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What is required by publishers to get my book in print?

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Jim Frey: Hi, I am Jim Frey. I am the owner of American Literary Press and I am going to be talking about how to create a type manuscript.

Host: What is required by publishers to get my book in print?

Jim Frey: No matter what type of publisher that you are looking for, for your book and we'll get into different types of publishers that are available to you a little bit later. One universal requirement is you are going to have to have a typed manuscript and the days of electric typewriters or electronic typewriters since long since passed into the computer age. So I suggest that if your comfort is to handwrite it and type it after that, that's fine, but for submission to any type of publisher, you will need a typed manuscript. People often ask us what format or what computer program that manuscript should be in. The universally accepted program for typing is Microsoft Word. This is not a commercial for Microsoft Word, but it's with the one program that's best for first time authors. I suggest that you set your computer program to double space that allows both you and an eventual publisher or agent to do some editing. Secondly, it be done in the common font like Times New Roman, Arial are the two typical fonts that people use. Third, it should be in 12 point type for the font size. So, when you type it, do it in that program with those aspects, assuming it's all in your computer in a book file however you organize it. When you print it and submit it to a publisher for publication, you want to provide a single sided copy of that book. Do not take it to a copy shop locally and copy on both sides. The preference is for single sided manuscripts.

Expert: James Frey

Owner

www.americanliterarypress.com

P: 410-882-7700, 800-873-2003

Email: jim@americanliterarypress.com

James V. Frey is the current owner of American Literary Press, a Baltimore, MD-based book publisher that has published books written by more than 1,300 first-time authors during the past 20 years.Jim is a Cum Laude graduate of Dartmouth College. Following graduation from Dartmouth, he served as a high school teacher in Southern New Hampshire. Subsequently, he spent 15 years with Xerox Corporation in various Sales More »