William Shunn
12 Courier Lane
Pica's Font, NY 10010
(212) 555-1212 format@shunn.net about 1,500 words

Active member, SFWA

Proper Manuscript Format by William Shunn

No one knows for certain how many good short stories are passed over because the manuscripts containing them are formatted poorly, but it is certain that a properly formatted manuscript will be more eagerly read by an editor than a poorly formatted one. Here are a few suggestions.
First, use black type on white paper only.

Other colors

make your work difficult to read, not to mention calling too much attention to the manuscript itself.

Print on only one side of

the page.
For easy readability, limit your choice of font to either
Courier or Times New Roman.

Courier (my strong preference) is a

monospaced font, which means that every character is exactly as

Shunn / Format / 2 wide as every other.

It's easier for an editor to detect

spelling errors in a monospaced font than in a proportional font like Times New Roman (in which the "i" uses less horizontal space than the "m" does).

With a monospaced font, there will also be

fewer characters on each line, which can make your manuscript easier to scan.

Still, many writers have come to prefer Times

New Roman, and either is usually acceptable.

(If in doubt,

consult your intended market's submission guidelines.)

Set your

font size to 12 points.
Use nice wide margins all around your pages.

There should

be at least an inch to each side of the text--top, bottom, left, and right.
Always double-space between lines. single-spaced manuscript.

Never submit a

The editor needs room to make

corrections and other typographical marks between lines--but not too much room, so don't triple-space either.
The guidelines I've offered so far will give you pages of about 250 to 300