SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS

"Working with Rogena was a wonderful, stress-free experience. Professional, courteous, and timely. I would not hesitate to recommend her." — M.L. Gardner, Bestselling Author

Submission Specifications

These are the preference of RMJ Manuscript Service LLC. IF you send a formatted file, it is your responsibility to request editing be completed without making changes. Please note, a more efficient edit happens with serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Georgia, Garamond, etc. versus a non serif font such as Arial, Helvetica, and other 'straight' fonts.

IN SHORT: Changes to 6x9 or smaller, serif font, size of 11pt-12pt, and .3-.5 indents will be made upon receiving your manuscript. These changes are the preference for ease of editing by RMJ Manuscript Service unless a special request is made by the client.

A detailed Synopsis (not just a blurb) should be included with the manuscript being submitted for editing to be used as a guide for clarity of the story. Minor content editing will be performed during the editing process for clarity of and consistency in the plot. It is less time-consuming if we are able to read a synopsis prior to and during the editing process. The Synopsis should include names and details of characters with correct spelling of names along with any special spellings we need to know about.
MS Word Document (.doc or .docx) – 6x9* to 8.5x11 Page.
11-12pt Serif Typeface (Times/Georgia, etc. – no straight line fonts such as Arial/Helvetica)
.3 to .5 inch indents (NOT Tabs) for paragraphs
.57 to .75 inch margins – top, bottom, sides & Left Justified (LJ for eBooks–Formatting for print book will then be changed to Justified.)
Relaxed or 1.15 Line Spacing for editing.
NO EXTRA Returns between paragraphs, unless for a scene break (be sure to mark scene breaks accordingly using asterisks *** (not just with a line of white also known as a hard return)
Single spaces at the end of sentences (rather than old school two spaces)

Do NOT use spaces to center text. Use the center button in Word.
Page Breaks – ALWAYS use the Page Break option in MS Word. Do not use returns to get to the next page or the next chapter.
Chapter Headings – All chapters clearly marked
Bold or Underlining should NOT be used in your manuscript (even for 'text messages'—texts should be in the same font as the rest of the manuscript. Either write them as dialogue or use colons and no quotation marks.)
Ellipsis. . . will be typed like this. . . three 'periods' with no space before, a small space between, and one space after; except no space after ellipsis prior to end punctuation. [[Exceptions made upon request.]]
Hyphens & Em Dashes—no hyphens except in hyphenated words. Use the longer Em Dash—no space before or after. (Refer to CMOS for when to use hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes.)

WE WILL MAKE THE FILE THE WAY WE PREFER FOR EDITING UNLESS DISCUSSED AHEAD OF TIME. THESE ARE OUR PREFERRED GUIDELINES. IF THE FILE DOES NOT MEET OUR GUIDELINES AND REQUIRES A LOT OF CLEAN-UP, WE WILL REQUEST THE AUTHOR MAKE ADJUSTMENTS.

"Not only was the work professionally done, but her skills gave additional life to the story. She was both teacher and guide without an overbearing attitude." — Frank Stefanick, Bestselling Author