Proper Manuscript Format, Classic Edition
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Classic Manuscript Format
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If a publication specifically asks for “Shunn Classic” format, they mean you should use a Courier font, as below.
William Shunn (he/him)
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Proper Manuscript Format
by Bill Shunn
No one knows how many good stories are passed over because
the manuscripts containing them are poorly formatted. We can be
certain, however, that editors will more eagerly read a cleanly
formatted manuscript than a cluttered and clumsy one. Here are a
few suggestions for giving your manuscript that critical leg up
on the competition.
Start with a fresh white page, no color, no decorations.
Set one-inch margins all around--left, right, top, and bottom.
This is the default for most word processors, but you might want
to recheck your settings just to be safe.
Use black type only, since other colors can make your work
difficult to read. Set your font size to 12 points. For the
Last updated 12 July 2021
“Proper Manuscript Format” by William Shunn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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