Formatting Guideline
- Adjusting Font Settings for Microsoft Word-
Highlight your entire document (CTRL-A). Keep your entire document highlighted throughout this process.
Under the "Home" tab, click the font style box. Type "Times New Roman" or scroll down in the pull-down tab until you find "Times New Roman" and click on it.
Adjust the font size to 12
- Adjusting Paragraph Formatting -
Under the "Home" tab, click the "Paragraph" button
Under the "Special" pull down tab, click "First Line."
Adjust the number to 0.3"
(Delete any indents you may have made with the use of the tab button or the space bar throughout your document. Using the tab button or the space bar to create indents within your document makes reformatting your manuscript difficult, so it's best to avoid this practice.)
Under the "Spacing" tabs, adjust the "Before" and "After" lengths to 0 pt
Under the "Line Spacing" pull down tab, click "Double"
​
Delete any line breaks (the white space) between paragraphs that you may have made throughout your manuscript. When separating paragraphs, use either indents or paragraph breaks, but not both. The exception is when one uses a line break as a way to indicate a lapse in time within the same chapter.
Line breaks look great for web articles and office memos, but they disrupt the steady flow of continuous reading in printed (and electronic) books.
Take a look at the fiction books on your shelf. You'll find that virtually all of them use first line indents to signal the reader that a new paragraph is about to start, not line breaks.
- Adjusting Margins -
Under the "Layout" tab, click on the "Margins" button. Select the "Normal" option in the pull-down window.
Alternatively, select "Custom Margins" and adjust the length manually to 1" all around.
- Inserting Page Numbers -
Under the "Insert" tab, click on the "Page Number" button
On the pull-down window click on either "Top of Page" or "Bottom of Page"
Click on the center alignment.
Type in the title of your book on the left side of the page number and hit the tab button.
Move the cursor to the right side of the page number, hit the tab button again, and type your first and last name (either your legal name or pseudonym, but stick to one)
In the "Header from Top:" and "Footer from Bottom:" boxes, type 0.5"
- Final Result -
​
The formatting should look something like this by the time you are complete.
