At my writer’s group, we have had a few new members come to have someone look at their manuscripts before they submit them. And the biggest question is how to format your children’s manuscript?
I remember my first time writing a picture book and sending it out, my formatting was all off. It’s one of the five major mistakes I made and I WISH someone was there to tell me what to do–then I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself. 🙈
So that you don’t look like an amateur (Like I did), I’ve created an easy, step-by-step guide to help you format your children’s manuscript. All you have to provide is your amazing story!
How to Format Your Children’s Manuscript Like an Expert:
There are many different places you will send your manuscript and they all have slight variances in formatting. We will focus on the final submission process to format your children’s manuscript. This can be tweaked slightly for the other types, so it’s the best way to start the formatting.
Here is the Step-by-Step Guide to Format Your Children’s Manuscript-
1. Your Contact Information
The first step when you start a new manuscript is to put your contact information on it. That information includes:
- First and Last Name
- Address
- Phone Number
This information goes in the upper, left-hand corner of your Word document. I prefer to keep it single-spaced to save room for my story on the page.
**Note: For email submissions and first pages, this information won’t be included. Unless you’re submitting to an agent or editor with an attachment of your manuscript.
2. Your Target Reader & Word Count
In the upper, right-hand corner you should include your target reader and word count when you format your children’s manuscript–If you don’t know who your book is for
I prefer an approximate word count for my manuscripts, but you can list exact word count on picture books. If you’re writing a chapter book, middle-grade, or YA novel, I would stick to approximate word counts.
**Note: This will also be left off when you copy and paste your manuscript in the body of an email for submissions. If you keep it in, it will mess up your formatting.
3. Your Title and Written By
Halfway down the first page of your manuscript you will want to include your title and written by. The title should be in all caps when you format your children’s manuscript but the written by can be standard lowercase.
Picking a title is always one of the hardest things for me, but there are two things I try to focus on when I write mine:
- Is it related to my story?
- Does it make the reader curious?
This will hopefully help you get passed the submission process. And if the editor wants to change it later, then that’s ok!
4. Name, Title, & Page Number in the Header
You will need to make sure to complete your header when you format your children’s manuscript. This should include your last name/title of your book and the page number aligned to the right.
**Note: You should keep this for ALL submissions except when you copy and paste your manuscript into the body of an email. It helps make sure that your pages don’t get lost whenever someone prints out your story.
5A. Illustrator Notes (Picture Books Only)
In plotting your perfect picture book, I talked about Illustrator Notes for authors that are not creating the images for their books (If you haven’t read it yet, you can do that here. It’s worth the read, especially before you submit!)
These will be aligned to the right side of the manuscript, under the line that you need the note for. Here’s when you should use Illustrator Notes:
- When you’re writing an illustration-heavy manuscript (IE: little to no words). These notes will need to be well-thought-out, creative, and detailed in order to intrigue an agent/editor.
- When you use words or phrases that people can’t picture, like a charging herd of crumblezars on planet zod. That might need some clarification.
- When you have an obscure character or introduction to the story. For instance, if your main character is Frank but he’s a dog the whole time or if you are using a narrator’s voice but it’s a grandpa talking to his grandson.
5B. Chapter Breaks (For Longer Manuscripts Only)
When you want to format your children’s manuscript but have a lot of chapters, you may think you should include a table of contents. Don’t.
You only have the first few seconds to intrigue an agent or editor and don’t want to lose them by listing all of your chapters. Especially, when they won’t have any reference to the story or characters.
Instead, simply list your chapter in your story. I like to spell mine out and make them bold to signal a page break, but you don’t have to. The main goal is to keep consistency for them all. So if you spell your numbers out, they all should be and the same with bolding the letters.
Those are the main elements when you format your children’s books. Be sure to include contact info, target reader, word count, header information, and title. If you have references or an author’s note, those will be at the end of the manuscript.
Some industry standards to note:
- Use Romans 12pt font, and double-space your manuscript
- Follow each person’s SPECIFIC guidelines before submitting
Also, be sure to check out these articles before you submit to make sure that your manuscript is ready to be sent:
- Target Your Perfect Reader
- Have Your Critique Group Review Your Manuscript
- How to Write a Query Letter
- How to Find the Right Agent
- How to Know the Publishing House for You
- Everything You need to Publish a Children’s Book
Now You Know How to Format Your Children’s Manuscript!
Yes!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS!! I was too embarrassed to ask about this, and here is a whole article on this very subject, yay!!!
YES!! I’m so happy I could help you out, Jennifer. 🙂 Better to ask than to send a story that’s not right and get rejected. 🙈 Good luck with your submissions!
Thank you for this Brooke! As a writer with completed stories, figuring out how to polish them before sending out has been a challenge. I do have a have question about paragraph breaks. Do you recommend any resources that gives insight on how to set up paragraph breaks? Like for pacing and/or offsetting dialogue? Any insight on this would be helpful. Thanks again!
You’re most welcome Ron! As for paragraphs, you’ll want to keep the paragraphs standard — you don’t need to add any extra gaps in them unless you have a lapse in time. Then you could add a few symbols to break them (like this ****). However, you don’t want to add too much space because you want the manuscript to appear like one continuous flow. Hope this helps!
You write:
4. Name, Title, & Page Number in the Header
Then your eg. directly below this reverses the order: title/name/page no.
Which order is correct?
Hi Jay – Good question! You just have to have your name & title listed before the page number on the header of your document. That way in case pages are shuffled/dropped, they know how to put them back together. The order preference is up to you — I prefer to put my book title before my name but others do it the opposite way. Hope this helps you with your set up!
Thank you for this wonderful article. This has helped me tremendously. I’m writing a picture book about 3 dogs. The dogs tell the story. How do I format this? I don’t want their names written in the actual text. Do I format it like I would a play, with their names centered above their “lines”?
Thank you so much for the help.
Hi Jill!
Great question! You actually don’t have to name them, but you’ll need some way to differentiate between the three. (If you want the reader to know they’re dogs in the manuscript, just put an illustrator note at the beginning.) You’ll only have to do a play style format if you’re writing an all dialogue story. 🙂 Hope this helps get you started. Good luck with your story!
Thank you for this! Should I start the story directly under the title or start a new page? Also, I have an illustrator. How should I add in my own illustrations?
Hi Sheri – Great question! You’ll want to start the story below the title. (I normally hit enter a couple of times to give it some space.) As for the illustrations, if you’re planning to submit the story to a publisher, you’ll want the manuscript separate. However, if you’re wanting to format for publishing, you’ll want to create the files using InDesign to lay out the text on the images. Hope this helps you out!
Hi there. I know I need an illustrator but, when I was trying my stories out on the grandchildren, I used photographs, some my own and some from bing search, to help them follow. Would these be helpful to the editor/publisher? Or should I leave them out to avoid complications or embarrassment? Cat photos btw.
Hi Linda! I love the ingenious. 🙂 Probably really helped your grandkids to visualize your story! As for your submissions though, you won’t want to submit these with your submission. They should be able to visualize things with just your words, however, if you have bits of ambiguity, you can always use a quick illustrator note. Hope this helps. Good luck with your submissions!
Should I number the lines to show which ones go on which pages?
Example:
1 Once upon a time, there was a frog. The frog’s name was Floppy.
2 Floppy had a friend that was a duck. The duck’s name was Flappy.
3 Floppy and Flappy were best buddies.
Great question, Tabitha! If you’re wanting to send your story to a publisher, no. You don’t need to paginate your story. Instead, you’ll want to keep it in manuscript format. However, if you’re planning to self-publish and work with an illustrator, it’s best to paginate before sending them the manuscript so they know ideally what images should go with what sentences. Then I’d suggest have a chat together before finalizing to make sure it makes sense artistically. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi thank you so much for this. I wanted to know when doing the manuscript you do the pages as well right? Not just everything bunched together? Like what I want on page one on its own page?
Never mind saw you had answered that above.
Yep! You’ll want to keep everything flowing together without any divisions for page breaks or chapters. 🙂 Glad I could help!
Hi my manuscript is a picture book for young readers. Do I write my name upper right including word count for every page. Must the quotes fall under every narration with breaks?
also
Hey! No – you only need the upper-hand info on the first page. Then just use the header for the rest of your pages. 🙂 And no – only use illustrator notes when needed. Hope this helps! Good luck with your book 🙂
Dear Brooke. I am mentally challenged. Could you send to me in the mail what a entire Children’s Manuscript looks like for a Children’s book??? Because I don’t comprehend what you are saying here at all. My head feels like a ball of 🧶Yarn. Or email me at songwritersingerdebbie@yahoo.com
And then let me know only the names of famous book publishers accepting new stories from new writers like me.
Thanks if you do
Deb
Hi Debbie! Happy to help you out. Check your email. 🙂
Hello Brooke,
Your website is my number one choice as an aspiring author! It can get a bit confusing when you look at different submission formats. There seems to be such variation between authors.
I live in Australia. An example I saw from Emma Quay for her book “Rudie Nudie” (if goggled you can view this format) is formatted with pagination and double spacing. Does formatting differ between countries and what is expected from publishers? Would it be possible to see an example of one of your stories formatted for submission. Emma’s was the only example I have been able to find anywhere!
My story is based on 24 pages/paragraphs for a 32 page picture book layout.
Thank you very much for providing all of your helpful hints!
Warm wishes,
Lisa
Awe, thank you so much Lisa!! That’s so wonderful to hear. 🙂 I’m so glad it’s been valuable for you and your writing. (It’s my mission here!) Yes, you’ll always want to double-space your story, however, you don’t have to paginate it. Formatting doesn’t differ between countries, but sometimes what an agent or editor requests might be a little different. (Sometimes you paste the story, sometimes you attach it, sometimes you need a synopsis, sometimes you don’t, etc.) The key though is even though you’re writing a picture book, you want the text to flow seamlessly between pages. So a typical 300-500 word story should be able to fit on 3-4 pages. You don’t need to start a new page for either a new chapter or page in a picture book.
I also emailed you an example of a manuscript that I use sometimes when teaching. Let me know if that helps you better know what to write! Good luck with your submissions. Can’t wait to hear how they go! 🙂
Hi! My manuscript is for children and I plan to do the illustrations do i include the illustrations or just illustration notes?
And if it’s a lets say 15 page book do i include all those 15 pages?
Thank you.
Hi! I’ve tried several times to get the template emailed to me, but it’s not showing up. I’ve searched all the ways you say to search also…even tried using 2 different emails. Is there someway other way that I can get it? I was so excited when I found this resource. Sincerely, a kindergarten teacher hoping to publish a book. 🙂
Hi Suzanne! Thanks for letting me know — I just sent you an email. Look for brooke@journeytokidlit.com in your inbox.
Thanks for writing this article! I want my children’s book to rhyme- is there a way to indicate stanzas in the manuscript? I know you’ve commented before there’s no need to delineate page numbers, but would rhyming be a different case? Or would I simply write in sentences? I have an image in my head for where the words would go on the pages and hope to get that across to whoever reads the manuscript.
Hi Sandra! Great question — as for breaking up the pages, you’d still keep it as a cohesive, flowing document like any picture book. However, depending on your rhyme, you might want to add a space between stanzas. (If you don’t have a stanza specific rhyme, then you could just keep it flowing like any manuscript.) An example might be:
telling a sentence
finishing sentence with the word I want to rhyme.
Telling the next sentence
finishing the sentence with the word that rhymes.
(space)
Moving on to the next stanza
And setting it up with the same pattern.
Hope this helps and makes sense! If not – feel free to email me and I’d be happy to explain it more. Have fun writing your story. 🙂