Congratulations! It’s not every day that someone gets a book published! We know you’re excited to get this process underway. If extra care is taken at the beginning of the process, it can reduce or eliminate delays and headaches at the end.

Because the manuscript is the foundation for the entire project and we want to make sure that foundation is as solid as possible, the production department will not proceed with any manuscript submitted to our acquisitions staff. We only accept manuscripts that are submitted directly to the production department after the author has complied with our submission guidelines.

REVIEW THE MANUSCRIPT

Before you submit your manuscript to the production department, take some time to review the manuscript completely one more time. You are about to publish a book that will be available nationwide for anyone to see and read. While the text will be moldable during the editing phase, the stronger your manuscript comes in, the stronger your book will be at the end of the process!

FORMAT THE MANUSCRIPT

The following guidelines are designed to make the production process as smooth as possible. Throughout the process, your manuscript will be used by various departments. We will not accept your manuscript if it violates any of the following guidelines or does not comply with our house style—for your benefit.

First, be sure your manuscript meets all the requirements listed on this page before proceeding to the next step. Once you have performed all of these initial steps, you can use the links on the Home page that pertain to the type of manuscript you are submitting. Then you may proceed to submit your formatted manuscript.

So let’s get started:

• Your manuscript must contain its complete text before submission. We will not accept manuscripts that have parts “still to come.” For instance, if you’re waiting on a foreword, do not submit the manuscript until you have it.
• Please do not press the RETURN/ENTER key at the end of each line (unless you intend to begin a new paragraph). If your manuscript is formatted this way, please remove all manual line breaks and let the text wrap itself naturally to the next line.
• Please put your manuscript in the correct order. Your manuscript may not include all the parts listed here, and all parts listed are not necessary, but the parts your manuscript does have should be placed in this order: title page, dedication, acknowledgments, table of contents, foreword, preface, introduction, prologue, main text, epilogue, afterword, appendix, index, endnotes, bibliography.
• The title page should include only the exact title of your book, the exact subtitle, and your name as you want it to appear on the cover. This means the words only. Layout, font style, and font size will be determined later in production. If your title is still in progress, that’s okay. Please note that a large majority of titles get changed in editing, so it’s best to look at your title as a work in progress until you hear otherwise from your editor.
• For your editor’s convenience, if you use Scripture in your book, please add which translation(s) you have used on a page between the title page and the next page of the book. This will be removed to the copyright page by your editor at a later date.
• All text of the manuscript should be Times New Roman, 12-point font.
• All chapter titles should be Times New Roman, 12-point font, and bold. If your manuscript has section headings, subchapters, or body headings within each chapter, please set these to Times New Roman, 12-point font. Underneath all subsection headings, include the following text, brackets included: [Note to Layout: subsection]. If your manuscript includes multiple sub headers, please designate them accordingly: [Note to Layout: Sub header 1], [Note to Layout: Sub header 2], [Note to Layout: Sub header 3], etc.
• There should be no underlining, no bold, and no text in ALL CAPS used to emphasize text. Any text to be emphasized should be italicized. Italics should be used sparingly.
• Please remove any headers, footers, or page numbers you have added to your text. These will be added during the layout phase of your book.
  
• A first-line indent or tab is not necessary for a new paragraph. These will be added later in production. If you do make use of this feature, please be sure to use the TAB key or the Microsoft Word ruler feature below your toolbars. Do not press the spacebar five times. If you can’t figure out how to make use of any of these features, then no paragraph indents are necessary.
• It does not matter whether your manuscript is single- or double-spaced

Congratulations! You’ve finished the initial overall format of your manuscript. Please proceed by choosing the appropriate link(s) on the Home page to finish formatting. If you have photos, tables, charts, or images of any kind that you would like to submit for approval in your book, please click the Photos & Images next. Otherwise, please examine the list of links carefully and choose the one that best describes your book. If extra care is taken at the beginning of the process, it can reduce or eliminate delays and headaches at the end.