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How to Format a Book Manuscript

carolynhayesuber — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:11:40 +0000

They come at us in all shapes, sizes, colors, and even smells (we don’t much care for the cigarette and kitty scents).

They shouldn’t.

The publishing industry has standards for manuscript submissions, and if you follow them, you’ll look like a pro from first glance. Nothing screams amateur like incorrectly prepared manuscripts.

The Rules:

1. One inch margins all around (top, bottom, sides).

2. Twelve point Times New Roman or Courier.

3. Double spaced (using the paragraph toolbar to set — never hit twice to achieve double spacing).

4. Entire manuscript in one document with page numbers turned on. These page numbers are for organization of the manuscript and have no bearing on final page numbers in book.

5. ONE space after sentence periods. I know, I know, you were taught two in high school typing. Unlearn it. Or use search>replace to get rid of them when your manuscript is completed.

6. Insert a page break at the end of every chapter.

7. Indent paragraphs using one tab or your computer’s auto indent feature. NEVER indent using the space bar. Add two extra hard returns for text breaks.

8. Title page with word count on upper right. Title in center. Your contact information at botton.

9. No underlining. Anything. Ever.

10. Use italics when called for (publication titles, minimally for emphasis, first use of foreign word not in today’s lexicon — taco is not a foreign word in this context).

11. No hyphenation, no justification, no fiddling with leading or other typographic elements. Keep it simple!

12. Use two hyphens for em dashs. Never one, never three, only two. Our layout programs will convert two hyphens to a proper dash. Space on either side, please.

13. Chapter titles may be centered and bold at top of each new chapter page.

14. Include a table of contents for non-fiction. You don’t have to include the actual page numbers — we just want to see the book’s organization at a glance.

15. Dedication and acknowledgments aren’t needed until you have a publishing contract.

16. Most important of all? Do not try to make it look like a finished book. Resist all temptation to “show us” what you think it should look like and “do the work for us”.

All agents and publishers have submission guidelines on their websites. However, these simple rules will be what’s used by 95% of them. You can find ours http://stephenspress.com/submissions.html.

Vu Tran, RESTLESS CITY Author, Wins 2009 Whiting Award

carolynhayesuber — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:29:20 +0000

Vu Tran, the seventh author in our Restless City serial novel, has won a 2009 Whiting Award. With the literary prestige comes a check for a cool $50,000. The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation named ten recipients of the 2009 Whiting Writers’ Awards. The awards have been given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career. The short stories of Vu Tran have appeared in such journals as the Harvard Review, Southern Review, Glimmer Train, and the Antioch Review and have been selected for inclusion in the 2007 O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Mystery Stories 2009, The Best of Fence: The First Nine Years, and Las Vegas Noir. Born in Viet Nam and a refugee at the age of five, he and his family were relocated to Oklahoma where he grew up and earned a BA and MA from the University of Tulsa. Mr. Tran also has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD as a Glenn Schaeffer Fellow at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He writes often of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans and of the immigration experience. Mr. Tran’s first novel is forthcoming from W.W. Norton. He currently teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and also works as a free-lance editor.

That Great Sucking Sound Inspires Poet

carolynhayesuber — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:12:04 +0000

Where do you find your best inspiration? That in-the-groove place where the ideas just flow and you’re on the creative high ground? Our Stephens Press book designer Sue Campbell may have the cleanest floors in the state of Colorado — as doing the mundane allows her to enter that altered state where thoughts flow and swirl and bump and collide into the new and wonderful. Check it out in the latest Shine journal. Sue’s poetry has been published for two months running.

Sixth Chapter Posted

carolynhayesuber — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:37:09 +0000

Restless City, the serial novel from CityLife Books and the Vegas Valley Book Festival, has reached the sixth chapter. Constance Ford moves the story forward, while the final seventh chapter will be revealed by a reading from author Vu Tran at the festival.

With the final “reveal” on November 7th, the completed book will be available in print as a trade paper edition and an e-book edition.

For now, our friends who have been following along can catch chapter six hanging out with the dudes from CityLife at here. Enjoy!

Working Titlez Now on ReviewJournal.com

carolynhayesuber — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:26:36 +0000

My first post as an R-J Blogger appears this morning: Working Titlez R-J Blog. I’ll be cross-posting some of my articles and creating others specifically for Review-Journal readers. In particular, I plan to answer questions about the book publishing world, so if you have a good query about how the book biz works, send it to me.

The Prince and the Pirate

carolynhayesuber — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:35:02 +0000

Carolyn Uber and Tony Curtis (Photo by Megan Edwards, Living Las Vegas)

Presented the long-planned Tony Curtis/Norm Clarke event today at the Flamingo branch of the Clark County Library. Started with a private reception for Tony and invited friends. Tony was so charming, taking the time to chat and give each guest undivided attention. Enjoyed chatting it up myself with many friends including Norm and Cara, Sal and Georgeanne, Mark and Megan, Denny and Pam and many others! Following the reception we adjourned to the theater where 400 Tony Curtis fans (and another 100 watching a live video feed in an adjacent room and the lobby). Oscar winner Curtis (The Defiant Ones)acted in over 100 films during Hollywood’s golden heyday. Norm interviewed Tony on stage, and Tony told each story with good humor and dramatic flair. From his very first film role (as a corpse) to auditioning on set to act opposite Yvonne DiCarlo, Tony shared his experiences with wit and joy. Advancing age keeps Tony in a wheelchair, but when telling the story of convincing the director he could rhumba with DiCarlo, Tony rose and strutted his moves to the delight of the crowd. Asked who, among the many leading ladies he’d kissed, was the “best kisser”, Tony grinned and answered “me”. Cary Grant was the actor he admired most, always a “classy gentlemen” while Marilyn Monroe was his favorite actress, a “real” down-to-earth and sweet person who could, nonetheless, be “as tough as Joe DiMaggio” when needed. Following a standing ovation, a book signing (Tony’s American Prince and Norm’s Sinsational Celebrity Tales) took place with over 200 folks waiting patiently. As always, Suzanne and Julie and the rest of the amazing library staff were here, there, and everywhere, and pulled off another successful event.

Celebrate the Craft of Writing

carolynhayesuber — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:44:40 +0000

Dear Friends,

The Las Vegas Writers Conference kicks off Thursday evening with a reception hosted by Stephens Press starting at 7 PM at Sam’s Town in the Ponderosa Room. While there are still a few registration slots left for the conference itself, you don’t have to be attending the conference to come to our reception. I invite you to come by for a meet and mingle with Stephens Press and other local authors, as well as editors, literary agents and publishers. This is a great opportunity to network within the book publishing world. Laraine Russo Harper, SP author of Legal Tender: True Tales of a Brothel Madam, will give a short and funny accounting of her experiences with the publication of her book in the past year. No host bar, LVWC bookstore, good company, good fun. Hope to see you there — no RSVPs required!

A Writer’s Words of Wisdom

admin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:35:17 +0000

No, you're not seeing in quadruple! The publisher (me!) was so enamored with the four vibrant proposed colors for the cover, that the book was printed with all four. Cartons arrive at the bookstores with all four colors, which make an impressive display on the shelves.

Oft-published author Maralys Wills shares trials, tribulations, and plenty of tips in a far-ranging interview with Paula B. on The Writing Show. The hour-long audio interview can be downloaded from the site or via the podcast section on iTunes.

Wills is the author of some dozen books, the newest of which is DAMN THE REJECTIONS, FULL SPEED AHEAD: The Bumpy Road to Getting Published.

Says Ray Newton (former National Coordinator for Reader’s Digest Writing Workshops): “Wills takes readers of the fast-paced freeway into the colorful scenery of a bumpy, but genuinely educational secondary roads to show them the realities of the highly competitive writing and publishing industry. The book is possibly one of the best professional road maps on the market.”

Rejections are the predictable bane of the writer’s world. Maralys not only tells of her own sometimes unconventional approaches that have resulted in published books, she shares her wisdom of twenty-plus years teaching novel writing at the college level. Damn the Rejections is an adroit interweaving, chapter by chapter, between the BUSINESS of writing and the CRAFT of writing.

Our Own Outback

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:27:01 +0000

Deputy Dump by Richard Menzies

Public Radio’s KUER in Salt Lake City interviewed Stephens Press author Richard Menzies recently. Menzies is the author/photographer of Passing Through: An Existential Journey Across America’s Outback. The beautiful book won awards for best regional and best travel books when it was published and features an eclectic mix of characters from the barren wastelands of the vast area known as America’s Outback. “Nevada’s backcountry is sparsely populated yet surprisingly rich in diversity,” Menzies writes. “Her social fabric is a colorful tapestry of cultures and ethnicities, fringed by eccentrics who simply defy categorization. Think of the Silver State as a haven for those irregular souls who could never be content with a nine-to-five job or a three-bedroom, split-level in suburbia.” Listen Here

‘Tis Time

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:12:08 +0000

Welcome to my personal blog/website. It’s time for me to share my life with the world via blogging. This opening page will feature posts of my musings on the book world, modern life, announcements and celebrations.

Other pages will include information on speaking and consulting services, downloads of reports and useful information for meeting planners, authors and marketing folks. The personal page will be a repository of some writing pieces, memorabilia, photos and “fun stuff”.

Comments welcome (see below) and I’ll do my best to answer any questions about publishing, marketing, design or editing. Or my goat cheese cracker spread!

See the list to the right for links to useful or interesting sites, interviews or resources. If any of you wonder why I keep trekking back across the desert, take a look at my hubby Bill’s website for Van Ness Water Gardens.

If this looks interesting and you’d like to follow my posts and uploads, you can subscribe via a reader or email.

Yours in the blogosphere,

Carolyn