A rant on proper manuscript formatting

[ellen_datlow]

Recent reading and editing has brought to my attention the fact that some writers have suddenly (well, since using computers and email) decided that the usual rules of mss preparation are no longer necessary.

Three examples:
1) I have received print submissions without PAGE NUMBERS (not often, but still, this should never happen).

2) I have increasingly been the recipient of manuscripts that don't underline words meant to be italicized in the story's final, printed form. The reason editors/copy editors/and whoever does the production on a mss need to see underlines is that some typefaces don't show italics very well, and even if they did--it's quicker to "see" underline than italics

3)I have been receiving mss without anything indicating space breaks. What happened to ###? I'm in the middle of reading a printout that seemed to be missing at least two pages because there were no transitions...When I checked the efile, lo and behold, the sentence breaks were in different places so I could actually see that there were supposed to be space breaks. Writers--new and pro--please please show your space breaks by putting in hash marks.

4) Paragraphing--before online publishing, paragraphing was shown by indenting margins...Guess what, folks? Most publishing (especially of books) is still print, which means that paragraphs are indented.

Rant over

Comments

[will-ludwigsen.livejournal.com]

Where do you stand on the Courier New vs. Times New Roman debate, Ellen? Do you have a preference either way?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Will, I've always said that I prefer Times roman but I finally realized that I'm not sure I even notice the difference in print mss. It's only in the efile that I hate reading courier...

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think Courier could beat up TNR because it's bigger,

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Heh! As I mentioned above somewhere... I don't really notice the typeface on a printed mss until it's weird. I just like to read times roman in word when I'm working with a story (which is why my page numbers in in the editing process rarely match up with the writer's. (thank word processing programs for find and replace)

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

::makes note to change typeface from Arial to TNR before before sending out ms::

(Poor blind author has to work in 16 point Arial or eyeballs implode.)

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

You've never sent anything in arial have you?