How To Format A Short Story: The Industry Standard Manuscript Guide

Learn how to format a short story using Standard Manuscript Format to ensure your submission meets professional publishing standards. This step-by-step guide covers margins, fonts, line spacing, title page layout, and page headers required by editors and literary magazines. Mastering these technical settings prepares your manuscript for a seamless editorial review.

Pre-Submission Formatting Preparation and Standards

In literary publishing, first impressions are decided before an editor reads a single word of your narrative. When you submit a short story to a literary journal, anthology, or writing contest, your work must adhere to Standard Manuscript Format (often abbreviated as SMF, or referred to as the Shunn style). This format was designed during the era of physical printing presses to give editors physical space on the page to make handwritten proofreading marks, write structural feedback, and calculate accurate print page counts.

While digital submissions have replaced physical paper, publishers still require SMF because it ensures readability, reduces eye strain for acquisition editors, and signals that you understand the professional conventions of the publishing industry. Failing to format your story correctly can lead to an immediate rejection, regardless of the quality of your prose.

Before adjusting any paragraph settings, ensure you have the necessary tools and guidelines ready:

• Essential Software & Tools: A professional word processor such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, or LibreOffice. You will also need a reliable PDF export utility, as many online submission portals require PDF files to preserve layout consistency across different operating systems.
• Mandatory Technical Standards: Universal 1-inch margins, double-line spacing with zero extra padding between paragraphs, a clean 12-point serif or monospaced font, and a precise running header.
• Estimated Budget & Duration: $0 USD. Standard word processors provide all necessary formatting tools for free. Formatting a pre-written 5,000-word short story takes approximately 15 to 30 minutes from scratch.

Step-by-Step Standard Manuscript Format Execution

Follow this sequential workflow to configure your document from a blank page or to reformat an existing draft into a clean, submission-ready short story manuscript.

Step 1: Set Page Margins and Layout Dimensions

Your page dimensions dictate the spatial boundaries of the manuscript. Standardized margins ensure that the text block remains perfectly centered on the page, leaving uniform whitespace around the perimeter.

1. Open your word processor and access the page setup menu (in Microsoft Word, navigate to the Layout tab and select Margins; in Google Docs, go to File, then Page Setup).
2. Set the top, bottom, left, and right margins to exactly 1.0 inch (2.54 centimeters).
3. Set the paper size to Standard Letter (8.5 inches by 11 inches). If you are submitting to a publisher based in Europe or the United Kingdom, change the paper size to A4 if specified in their writer guidelines; otherwise, stick to Letter size.
4. Set the orientation to Portrait.

Warning: Do not attempt to reduce margins to 0.75 inches or 0.5 inches in an effort to alter the apparent page length of your story. Editors can spot altered margins instantly, and doing so violates submission standards.

Step 2: Select a Monospaced or Standard Serif Font

Modern editors review submissions on tablets, e-readers, and computer screens. Your font choice must prioritize readability over personal style.

1. Select your entire manuscript text (Ctrl+A on Windows or Cmd+A on Mac).
2. Apply a clean, highly legible font family. The two industry-standard choices are:
   
   
   • Times New Roman (12-point): The standard proportional serif font preferred by most modern digital publications.
   • Courier / Courier New (12-point): The traditional monospaced font where every character occupies the exact same horizontal width. This remains highly popular for print-based layouts.
3. Ensure the font color is set to solid black. Do not use custom accent colors, bold styling for body text, or stylized sans-serif fonts such as Comic Sans, Calibri, or Arial.

Step 3: Configure Line Spacing and Paragraph Indentation

Correct spacing and indentation allow the reader to track line breaks effortlessly and distinguish between separate blocks of narrative or dialogue.

1. Open the Paragraph Settings dialog box in your word processor.
2. Set the Line Spacing option to exactly Double (2.0). Do not use 1.15, 1.5, or multiple spacing settings.
3. Set the paragraph spacing variables (labeled as "Before" and "After" or "Add space after paragraph") to exactly 0 points. Double-spacing your lines naturally provides enough vertical space; adding automated extra padding after paragraphs creates unnecessary, irregular gaps.
4. Under the "Special" indentation dropdown menu, select First Line. Set the indentation depth to exactly 0.5 inches (1.27 centimeters).
5. Set the text alignment to Align Left (also known as ragged right alignment).

Pro-Tip: Never use the Spacebar or manually press the Tab key to indent the first line of your paragraphs. Manual tabs and spaces collapse during digital formatting conversions, causing your text blocks to warp on e-readers and submission platforms. Always configure indents through the native ruler or paragraph properties of your word processor.

Step 4: Build the Metadata Header and Title Layout (Page One)

Unlike novels, short stories do not require a separate cover page. All essential submission details, contact metadata, and the title are placed directly on the first page of the manuscript file.

1. Move your cursor to the very first line of page one and change the alignment to left-aligned.
2. Type your professional contact information line-by-line in the top-left corner:
   
   
   • Line 1: Your Real Legal Name (and pen name, if different, written in parentheses, e.g., Jane Smith (writing as J. S. Vance)).
   • Line 2: Your physical mailing address.
   • Line 3: Your telephone number.
   • Line 4: Your professional email address.
3. Keep the cursor on the very first line of page one, but change the alignment to right-aligned (or use a right tab stop at the 6.5-inch mark) to input your word count details:
   
   
   • Line 1: Word Count: [Round to the nearest hundred, e.g., Word Count: 3,400].
   • Line 2: Your literary agency representation details (if applicable; otherwise leave blank).
4. Press the Enter key to move down the page until your cursor is approximately halfway down the screen (about 12 to 15 double-spaced line breaks from the top).
5. Center your cursor and type your short story title in all-capital letters (e.g., THE WHISPERING ENGINE).
6. Press the Enter key twice to insert a double-spaced blank line.
7. Type "by" in lowercase letters, centered.
8. Press the Enter key twice again, center your cursor, and type your author name or chosen pseudonym.
9. Press Enter two more times, change the alignment back to left-aligned, and begin typing the first line of your story.

Step 5: Configure the Running Header on Subsequent Pages

Every page after the first page must include a running header in the top-right corner. This allows editors to identify whose story they are reading if the pages are printed out and separated.

1. Double-click within the header region at the top of page two to open the Header & Footer editing menu.
2. Check the box labeled Different First Page. This prevents your running header from displaying on the first page, where your main contact metadata already lives.
3. Navigate to page two and enter the header space.
4. Align the text to the right side of the page.
5. Type your last name, followed by a slash, your short story title (or an abbreviated version of the title if it is long), another slash, and the automated page number field.
   
   
   • Example format: Smith / Whispering Engine / 2
6. Ensure that the running header font matches the body text of your story (12-point Times New Roman or Courier) and that the page number is set to update automatically.

Warning: Do not type the page number manually on each page. If you manually type the number "2" in the header of page two, every subsequent page header will display the number "2" instead of incrementing to 3, 4, and 5. Always use your software's "Insert Page Number" tool.

Step 6: Format Scene Breaks, Dialogue, and Emphasis

To ensure that your text translates seamlessly to print and digital layouts, use standardized markers for scene breaks, character speech, and linguistic emphasis.

1. Dialogue Formatting: Enclose spoken dialogue in double quotation marks ("..."). When a new character speaks, start a new paragraph with a fresh first-line indent.
2. Scene Transitions: If you need to indicate a jump in time or space within your story, do not simply leave a blank line. If the blank line happens to fall at the bottom of a printed page, the editor will not know if a scene break was intended. Instead, insert a blank line, center a single pound sign (#) or three spaced asterisks (* * *), and insert another blank line before resuming your prose.
3. Italics and Emphasis: Use actual italicized font styling (not underlining) to indicate inner thoughts, book titles, or emphasized words. Modern publishing systems handle italicized characters perfectly, making the historical practice of underlining text obsolete.
4. Signaling the End of the Story: Once you have written your final paragraph, press Enter to create a double-spaced blank line. Center your cursor and type "THE END" or "###" to let the editor know they have reached the conclusion of your manuscript.

Manuscript Specification Comparison Table

This comparison table highlights the major structural and typographic differences between formatting a short story for submission to professional publishers versus preparing a layout for self-publishing digital or print editions.

Formatting Failures and Editorial Fixes

Even experienced writers make technical formatting errors that can distort their layout. Use these real-world diagnostics and fixes to clean up your file before submission.

• Failure Scenario 1: Tab Key or Spacebar Indent Collapses

  
  
  
  • Root Cause: The author used manual spacing to indent the first line of every paragraph, causing the indents to look uneven or disappear entirely when the document is imported into an editor's reader software.
  • Actionable Fix: Press Ctrl+A to select the entire document. Open the Find and Replace dialog. In the "Find" field, type ^t (the code for a manual tab tabulator) and leave the "Replace with" field completely empty. Click "Replace All" to strip out all manual tabs. Then, open your Paragraph Formatting options, go to Special, choose First Line, and set it to 0.5 inches to apply a uniform, digital indent.

• Failure Scenario 2: Double-Header Clash on Page One

  
  
  
  • Root Cause: The running header containing the author's last name and page number appears on page one, overlapping or cluttering the primary contact information block.
  • Actionable Fix: Double-click the header area on page one to activate the header editing menu. In the toolbar, locate the Options section and check the box for "Different First Page." This instantly clears the running header from page one while preserving it on pages two, three, and beyond.

• Failure Scenario 3: Double-Spacing Created with Double Enter Keys

  
  
  
  • Root Cause: The author manually pressed the Enter key twice at the end of every sentence or paragraph to simulate double-spacing, creating artificial paragraph breaks that disrupt the text flow on mobile devices.
  • Actionable Fix: Turn on the non-printing formatting marks option (the pilcrow symbol: ¶) to reveal hidden spacing characters. If you see two paragraph symbols between every line, use Find and Replace. Enter ^p^p (double paragraph break) in the Find field, and replace it with ^p (single paragraph break). Once the text is consolidated, select the entire document, open Paragraph Settings, and set the Line Spacing dropdown to "Double."

• Failure Scenario 4: Word Count Over-Precision

  
  
  
  • Root Cause: The author listed an exact word count (e.g., "Word Count: 3,427 words") on the front page, which makes the manuscript look amateurish and reveals a lack of industry experience.
  • Actionable Fix: Editors do not need to know the exact syllable count; they need to estimate the layout volume. Round your word count to the nearest hundred words. Change "3,427" to "3,400" or "approx. 3,400 words" in your top-right metadata block.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a separate cover page for a short story?

No, a short story does not require a separate cover page. Placing a cover page in front of a short story manuscript adds an unnecessary page for the editor to scroll through. Your personal contact details and story metadata should reside in the top corners of the very first page, with your narrative beginning directly below your centered title.

What font is best for submitting a short story?

Times New Roman in 12-point size is the modern standard for digital and print submissions. It is highly legible, renders correctly across all operating systems, and is universally accepted by editors. Courier New is also acceptable if a publisher explicitly requests a monospaced font in their submission guidelines.

How do I format dialogue in a short story?

Dialogue should be enclosed in double quotation marks. Begin a new, indented paragraph every time a different character speaks to make the conversation clear to the reader. Place terminal punctuation, such as commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points, inside the quotation marks.

How do I format italics in a short story?

Use your word processor's standard italicized text style. While older guidelines instructed writers to underline words to signify italics (a rule originating from the era of manual typewriters), modern digital publishing workflows prefer actual italicized characters.

Prepare Your Journey to Publication

Refine your layout to meet these exact industry standards to ensure your narrative receives the professional attention it deserves. Once your formatting is flawless, focus on crafting compelling query letters and submitting your story to the top literary markets.