Set your manuscript in a 12 point serif face, double spaced, with one inch margins on all four sides, a half inch first line indent, and left alignment with a ragged right edge. Times New Roman is the safe default. That combination is what "standard manuscript format" means in practice, and it is what to use whenever an agent or editor has not published something different.
The Settings, One by One
Type size: 12 point. Not negotiable and not a matter of taste. The convention states it flatly: "Set your font size to 12 points."
Typeface: a plain serif. The reference document asks for "something standard and easily readable, like Times New Roman", and warns to "avoid sans-serif fonts, and stay far away from anything flashy or unusual". Courier New remains legitimate: it is the face used in the Classic variant of the convention, and some markets still ask for it by name. What matters is that the face is unremarkable. A manuscript typeface should be invisible, which is the opposite of the job a book interior typeface does.
Line spacing: double. Double spacing exists so an editor can write between the lines, which is also why 1.5 spacing sometimes appears as an alternative and single spacing never does.
Margins: one inch, all four sides. The Chicago Manual of Style confirms this independently, describing one inch all round as a typical default for manuscripts whether you are on Letter or A4, with headers and footers half an inch from the edge.
Paragraph indent: half an inch, on the first line. Set it with your word processor's indent control, never with tab characters or spaces. Tabs survive conversion badly and a find and replace on them is an editor's problem you created.
Alignment: left, ragged right. Full justification is explicitly rejected as "a typesetting style for finished copy, not for manuscripts on submission". Justification also hides the loose spacing and widows and orphans that a typesetter will need to see and fix later.
Sentence spacing: one space. Two spaces belongs to the monospaced Classic variant and to typewriters. Modern practice is one.
Colour: black on white. No coloured text, no background, no decoration.
Where Real Agencies Disagree
The convention is consistent. Agencies are not, and it is worth knowing before you assume a rule.
Of five established literary agencies whose submission pages state anything at all, only Janklow and Nesbit UK match the convention, asking for "size 12 and in a reasonable font, with your sample material double-spaced". Blake Friedmann ask instead for 1.5 line spacing, a direct contradiction. Darley Anderson say they "don't specify exact formatting requirements", asking only for "a font and line spacing that allows for easy reading". A. M. Heath take pasted text through a web form, which discards your typography entirely. Andrea Brown Literary publish no prose specification.
Two consequences. First, published guidelines always outrank the convention. Second, when nothing is published, the convention is the safe answer precisely because it is the one nobody objects to.
File format is worth checking too, because agencies contradict each other there as well. Blake Friedmann ban PDFs and want .doc or .docx. Darley Anderson accept either. Any advice telling you to always send one or the other is wrong for some named agency.
What Deckle Exports
Deckle's DOCX export with Standard Manuscript Format on, using the Word variant, sets all of the above:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Typeface | Times New Roman |
| Type size | 12 point |
| Line spacing | Double |
| Margins | One inch top, bottom, left and right |
| Body indent | Half an inch, first line |
| Alignment | Left, ragged right |
| Opening paragraphs | No indent after a heading or scene break |
The last row is deliberate. A first paragraph after a chapter heading or a scene break gets a separate style with no indent, which is standard practice in both manuscripts and printed books, since there is nothing above it to distinguish it from.
These arrive as real Word paragraph styles, not direct formatting, so an editor can restyle the whole manuscript in one action rather than reformatting paragraph by paragraph.
For the full convention and its status, see what is standard manuscript format. For where to set the option, see formatting your manuscript for literary agent submission. For the separate question of how a finished book is typeset, see how to number the pages of a book.
Common Mistakes
- Indenting with tabs or spaces. Use the paragraph indent setting so the indent is a property, not a character.
- Adding space between paragraphs as well as an indent. Choose one. In a manuscript it is the indent.
- Justifying the right margin. Ragged right is the convention and it is the one that shows problems rather than hiding them.
- Choosing a display or sans serif face to stand out. Standing out is not the goal here.
- Using 1.5 spacing by default. One named agency asks for it. Everyone else expects double.
- Setting the font by selecting all and changing it. That is direct formatting. Styles survive editing; direct formatting does not.
FAQ
Q: Is Times New Roman required? A: No, but it is the default the convention names and nobody rejects it. Courier New is the other accepted choice.
Q: Can I use Garamond or Georgia? A: They are readable serifs and unlikely to cause a problem, but there is no benefit either. Save the typeface decision for the printed interior.
Q: Double spacing looks enormous. Is that right? A: Yes. It is there for an editor's annotations, not for reading comfort.
Q: What about A4 versus Letter? A: Chicago gives one inch margins for both. Use whichever is normal in the territory you are submitting to.
Q: Do these settings apply to a self published book too? A: No. This is a submission convention. A printed interior uses a smaller type size, single spacing and margins driven by trim size and gutter.