Your manuscript will be judged on the writing, of course. But before an agent reads a single sentence properly, they see the page in front of them — and how it looks tells them something. A submission that follows UK conventions reads smoothly on a laptop screen, on paper or on a tablet. One that doesn't creates small frictions that add up: cramped margins, a font that's hard to scan, paragraphs that blur into one another.
None of this is difficult. It is mostly a matter of knowing the handful of conventions agents expect, then applying them consistently from the first page to the last.
Why UK Agents Still Care About Formatting
Literary agents read a great deal, often in short bursts between meetings. Their readers — the assistants and freelancers who sift the slush pile — may work through dozens of submissions in a single sitting. In that context, familiarity is a kindness. When your manuscript looks like every other professional submission, nothing stands between the reader and your story.
Formatting also works as a signal. An agent is looking for someone who can be published: a writer who takes the work seriously and won't create avoidable problems further down the line. An unusual font won't sink a brilliant novel, but it does make the reader's job harder.
There is a practical angle, too. Standard formatting keeps spacing even, makes the word count easy to verify, and means the manuscript can be printed or annotated without anything sliding out of place.
The Core Specifications
Most UK agents expect something close to the following. If an agent lists specific requirements on their website, those always take priority — check before you send.
- Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, is the safest choice. Arial and Garamond are usually fine. Avoid anything decorative.
- Spacing: Double-spaced throughout the main text, including dialogue.
- Margins: Around 2.5 cm (one inch) on all sides. Don't shrink them to squeeze in more words.
- Alignment: Left-aligned, not justified, which creates uneven gaps between words.
- Paragraphs: Indent the first line of each new paragraph by 1.27 cm (half an inch), using a paragraph indent rather than the space bar or repeated tabs.
- No extra line breaks between paragraphs. A blank line after every one doubles your page count and reads like a blog post.
- Colour: Black text on a white background.
The one exception to the no-blank-line rule is a deliberate visual break — after a chapter heading, for instance, or at the end of a scene.
Your Title Page
The first page of your file is not page one of the story. It is a title page, and it carries the information an agent needs to contact you and place the book.
Put your real name, address, email and phone number in the top left corner, single-spaced. In the centre, roughly a third of the way down, give the title in capitals, with the word count and the genre or category beneath it. If you write under a pen name, put your legal name in the corner and the pen name under the title.
Round the word count to the nearest thousand — 84,000 rather than 83,742. Agents use it to check the book sits within sensible bounds for its category, and an over-precise figure looks fussy.
If you're sending the first three chapters or the first fifty pages, the title page stays and the story begins on the following page.
Headers, Page Numbers and Chapter Openings
Every page after the title page should carry a header. In the top right, put your surname, the title in capitals and the page number, separated by slashes: Bennett / THE LONG FIELD / 42. Some writers centre the page number in the footer instead; either is fine, as long as you're consistent. What matters is that if pages become separated, anyone can work out where they belong.
Start each chapter on a fresh page, with the heading around a third of the way down. Capitals alone are enough; bold or underlined is acceptable, but keep it plain. Don't number the title page.
Inside the Text: Indents, Scene Breaks and Emphasis
Small typographical choices cause more confusion than anything else in a submission.
Scene breaks
When you jump forward in time or switch viewpoint within a chapter, mark the break with a centred hash mark (#) or three asterisks, with a blank line above and below. A single blank line is too easy to miss once the text is double-spaced.
Emphasis
Use italics for emphasis, and for interior thought if that's your convention. Don't use bold or capitals to shout — that's what the writing is for. Decide how you're handling thoughts and stick to it; inconsistency here is one of the quickest ways to look inexperienced.
Dialogue and dashes
For a UK submission, use single quotation marks for speech, with doubles inside for a quote within dialogue. An em dash with no spaces around it — like this — is standard in British publishing. Choose a style for ellipses and apply it everywhere. If your novel uses American spelling throughout, be consistent, but don't mix the two systems.
Files, Filenames and Email Etiquette
Most UK agents now take submissions by email: a short query letter plus the requested pages as an attachment.
- Save as .docx. It's the format every agent's software can open and comment on. Send a PDF only if it's specifically requested.
- Name the file clearly. Bennett_The Long Field_Full Manuscript.docx tells the agent everything at a glance. Avoid files called "novel" or "final version 3".
- Keep the email short. A paragraph of introduction, the title, word count and genre, and any genuine personal connection.
- Read the guidelines twice. Page counts, attachment rules and whether a synopsis is wanted vary from agent to agent.
Before You Press Send
Read your opening ten pages on a phone screen, then print them. Both will reveal things a desktop screen hides: a line of dialogue that runs past the margin, a paragraph that has swallowed a scene break, a chapter heading stranded halfway down a page.
Then run a last check:
- Is the manuscript double-spaced in one font, with indented first lines and no stray blank lines?
- Does every page carry a header with your surname, the title and a page number?
- Is the title page complete, with a rounded word count and your contact details?
- Are scene breaks visible and consistently styled?
- Does the file open cleanly, and is the filename sensible?
Get those right and the formatting disappears. The agent stops noticing the page and starts noticing the writing, which is exactly where you want them.
Photo: lil_foot_ / Pixabay
