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Standard Manuscript Format: The Rules, Where They Come From, and the File That Comes Out

Published

Short answer, for a novel as for a story: a manuscript on submission is a plain, double-spaced document. One-inch margins on all four sides, black 12-point type, a half-inch indent on the first line of each paragraph, no blank line between paragraphs, text aligned left.

The first page carries your contact details top left and a rounded word count top right, with the title a third to halfway down. Every page after it carries a header: your surname, a keyword from the title, the page number.

For a novel, the first page is a title page of its own and each chapter starts on a new page.

Those are William Shunn's rules. He has kept the guide since 1993 and last updated it in July 2026; the Wikipedia article on the format cites his 1998 version of it as its first source.

His closing line goes with the table. His word for the agent, magazine or publisher you are sending to is "market": "you should always check a market's submission guidelines before sending your work. If their rules differ from these, follow theirs."

The settings, in one table

SettingStandard manuscript formatSource
Paper"8.5"×11" or A4 paper size"; "a fresh white page, no color, no decorations"Wikipedia; Shunn
Margins"one-inch margins all around"Shunn
Type"Set your font size to 12 points"; "black type only"; "something standard and easily readable, like Times New Roman"; a Courier when a market asks for "Shunn Classic"Shunn
Line spacing"the full text of your story should be double-spaced"Shunn
Paragraphsfirst line "indented one half-inch from the left margin"; "Do not place extra line spaces between paragraphs"Shunn
Alignment"left-aligned"; the right margin "remains ragged"Shunn
First pagecontact information "in the upper-left corner"; word count "in the upper-right corner"; title "a third to halfway down the first page, centered"; byline one double space belowShunn
Header"the surname from your byline, one or two keywords from the title of your story, and the page number", upper right, not on the first pageShunn
Scene break"center the symbol "#" on a line by itself. Don't just leave the line blank."Shunn
Emphasisitalics, not underliningShunn
Sentences"only one space between sentences"Shunn
The end"END", centered after the last line, optionalShunn

Every quotation in the table is from "Proper Manuscript Format", Modern Edition, last updated 13 July 2026, except the paper size, from the Wikipedia article's list of features.

What changes for a novel

Shunn's sample novel manuscript, last updated 25 October 2025, opens with the differences: "a novel manuscript requires a separate title page."

It goes on: "Page numbering begins with 1 on the second page of the manuscript (the first page of actual text), and each chapter begins on its own page."

The sample's title page has four blocks. Contact details top left, the title centered, "A Novel by" and the byline under it, and the word count: "about 80,000 words". The header on the pages that follow reads "Slaughter / Silvertide / 1".

Two names can appear on that page. The legal name sits with the contact details; the byline under the title "indicates the name that gets credit for the story when it's published. This is not necessarily the same as your legal name up top".

The rounding of the word count follows the length. For a story, "round to the nearest hundred"; "If you're edging into novella territory, round to the nearest 500." Shunn's novel template rounds to "the nearest thousand for a novel".

Who wrote the rules, and which ones have moved

Shunn's own account, from a post dated 16 April 2020: "I created the original version of my manuscript formatting guide in late 1993 or early 1994, and I've updated it periodically since first adapting it for the web in 1995."

He describes it as "the de facto standard for a host of professional publications".

The Wikipedia article, last edited 8 August 2026, puts the word standard in quotation marks: "Although there is no single set of guidelines, the "standard" format describes formatting that is considered to be generally acceptable."

Its first reference for that sentence is Shunn's guide. It adds: "Individual publishers' standards will take precedence over style guides."

Three rules read differently depending on the age of the page you are on.

The typeface. The Wikipedia list still names "Courier or a similar monospaced serif font". Shunn's checklist of 20 January 2024 says "Times New Roman or Courier New, 12 points, black". Since 2020 his guide exists in two editions with identical text: "The Modern Edition displays in a proportional serif font with one space between sentences, while the Classic Edition displays in a monospaced font with two spaces between sentences."

The space after a full stop. "Standard practice today is to put only one space between sentences. Back in the typewriter era, two spaces was the standard, but those days have flown."

Underlining. "It used to be the practice to underline for emphasis, but that's because there was no option for italics on most typewriters."

The word count moved too. The Wikipedia article describes the old estimate: count every character, spaces included, divide by six, "the editor can easily count 250 words per page".

Shunn, in a post of 23 April 2021: "Publishers today use the actual computer-generated word count, not the old rule-of-thumb estimate."

Why the rules look the way they do

Each setting has a reader behind it. Double spacing, in Shunn's words: "the editor needs room between the lines to mark up your manuscript with her trusty blue pencil."

The same holds on a screen: "This is the case even with electronic manuscripts, which can be marked up with a stylus on a tablet screen."

The header, in the Wikipedia article: "Page numbers, author's name, and title on every page ensure that if an unstapled manuscript is shuffled on a table, shared among two or more people, or dropped, it can easily be reassembled".

The empty half page above the title: "The editor may use that empty space to make notes for the production team."

The marked scene break: blank lines "can shift up or down, and word processors often hide blank lines that fall at the top or bottom of a page."

What stays out

Shunn's checklist ends on the ornaments: an oversized first letter, a decorative symbol between scenes, bold after a scene break. "Your manuscript is a blueprint for a finished book, not the book itself."

Two things people add that the guide says to leave out. A tax number: "it is not necessary to place your Social Security number or any other tax ID on your manuscript."

The reason follows: "If your story is accepted, the publisher will ask for it in your contract." And full justification: "a typesetting style for finished copy, not for manuscripts on submission."

On contact details, the guide leaves the choice to you: "You may omit any information you feel unsafe giving, though most top markets do request it all."

Notes to yourself, bracketed reminders and an outline pasted at the top of the document belong to the working file, not the manuscript. The difference between the two has its own page on this site.

Checking a .docx file against the standard, in five minutes

Open the file you are about to send and go through the settings in this order. Each line names the place in the word processor and the value to find there.

  1. Page setup: margins at one inch on all four sides; Letter or A4.
  2. Paragraph settings of the body text: line spacing double, first-line indent 0.5 inch, space before and after paragraphs at zero, alignment left.
  3. Font: 12 points, black, one family throughout; Times New Roman or a Courier when the market names one.
  4. The first page: contact details top left, word count top right and rounded, title a third of the way down, byline under it. For a novel, nothing else on that page: if a table of contents or the first chapter runs on under the title lines, a page break after them separates the page.
  5. The header: surname, keyword, page number, top right; switched off on the first page; numbering that starts at 1 on the first page of text.
  6. Search for two spaces in a row and for underlined text; replace both.
  7. Scene breaks marked with a character, never a blank line; each chapter beginning after a page break, not after a run of empty lines.
  8. One file for the whole manuscript, and the market's own guidelines read once more before it leaves.

Which export format does which job is on this site: a .docx file is the one "a real person on the other end needs to mark up".

How Scrin does it

Scrin is a home where pages grow into books: you keep writing, from an untitled line to a chapter, and Scrin keeps the rest.

It serves long writing of every kind: a novel, an essay, a screenplay, a run of articles. The export below is the one for prose going to a reader who marks it up.

Press "export…", and in the list of formats choose "Submission (.docx)". It writes the manuscript as a .docx file with five of the table's settings: 12-point type, double spacing, one-inch margins on all four sides, a half-inch first-line indent, and at the top right of each page a header with the author's name, the title and the page number.

A scene break is written as a centered "* * *", where the table's "Scene break" row has Shunn's "#". Both are a mark on a line of its own rather than a blank line, which is what the rule asks for; a market that names one sign gets that sign. A page break comes before each chapter after the first.

Before the text, the file carries the title, the author's name, up to three lines of contact details and the word count, rounded in two steps: to the nearest hundred under 10,000 words, to the nearest thousand from 10,000 on. A novel reads "about 80,000 words", as in Shunn's sample; a novella, which his rule rounds to the nearest 500, comes out rounded to the thousand once it passes 10,000 words, and the figure is yours to retype.

These lines close on a centered "* * *", not on a page break. A table of contents follows them, then the first chapter, on the same page until you separate them. The table of contents is built by the word processor from the chapter titles, and in Word each of its lines jumps to its chapter; it is not part of standard manuscript format and can be deleted before the file leaves.

The same screen asks for the author's name and for "your contact details". The note under that field reads: "They go on the title page, three lines at most. Scrin keeps them on this device and nowhere else."

Three settings stay yours in the word processor, and the five-minute check above covers them. The typeface follows the font the book is set in; a Courier is in the font list. The option that hides the header on the first page is the second. The page break after the title page, with the table of contents kept or removed, is the third.

Questions

What is standard manuscript format? The plain layout a submitted manuscript is expected in: one-inch margins, 12-point black type, double spacing, a half-inch first-line indent, left alignment. On the first page, contact details and a rounded word count; on every page after it, a header with surname, title keyword and page number.

The Wikipedia article notes that "there is no single set of guidelines"; the guide it cites first is William Shunn's "Proper Manuscript Format", in its 1998 version, and a market's own guidelines come first.

Should a manuscript be double-spaced? Yes. Shunn's guide: "the full text of your story should be double-spaced", because "the editor needs room between the lines to mark up your manuscript", on paper or with a stylus on a screen.

Does a novel manuscript need a title page? Yes. From Shunn's sample novel manuscript: "a novel manuscript requires a separate title page. Page numbering begins with 1 on the second page of the manuscript (the first page of actual text), and each chapter begins on its own page."

How do I round the word count on a manuscript? Take the count from the word processor, not from a pages-times-250 estimate, which Shunn called obsolete in 2021. Round it to the nearest hundred for a story, to the nearest 500 for a novella, and, following his novel template, to the nearest thousand for a novel.

Is Courier still required? No, unless a market asks for it. Shunn's 2024 checklist lists "Times New Roman or Courier New, 12 points, black"; his guide notes that if a publication "specifically asks for "Shunn Classic" format, they mean you should use a Courier font".

Sources