Manuscript Formatter for Standard Submission Format
Turn your Word manuscript into a clean submission-ready file with standard margins, spacing, page numbers, chapter openings and scene-break formatting.
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Your manuscript stays yours. Deleted after 24 hours on Free, or 7 days after unlock. Never used to train models. How your manuscript is processed
No manuscript handy? — it runs through exactly the same pipeline as your own file.
- docx in
- standard format
- pdf + docx out
- $5 unlock
Visual proof
See what gets fixed
Standard manuscript format is a short list of conventions, and every one of them is a place a submission goes wrong by hand. Here they are on the page.
The bell in the north tower had not rung for eleven years, and Marta had grown used to the silence.
She walked the long room twice before she noticed the door, which had been there all along.
#
Later she would say she had known. She had not known. What she had was the particular attention of a person who has spent a decade listening for a sound that never comes.
The steps were shallow and even, cut by someone with time. She counted forty before the cold changed character — no longer the cold of a shut room but of open ground.
At the foot there was a table, and on the table a book, and in the book her own handwriting, which she had not put there.
- 1Running headSurname / title / page, on every page
- 2Chapter openingStarts a fresh page, title set a third of the way down
- 3First line flushNo indent after a heading — there is nothing to continue from
- 4½″ first-line indentEvery paragraph after the first
- 5Scene breakA centred marker, so it survives a page break
Throughout
12pt monospaced, double spaced, one-inch margins on all four sides — the format agents read in, with room to write between the lines.
Why it looks like that
The format is plain on purpose
Double-spaced monospace is not a house style anyone finds beautiful. It exists so an editor can write between the lines, and so every submission arriving on a desk looks identical — nothing about the presentation says anything about the writer, which leaves only the writing to judge.
It also makes length legible. At 12pt monospace, double spaced, a page runs close to 250 words, which is why agents talk in both word counts and page counts and expect the two to agree. A manuscript set in a proportional face at single spacing breaks that arithmetic, and the first thing it tells a reader is that you have not sent one before.
None of it is difficult. It is just a dozen small settings that have to be right at once, and a document that has been through a decade of edits rarely has all twelve.
What you get
Standard manuscript format, from one upload
Whether an agent calls it standard manuscript format, book manuscript format or submission format, they mean this. It is the same for a novel, a memoir and a story collection; only the header and the word count change. Both files come back from one upload.
- Type
- Courier 12pt
- double spaced, 0.5″ first-line indent, no blank lines between paragraphs
- Margins
- 1″
- all four sides; surname, title and page number top right of every page
- Chapters
- Fresh page
- title in capitals, 3″ down
- Scene breaks
- Normalised
- a centred marker, so it survives a page break
- Punctuation
- Tidied
- curly quotes, real em dashes, no doubled spaces
- Output
- PDF + DOCX
- send whichever the submission asks for
This is the Classic format William Shunn documented; his Modern edition allows Times New Roman for electronic submissions, and the formatter can switch the face if an agent's guidelines ask. Why it looks like this, and the mistakes agents notice.
Before you send it
Which file an agent actually wants
Whatever their guidelines say, and they usually say .docx. A Word file is what an editor can mark up; a PDF is fixed, and is worth sending only when a submission form asks for one. You get both from the same upload, so the next agent asking for the other format is not a reformatting job.
Read the guidelines before the file, every time. Agents differ on the first five pages versus the first three chapters, on whether a synopsis is wanted, and on what goes in the email body rather than the attachment. Standard format is the part you can settle once; the rest changes with every submission.
Afterwards
Turning a manuscript into a book
Standard manuscript format is for submission, not publication. It is double-spaced monospace on purpose — plain enough that an editor can mark it up, and identical across every writer, so nothing about the presentation distracts from the words. It is not what a reader should ever see.
When you are ready for that, the same manuscript feeds every other edition: a Kindle ebook, a validated EPUB for every other store, or a print-ready interior for a paperback. Different formats, one source file.
Where next
Publishing instead of submitting?
Publishing on Amazon?
Publishing everywhere else?
Making a paperback?
Not sure which file your novel needs yet?
Questions
Standard manuscript format, answered
What is standard manuscript format?
The convention most literary agents expect: 12pt monospaced font, double-spaced, one-inch margins, a half-inch first-line indent, page numbers, and each chapter starting on a new page. It is often called Shunn format, after William Shunn, who documented it.
I've finished my manuscript — what do I actually need?
It depends entirely on who reads it next. An agent or a competition wants standard manuscript format, which is what this page produces — deliberately plain, easy to mark up, and the same for everyone. A reader wants a finished book, which is a different file: a reflowable ebook, or a print interior at a fixed trim size. The same .docx feeds all three, so nothing is wasted if you need more than one.
Does this change my writing?
No. It changes layout and punctuation style — curly quotes, em dashes, consistent spacing. Your sentences are never rewritten, reordered, or edited.
What file types can I upload?
Word .docx files, up to 25 MB. You get back both a PDF and a .docx.
What does it cost?
Formatting is free. Free files include a small footer line on the PDF, allow three adjustments, and are kept for 24 hours. Unlocking one file costs $5 once — no subscription — which removes the footer, lifts the adjustment limit, and keeps the file for 7 days.
What if it gets my chapters wrong?
It asks before guessing. When something is genuinely ambiguous — an interlude, a part divider — you are shown the text and asked how to treat it. Answering costs nothing.
Should a manuscript be double spaced?
Yes, for submission. Double spacing exists so an editor can write between the lines, and it is the single most common instruction in agent guidelines. It also makes length legible: at 12pt monospace, double spaced, a page is close to 250 words, which is why word counts and page counts line up the way agents expect. Single spacing looks like a book, and a book is not what you are sending.
What file should I send to a literary agent?
Whatever their guidelines ask for, and they usually ask for .docx. Send the PDF only when a submission form requests it, because a PDF is fixed and a .docx is what an editor can mark up. We give you both from the same upload, so you are not reformatting when the next agent wants the other one.
Checked against the source
The requirements on this page are published by the organisation below, not by us. We last read it in September 2026 and compared it against what the tool produces. If a requirement has changed since, the source is right and we are wrong — tell us and we will fix it.
- William Shunn — Proper Manuscript Format·September 2026
Ready to send it to an agent?
Stop adjusting margins, spacing and page numbers by hand. Upload the manuscript you already have and get back a submission-ready PDF and Word file.
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