Creating a Submission Ready Manuscript:
1. Do not include styles, headers, footers, page numbers, or any fancy fonts in your manuscript. Simple is better in this age of electronic publishing. (If you include fancy fonts, styles, headers, footers, and page numbers, we must strip your document before we can format for publication.) Do not underline where italics should be used -- use italics. Create a plain Word or Open Office document, single or double-spaced, in Times New Roman, Georgia, or Bookman. Save in doc, docx, or rtf if at all possible.DO NOT USE A PROTECTIVE or SECURITY LOCK on your submission document.
2. Spell-check and Grammar-check are your friends: USE THEM OFTEN! But do not rely on them exclusively as they are fallible. Have a good dictionary or dictionary website near by and also either the latest Chicago Manual of Style or similar text and a good grammar website (I personally use OWL at Purdue University, but there are several good ones.)
3. If you tend to use one word excessively, such as "was", "that", "had", "but", "so", or "and", use the highlight feature in find and see how many times you've used your HABIT words. If your manuscript lights up like a Christmas tree it is NOT publish ready.
4. Double-check the characters: Check names (Make sure they are the same person with the same name and spelling throughout your story. Don't let John end up being Joe by the end.); Check character descriptions (If they have brown eyes at first they should have brown eyes at the end unless you have a good explanation for why not within the story.) Check ages and time continuity (Unless you write a memory or dream sequence or explain a time change, the story should move forward with a natural progression of time.) It's easy to make changes to a story and not follow them all the way through.
5. Put your story away for several days when complete and then re-read it for MIS-SPEAKS. (ie: to/too/two, your/you're, their/there/they're, its/it's, whose/who's, hear/here, etc. Brush up on these rules if you can't decide which is accurate.) Look for too many pronouns which might lead to reader confusion. Be sure quotations are properly marked, sentences end with some form of punctuation, and that commas have a reason for being where you placed them.
6. Have a Beta-reader or another author read your story and point out weak points in the plot, problems mentioned above you might have overlooked, and to check for reader confusion and continuity.
7. Use common sense when self-editing and don't get paranoid about every little comma.
Finally, include your name, address, and email address (or two if you have them) on your title page (usually requested in the upper left hand corner) and a brief biography at the end. SAVE your manuscript and submit when requested.
