographs, illustrations, charts, diagrams, or other graphics, ask your editor or publishing assistance provider how they want those files supplied.

Indicate the image’s approximate placement within the manuscript so the editor knows where it belongs, but do not assume that an image pasted into the Word document is the production-quality file.

The University of Chicago Press, for example, requires illustrations to be supplied as separate, high-resolution jpeg or png files rather than embedded in the manuscript used for production. For published books, requirements can vary depending on the type of book and the production workflow.

Editors will handle a heavily illustrated children’s book differently from a memoir containing twelve family photographs.

This is one area where you should follow the specific instructions of the editor, designer, or publishing service working on your book.

Finish Writing Before You Submit the Manuscript

Formatting isn’t the only thing that makes a manuscript ready for editing.

The manuscript itself needs to be ready.

Professional editing should not begin while you’re still actively writing chapters, replacing large sections, or deciding whether major content belongs in the book.

This doesn’t mean your manuscript needs to be perfect. If it were perfect, you wouldn’t need an editor.

It does mean you should have completed your own revisions and be ready to hand the manuscript over for the editorial stage.

There’s an important workflow reason for this.

Imagine an editor is working on Chapter 8 while you rewrite several paragraphs in your copy of Chapter 5. Now there are two different versions of the manuscript. Your editor’s corrections and your new material have to be reconciled, and it becomes increasingly easy for something to be lost or edited twice.

At Publish Pros, manuscripts are considered locked while they are with the editor for exactly this reason.

Once editing begins, work from the edited document and communicate changes through the editorial process rather than continuing to revise another copy independently.

Don’t Confuse Editing With Interior Layout

This deserves repeating because it causes so much confusion for first-time self-published authors.

Editing and interior layout are different stages of publishing.

Editing determines what the words should say. Interior layout determines how those words should appear in the finished book.

Trying to do both simultaneously creates unnecessary work.

A beautifully formatted manuscript may feel closer to becoming a “real book,” but those pages are going to change during editing anyway.

Get the words right first.

Then design the book around the final words.

A Simple Manuscript Preparation Checklist

Before submitting your manuscript for professional editing, check that you have:

• Completed the manuscript and your own revisions
• Saved the manuscript as a Microsoft Word document unless instructed otherwise
• Used a consistent, readable font
• Used approximately 12-point type
• Double-spaced the manuscript
• Used one-inch margins
• Indented new paragraphs consistently
• Removed unnecessary extra spacing between paragraphs
• Used one space between sentences
• Clearly identified chapters and heading levels
• Used Word’s built-in tools for notes, tables, and paragraph formatting
• Removed unnecessary design and decorative formatting
• Identified the placement of images when applicable
• Kept original high-resolution image files available separately
• Confirmed any specific submission instructions from your editor

That last step matters.

Chicago provides an excellent professional model for manuscript preparation, but even Chicago acknowledges that individual publishers and organizations may establish their own requirements. Ask for the requirements of the professional who will actually be editing your book.

Your Manuscript Doesn’t Have to Look Finished

When authors reach the end of the writing process, it’s natural to want to see the manuscript start looking like a real book.

But there’s plenty of time for that.

Professional editing is still about the words: making the manuscript clearer, stronger, more consistent, and more effective for the reader.

So keep the formatting simple.

Make the manuscript easy to read.

Make the structure easy to understand.

And let the book become beautiful when it reaches the design stage.

At Publish Pros, we help authors through each stage of the self-publishing process in the order that makes sense, from manuscript assessment and professional editing through cover design, interior layout, distribution, and beyond.

Because publishing a professional book isn’t just about doing all the right things.

It’s also about doing them in the right order.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What format should I use when submitting a manuscript for editing?

Unless your editor provides different instructions, submit your manuscript as a Microsoft Word document. Word allows the editor to use Track Changes, comments, and other editing tools while preserving a clear record of suggested revisions.

Should I format my manuscript to look like a finished book?

No. Your manuscript should be clean, readable, and consistently formatted, but it should not resemble the finished interior design. The layout designer may need to remove decorative fonts, designed chapter headings, running headers, and carefully positioned text before beginning the professional layout.

Should I include images in the manuscript?

You may place images in the manuscript to indicate their approximate locations, but you should also keep the original high-resolution files separate. Ask your editor or publishing provider how they want photographs, illustrations, charts, or other graphics submitted.

Does my manuscript need to be completely finished before editing begins?

You should complete the manuscript and your own major revisions before submitting it for professional editing. Continuing to rewrite a separate copy after editing begins can create conflicting versions and make it difficult to preserve both your changes and the editor’s work.