![]() As Rita mentions above, it’s your writing that should stand out, not your page formatting. ![]() In addition to double-spacing, don’t get fancy with your font type or margins. It’s unprofessional, demonstrates a lack of attention to detail, and is clearly not “submission-ready.” Always copy and paste your work into a new document if you’re working from a version that has utilized track changes before submitting it. If I see this, I automatically thumbs down the submission. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve opened a submission that still has track changes and/or comments in it from the author’s writing group or readers. Let your work be what pushes the envelope, not something mundane that only makes an editor's job more difficult and, in that sense, places your work in jeopardy of rejection for reasons entirely avoidable.”Įnsure you’ve removed all track changes/comments Do yourself a favor and follow the rules where it matters. “Same with distracting fonts and text edits. “Submissions less than double-spaced place a burden on the reader that's difficult for the work to overcome,” says Carve Senior Fiction Editor Rita Juster. It makes your submission so much easier to read, especially when you’re our tenth or fifteenth read of the evening. Please, please, please, for the love of all that is holy, double-space your work. Poor formatting can be an intensely irritating distraction that will often shorten the amount of time a reader will spend on a piece before moving on to the next. Keep in mind that readers and editors are often reading a dozen or more submissions in one sitting. ![]() Proper formatting will not only make your work look more professional, but it will also make it easier to read for editors and readers who are reviewing your work. As a former reader at The Masters Review and for Carve’s 2017 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, I read more than 600 submissions last year, and it’s clear that many writers aren’t sure how to format their prose submissions. Submitting your work to literary magazines can be fraught with uncertainty about everything from what to put in the cover letter ( lucky for you, we’ve already answered that here) to how you should format your submission.
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