Preparing a Poetry Manuscript for Submission

In my last column, I wrote about preparing a cover letter for your poetry manuscript submission. Well, what about preparing the actual manuscript?

As I mentioned in the last column, most poetry presses in Canada accept unsolicited and unagented submissions. This leaves the task of preparing the manuscript on the poet, and how to do so isn’t always intuitive. In this column, I break down the elements of a manuscript and how to get them in place. A professional presentation makes a good first impression.

A full-length collection sits at 45ish pages or longer. The ideal length for a collection really depends on its subject matter, the nature of the poems, and whether the manuscript feels “complete” at the length it sits at. A manuscript that’s too long can be cut down in editing, but one that’s too short may cast doubts about how ready it is for publication.

The main manuscript

This part is pretty straightforward. For the main manuscript, start with the title page. The title sits around half-way down the page, with your name below (unless the press has requested an anonymous manuscript).

Include your section titles on their own page. Use a “page break” to create new pages for sections and poems rather than pressing “enter” until the poem falls on its own page.

Depending on the nature of your formatting, you may want to submit the manuscript as a PDF to ensure the poem spacing and form doesn’t change.

Document styles

For poem titles, there’s flexibility in the style you use so long as the title is distinguishable from the poems. I prefer to bold my titles, but you can underline, use the “heading” feature of your word processing software, or use a bigger font.

Name the document with the title of your manuscript. If you include the press’s name in the file name, make sure to change it when you submit to a different press.

Include page numbers, though I don’t show the number on the first page. The standard margins of one inch each are perfectly fine. And although a print book’s page is smaller, submitting on a standard printer paper size is always preferred—although many presses now accept email submissions, they may print out copies during acquisitions.

12-point font is the most common style, in a clean and readable font like Times New Roman, Arial, or Garamond. Just make sure the font size and style is consistent across the manuscript.

While prose manuscripts ask for double-spacing, poetry manuscripts do not. Line spacing is crucial to poetry, so have the spacing appear how you want the poem to be read.

Optional elements

I’ve been asked whether a Table of Contents is necessary to include. I’ve submitted manuscripts with and without. This element is a feature of a print book rather than a manuscript itself. That being said, if you use the “heading” function of a word processing software, you can easily create a Table of Contents.

Your “Notes and Acknowledgments” section won’t be as robust and thorough as they would be in a print book. However, if individual poems have been published in journals and magazines or received awards, it’s nice to include those publication notes in the manuscript. As well, if you received a grant for the manuscript, a “notes” section is the place to mention this information.

And that’s all the elements of getting a manuscript ready! A strong manuscript won’t be rejected for lapsing in any of these elements, but it feels better to submit a polished and clean document.