Your manuscript could be the best thing an agent reads this month, and a cramped, fussy document can still sink it before the end of page one. Formatting is not decoration. It is about removing friction, so the reader's eye moves easily across the page and the writing is all they notice.
The good news is that standard UK formatting is simple, consistent and almost invisible when it is done well. Here is how to get it right, from the first page to the file you attach.
Before You Format Anything, Read the Guidelines
Nearly every UK literary agency publishes submission guidelines, and they take precedence over everything below. If an agency asks for the first three chapters and a synopsis in a single Word document, that is what you send. Not the whole book, not a PDF, not a link to a cloud folder.
Read the guidelines twice: once before you format, once before you send. If they specify a font or a word count, follow it. Where an agency says nothing about a particular detail, the conventions here will serve you well, because they are the standards most editors and agents in London work to every day.
Font, Spacing and Margins: The Physical Layout
Use one plain, readable font throughout. Times New Roman at 12pt is the safest choice; Calibri or Arial at 11 or 12pt is perfectly acceptable if the agency does not specify. Do not switch fonts for emphasis, and do not reach for anything decorative. Courier is still the convention for screenplays, but it is not expected for novels.
Set your line spacing to double. Some agencies now accept 1.5, which is easier on screen, so use that only if the guidelines say so. Whichever you choose, keep it identical from page one to the end.
Margins should be around 2.5cm on all sides. Align your text to the left and leave the right edge ragged. Justified text creates uneven word spacing and is harder to read, and automatic hyphenation should be switched off.
- Font: one plain serif or sans typeface, 11–12pt, used throughout
- Line spacing: double, unless the agency asks for 1.5
- Margins: about 2.5cm on every side
- Alignment: left, ragged right, no hyphenation
- Page numbers: top right or bottom centre, on every page except the title page
- Header: optional but useful — surname, title and page number, such as Okafor / The Long Field / 42
Use a single space after a full stop, not two. Do not leave blank lines between paragraphs.
Paragraphs, Dialogue and Chapter Breaks
Choose one way of marking paragraphs and stick to it. Most UK manuscripts use a first-line indent of about 1.25cm, with no extra space between paragraphs. Do not indent the first paragraph of a chapter, or the first paragraph after a scene break.
Never build indents or spacing with the tab bar or repeated presses of the space bar. Set them in the paragraph settings so they survive being converted, edited or printed.
For dialogue, UK convention is single quotation marks, with punctuation inside the closing mark. Start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes. For interrupted or trailing-off speech, use an em dash or a spaced en dash, and then be consistent about it for the whole book.
Scene breaks are usually a blank line followed by a centred hash mark or three asterisks. Chapter headings should be plain and unadorned — Chapter One in the same font as the body text is fine, on its own line, with the chapter starting at the top of a new page. Insert a page break rather than hammering the return key.
The Title Page and the First Page
Your title page does not need to be elaborate. It needs to tell the agent, at a glance, what they are holding and how to reach you.
THE LONG FIELD
Literary fiction, approximately 92,000 words
Amara Okafor
[email protected] · 07xxx xxx xxx
Represented by [agent name, if applicable]
If you write under a pen name, note it here so there is no confusion later. Do not add illustrations, borders, quotations or a blurb.
On the first page of the manuscript proper, repeat the title at the top left, followed by your surname, then begin. Some agencies want the title page as a separate file, so check before you send.
Word Count, Style and UK Conventions
Round your word count to the nearest thousand: "about 92,000 words", not 91,847. Include any prologue and epilogue in the figure. Pair it with an honest genre label — cosy crime, upmarket commercial fiction, YA fantasy — because agents use it to decide who reads your submission.
Set your word processor's language to UK English and let it catch the obvious slips. Use -ise endings, colour, travelled. Use an en dash for ranges such as 1990–95. If your novel is set in the United States and narrated by an American character, American spellings inside dialogue may be the right call — decide the rule early and apply it without wobbling.
File Names, Formats and Sending
Send a .docx file unless the agency asks for something else. Name it clearly and predictably, for example Okafor_TheLongField_FullManuscript.docx. Never send a password-protected file, and do not assume a shared link is welcome.
Switch off tracked changes, delete stray comments, and clear any highlighted text. Read the file once more as an attachment would arrive: does the name make sense, is the word count on the title page correct, does the document open without a warning message?
The Ten-Minute Check Before You Press Send
Open your file on a phone or a different computer and scroll through it. Does it look calm and readable? Check the page numbers run correctly, the chapter breaks fall where you intended, and the spelling is set to UK English throughout.
Then compare your document against the agency's guidelines line by line: attachments, word count, chapters, synopsis, cover letter. Fix anything that is off. When everything matches, send it and note the date, the agency and the material you sent in a simple submission log.
Formatting will not make a weak manuscript strong, but it will let a good one speak for itself. Get these details right once, save the file as your master template, and every future submission becomes a five-minute job — leaving you free to get on with the writing.
Photo: DariuszSankowski / Pixabay
