Writers · problem and fix
How to format a manuscript for literary agent submission on Mac, step by step
To format a manuscript for literary agent submission, set the whole file to 12-point Times New Roman, one-inch margins, double spacing and a half-inch first-line indent, aligned left. Then check the agent's own guidelines, because they beat any standard you read here. This page covers the standard, the Mac steps in Word and Pages, and the fixes that cost nothing.
The short answer
- Use 12-point Times New Roman, one-inch margins, double spacing, a half-inch first-line indent and left alignment.
- Start a header on page two with your surname, a title keyword and the page number. Leave page one without one.
- Put an approximate word count on page one, rounded to the nearest hundred.
- Follow the agent's own rules when they differ from the standard. Shunn's guide says so.
- The cost data is academic, not fiction. One 2019 survey put formatting at an average of 14 hours per manuscript.
What manuscript formatting for agent submissions costs you
Hours spent on settings, not writing
Formatting takes time that could go to revising. The best estimate I found is 14 hours per academic manuscript, from a 2019 survey of 372 authors. It is not fiction data. Still, it shows that setup is real work, not a quick check.
Delays after a rejection
Academic data shows the cost can repeat. In one PLOS ONE study, reformatting delayed resubmissions by more than two weeks for 60 of 118 authors. About 20% of manuscripts waited more than three months. My sources have no matching fiction study, so treat this as a warning.
Money for formatting tools
Some writers buy a formatter. Vellum Ebooks costs $199.99 and Vellum Press costs $249.99, before tax, and needs macOS 14 or newer. Atticus costs $147, paid once. Both are built for publishing, so you can skip them at the submission stage.
Rejection over a rule you could have met
The worst cost is the one you can avoid. A file with the wrong margins, a header on page one or justified text tells a reader you did not check the rules. You may never hear why. Check the agent's page before you write the file, not after.
Why it happens
Defaults you never changed
Word, Pages and Google Docs start with their own defaults. Those defaults are not the submission standard. Most writers never open the settings that matter, so the file looks like a normal document and not a manuscript. One setup pass, done before you write, prevents most of this.
Rules copied from the wrong source
Writers copy a template from a friend, a book or a blog. That template may follow a different market. Shunn's guide says to follow each market's own rules when they differ, so an old template can be wrong for your agent.
Pasted text carrying hidden formatting
Copy from an email, a website or an older draft, and the text can bring fonts and spacing with it. These differences hide in plain sight. Your screen may look right while the file underneath is mixed.
One header applied to the whole file
Shunn asks for a header from page two, with none on page one. When one header covers the entire file, the title page shows it too. Writers often miss this because the header looks fine on every other page.
Mixed emphasis styles
Some writers underline, others bold, and some use all caps. Shunn recommends italics for emphasis unless other instructions are given. A file with three emphasis styles looks inconsistent to a reader, even when each style makes sense on its own.
Formatting left until the last day
Formatting that waits until the query is written often gets rushed. In the academic study, reformatting after rejection delayed resubmissions by more than two weeks for 51% of authors. Set the file up before you query, so you are not fixing it under pressure.
How to fix it
These work with or without any app.
Read the agent's page, then write the rules down
Copy the file type, font, header and word count rules into a note with today's date. If the agent's rules differ from Shunn's, the agent wins. Shunn's guide says so directly. Submission pages change, so the date tells you when to check again.
Build one master file and duplicate it
Set up one file with the settings from the table, and keep it apart from your drafts. Duplicate the master for each new submission. This stops small changes from drifting between chapters, and it keeps a clean copy ready.
Change the Normal style, not each paragraph
In Word for Mac, right-click Normal in the Styles gallery on the Home tab and choose Modify. Set Times New Roman 12 pt, double spacing, a 0.5 inch first-line indent and left alignment. New text then follows the same rules, and so does any paragraph you reapply Normal to.
Clean pasted text before it spreads
Paste as plain text, then reapply Normal style to the pasted section. Check each section after you paste it, not at the end. The Word for Mac guide on pasted text fonts covers the menu steps.
Replace underline and bold emphasis with italics
Select the emphasized words, then press ⌘I. Scan each chapter once for underlines and bold. Shunn recommends italics for emphasis unless the agent asks for something else, so change them all at the same pass.
Check the saved copy, not the screen
Save a .docx copy with File > Save As, close it, and reopen it. Scroll the whole file in Normal view. Check page one, the page two header and the last page. Fix one thing at a time, then save again.
Use Scrivener's Compile dialog if you write there
In Scrivener, open File > Compile, duplicate the Manuscript (Times) format and edit it, then choose DOCX in the Compatibility category. The guide does not name a Scrivener version, so check the menus on your copy first. Then check the output the same way you check any file.
Fix a header that shows on page one
Open Insert > Header > Edit Header, tick Different First Page on the Header and Footer tab, and clear the page one header. Keep the page two header with your surname, a title keyword and the page number. Look at page one again after the change.
What a literary agent expects in the file
William Shunn's fiction guide sets out a clear standard for fiction. It also says to follow each market's own rules when they differ. Treat his settings as the baseline, then read the agent's submission page before you save anything.
The settings are simple. Use a readable 12-point serif, and Shunn names Times New Roman. Set one-inch margins on all sides. Double-space the body text and indent each first line by a half inch. Align the text left, not justified. Use italics for emphasis unless the agent says otherwise.
| Setting | Standard value | Where to find it in Word for Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Font | 12-point Times New Roman | Format > Font |
| Margins | 1 inch on all four sides | Layout > Margins > Custom Margins |
| Line spacing | Double | Format > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing |
| First-line indent | 0.5 inch | Format > Paragraph > Special, set to First line |
| Alignment | Left, not justified | Home tab, Align Left |
| Page two header | Surname, title keyword, page number | Insert > Header > Edit Header, with Different First Page ticked |
The table covers the settings that cause the most trouble. It does not cover everything an agent may ask for. Read the rest of the agent's page before you format anything. Copy any extra rule into your note.
Why formatting goes wrong for so many writers
Most trouble starts before anyone opens the file. Word, Pages and Google Docs each start with their own defaults. Those defaults are not the submission standard. Nothing warns you that the file is off.
Pasted text brings its own formatting
Copy text from an email, a website or an older draft, and it can carry fonts and spacing with it. The screen may look right while the file underneath is mixed. The Word for Mac guide on pasted text fonts covers the cleanup steps.
Old templates and borrowed rules
A template from a friend, a book or a blog may follow a different market. Shunn's guide says to follow each market's rules when they differ. An old template can be wrong for your agent, even when it looks professional.
Emphasis, Courier and other habits
Some writers underline, others bold, and some use all caps. Shunn recommends italics for emphasis unless other instructions are given. He also says Courier New is acceptable but probably on its way out, at least in fiction circles. Pick one emphasis style and use it all the way through.
What it costs in time and money
The best cost data I found comes from academic papers, not fiction. A 2019 Nature Index article reports an average of 14 hours of formatting per manuscript and $477 per paper. The estimate came from a 5-minute survey of 372 academic authors. About 60% of respondents were from Canada, so the sample is not representative.
14 hours
average formatting time per manuscript in an academic survey of 372 authors, not fiction
The untold cost of formatting manuscripts (Nature Index)51%
of academic authors had resubmissions delayed more than two weeks by reformatting after rejection
The high resource impact of reformatting requirements for scientific papers (PLOS ONE)4 of 96
academic journals that accepted a fully format-free first submission
The high resource impact of reformatting requirements for scientific papers (PLOS ONE)A PLOS ONE study looked at reformatting after rejection. It delayed resubmissions by more than two weeks for 60 of 118 authors, or 51%. About 20% of manuscripts waited more than three months. The authors estimate about 23.8 million hours of reformatting worldwide each year. That is journal data, and I found no study of fiction queries.
Money is the other cost. Vellum Ebooks costs $199.99 and Vellum Press costs $249.99, before tax. Vellum is Mac only and needs macOS 14 or newer. Atticus costs $147, paid once. Both are built for publishing a finished book, and neither is needed for the file an agent asks for. Vellum is free to download, and you pay only to publish.
Step by step: set up a submission file in Word for Mac
Build one master file and keep it apart from your drafts. Word works well for this on Mac because the Styles gallery sits on the Home tab. These steps use Word for Microsoft 365 on Mac. Menu names can shift between versions, so check the menu bar if a name looks different.
- Start a new file. Choose File > New Blank Document, or press ⌘N.
- Set the margins. Choose Layout > Margins > Custom Margins. Enter 1 inch for top, bottom, left and right.
- Set the font. Press ⌘A to select everything. Choose Format > Font, then pick Times New Roman at 12 pt.
- Set spacing and indent. With the text still selected, choose Format > Paragraph. Under Indents and Spacing, set Line spacing to Double. Set Special to First line, and By to 0.5 inch. Set Alignment to Left.
- Set Normal as the default. Right-click Normal in the Styles gallery on the Home tab, then choose Modify. Apply the same settings there, so new text follows them.
- Make page one different. Choose Insert > Header > Edit Header. On the Header and Footer tab, tick Different First Page. Leave the page one header empty.
- Add the page two header. Type your surname and a keyword from the title. Choose Insert > Page Number, so the number prints on page two and later.
- Round the word count. Read the count in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Round it to the nearest hundred, so 84,312 becomes about 84,300. Shunn uses the nearest 500 for novellas. Type the figure on page one, aligned right with Home > Align Right.
Pages and Google Docs: the same settings, different menus
Apple's Pages guide lists Basic, Reports and Books in the Portrait categories, and it names no manuscript template. So start from a blank document. If the template chooser does not appear, click New Document. Then set the same values by hand, once, and save the file as your master.
In Pages, press ⌘A and set the font, spacing, indent and alignment from the Format menu. Pages menus change between releases, so if a path looks different on your Mac, ask Lazur to walk you through it. Check the margins in the page setup too.
In Google Docs, open File > Page setup and set every margin to 1 inch. Select the text, then choose Format > Line & paragraph spacing > Double. Choose Format > Align & indent > Left, and set the first-line indent under Format > Align & indent > Indentation options. Then set the font to Times New Roman, 12.
Google Docs can also save the look as a default. Open Format > Paragraph styles, then Options, and choose Save as my default styles. New text then starts with your settings.
Edge cases that catch people out
- Scene breaks. Pick one marker, such as a centered # or a blank line, and use it everywhere. Check the agent's page if it names one.
- Chapter headings. Keep them in the same plain style as the body text unless the agent says otherwise.
- Titles of books and long works. Italicize them in the text, the same way you italicize emphasis.
- Tracked changes and comments. Accept or reject every change before you save the submission copy. The guide on accepting or rejecting tracked changes covers the Word steps.
Mistakes people make
- Formatting chapter by chapter. Small changes drift, so chapter one and chapter twelve end up different.
- Putting the header on page one. Use the first-page setting, not a second file, and check page one before you send.
- Using justified text because it looks neat. Shunn asks for left alignment.
- Giving an exact word count. Shunn asks for an approximate count, rounded to the nearest hundred.
- Sending a file with a template's old fonts. Check the saved .docx copy, not the draft on your screen.
- Skipping the agent's page. A correct standard file can still miss a rule the agent names.
When the file still looks wrong
Start with the agent's page, then compare it to the file in Normal view. Scroll the whole file, not just the first chapter. Check page one, the page two header and the last page. Save a .docx copy and reopen it, because a save can change how text looks.
Page numbers that restart in the middle of a file are a separate job. The Word for Mac guide on page numbers after a cover page covers that setup.
Where Lazur helps, and where it does not
Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac. Hold ⌥ ⌘ to ask about anything on screen, and Lazur answers out loud. Ask where a setting lives, and Lazur draws a circle and a label around it. Ask how to change it, and Lazur guides you one click at a time, waiting for each click. You do the clicking.
Lazur does not click buttons, edit files or run other apps for you. It is not a plugin for Word, Pages or Google Docs. Dictation works in any app. Hold fn to dictate clean, formatted text at the cursor, which helps when you type header text or notes for each agent.
Research is the part that saves the most time for submissions. Research runs in Lazur's own Chrome tabs, through the Lazur for Chrome extension, and comes back with a summary and a report. Ask it to read several agency submission pages and list their file rules. Then check the report against each page yourself.
Lazur starts with a Pro trial that needs no credit card. See the pricing page for the plans and current terms before you decide.
Your next step
Open the agent's submission page first, and note the file type, font, header and word count rules. Then build the master file with the steps above. Once the rules are in a note, setup is a single sitting. After that, each new submission is a check, not a rebuild.
Faster with Lazur
Where Lazur helps with manuscript formatting for agent submissions
Hold ⌥ ⌘ and say what you want. Lazur sees your Word window. Lazur draws a circle and a label around the button or menu you need.
- 1
Hold ⌥⌘ and talk
- 2
Lazur draws a circle and a label around the button or menu you need.
- 3
You stay in Word. Nothing to copy into a chat window.
More things to say in Word
- “Where is the Different First Page option?”
- “Walk me through the Normal style settings.”
- “Explain Shunn's rules in plain words.”
- “Hold fn and dictate the page two header text.”
- “Draft a note listing this agent's file rules.”
- “Research the file rules on five agency sites.”
Free for 3 days, then $18/month. Download for Mac
You say“Where is Different First Page in Word?”
Lazur · points at itLazur circles the checkbox and labels it. You tick it yourself.
What writers say to Lazur for this
Each one is a single hold of ⌥ ⌘.
“Where is the Different First Page option?”
Lazur circles the option in Word's Header and Footer tab and labels it on your screen.
Points at it
“Walk me through the Normal style settings.”
Lazur guides you one click at a time and waits for each click before it moves on.
Walks you through it
“Explain Shunn's rules in plain words.”
Lazur sees your screen and answers out loud, so you can check the rules against the page.
Explains what's on screen
“Hold fn and dictate the page two header text.”
Dictation types clean, formatted text at the cursor in any app, so you skip typing the header.
Types what you say
“Draft a note listing this agent's file rules.”
Lazur drafts the text and types it into your note. You check it against the agent's page.
Drafts it
“Research the file rules on five agency sites.”
Research runs in Lazur's own Chrome tabs and returns a summary and a report to check.
Researches in the background
“Remind me to send the file on Friday.”
Everyday actions include Apple Reminders and Calendar events by voice, so the deadline is written down.
Handles the small stuff
A plan you can start this week
- Day 1
Read the rules
Open the agent's submission page. Copy the file type, font, margins, header and word count rules into a note. Mark anything that differs from the standard.
- Day 2
Build the master file
Create one file in Word or Pages with the table's settings. Set the Normal style once, then type a test page so you can see how the margins and spacing look.
- Day 3
Headers and word count
Set Different First Page. Add a page two header with your surname, a title keyword and a page number. Round the word count and place it on page one.
- Day 4
Paste and clean
Paste each section into the master as plain text, then reapply Normal style. Scan for stray fonts, underlines and bold. Change emphasis to italics as you go.
- Day 5
Check the saved copy
Save a .docx copy, reopen it, and scroll the whole file. Check page one, page two and the last page. Fix one thing at a time, then save again.
Questions people ask
Do I have to use Times New Roman?
Shunn names Times New Roman as a readable 12-point serif. He also accepts Courier New, while saying it is probably on its way out in fiction circles. If the agent names a font, use that font instead.
Where does the word count go?
Shunn asks for an approximate word count in the upper right of page one, rounded to the nearest hundred. For novellas, he rounds to the nearest 500. Follow the agent if their page asks for something else.
Should I justify the text so it looks neat?
No. Shunn asks for left alignment, not justified text. Use Home > Align Left in Word for Mac, or the matching alignment in Pages and Google Docs.
Is Shunn's guide the rule for every agent?
No. Shunn's page says to check each market's submission guidelines first, and to follow theirs when they differ. Use Shunn as the baseline, not the final word.
Does formatting matter if the writing is strong?
I found no fiction study that measures how formatting affects an agent's decision. The academic data shows that formatting takes real time and can delay resubmissions. The safe move is to match the rules you were given.
Do I need Vellum or Atticus to submit?
Not for a submission file. Both tools are built for publishing a finished book. Vellum is free to download, and you pay only to publish. Atticus costs $147 once. Check each site for current terms.
Can Lazur format the manuscript for me?
No. Lazur does not click buttons or edit files for you. It can point at the setting you need, and it guides you one click at a time. You make each change yourself.
Sources
- Shunn Modern Manuscript Format: Fiction Essentials · William Shunn · checked 2026-11-07
- The untold cost of formatting manuscripts · Nature Index · checked 2026-11-07
- The high resource impact of reformatting requirements for scientific papers · PLOS ONE · checked 2026-11-07
- Create a document in Pages on Mac · Apple Support · checked 2026-11-07
- Add a heading in a Word document · Microsoft Support · checked 2026-11-07
- Create Custom Scrivener Compile Formats · Literature & Latte · checked 2026-11-07
- Vellum · Vellum · checked 2026-11-07
- Atticus · Atticus · checked 2026-11-07
Fix manuscript formatting for agent submissions with Lazur, free for 3 days
Hold a key and ask. Lazur sees your screen, points at the button and talks you through it, in any Mac app. No credit card.