A manuscript arrives in an editor's inbox: forty pages of poems, no title page, no contents, and stanzas that slide into one another so it is impossible to tell where one poem stops and the next begins. The poems might be wonderful. Nobody will find out, because reading the submission has become work.
Formatting a collection is not decoration. It is how you clear the path between your poems and the person reading them. What follows is the ordinary set of conventions most UK pamphlet and collection publishers expect, and once you have a template you can reuse it for every submission you make.
Why the standard exists
Editors read quickly and they read a great deal. A manuscript that behaves predictably can be judged on its poems alone. One that does not forces the reader to solve small puzzles — is this a new poem or a continuation? Is that line break a typo? — and those puzzles add up to irritation.
Your formatting is also the first evidence an editor has of your judgement. A clean manuscript suggests a writer who pays attention. That does not improve the poems, but it means they are read with an open mind rather than a sigh.
Clarity is a courtesy. It costs half an hour and it buys your poems a fair hearing.
The page order
Most submissions follow the same sequence. Work through it in order and nothing important gets forgotten.
- Title page. The collection's title, the words "Poems by", your name, and your contact details. Nothing else: no illustrations, no decorative fonts, no epigraph.
- Contents. Expected in a collection and useful even in a short pamphlet. List the poems in the order they appear, with page numbers, and check that the order matches.
- Acknowledgements. A short list of poems published elsewhere, naming the magazine or anthology. Publishers need this for permissions, and it shows a track record.
- The poems. Each one beginning on a fresh page, even very short ones. That white space is what tells a reader a new poem has started.
- Notes or glossary. Only where a poem genuinely needs one — a translation, a dialect word, an obscure reference. Keep it to a page.
A dedication or epigraph, if you want one, normally goes after the title page, but check the guidelines first; some presses add such pages at proof stage.
Setting up the page
Fonts, spacing and margins
Use one font for the whole manuscript and keep it plain. A 12-point serif such as Garamond, Georgia or Times New Roman is the safe choice. Left-align everything. Justified text stretches the gaps between words and spoils the visual shape of a line, which is precisely what a poem is made of.
Set margins of around 2.5cm on all sides and use A4 paper. Single-space the lines within a poem and put one clear blank line between stanzas. If the guidelines ask for 1.15 or 1.5 spacing so that an editor can write comments, follow them without argument.
Page numbers and headers
Number every page except the title page, at the bottom centre or bottom right. A running header carrying your surname and the collection title is a sensible habit: if pages get separated, they can be put back together.
Resist everything else — borders, coloured text, drop caps, clip art. They will not make the manuscript look more literary. They make it look as though it was assembled by someone who does not read many books of poems.
Laying out individual poems
A poem's title sits at the top of its page in the same font as the rest, either bold or italic. Pick one and stay with it throughout. Leave a blank line between title and first line, and do not centre either unless the poem is genuinely meant to be centred.
Preserve the poem's own shape. If a line is indented in the finished piece, indent it in the manuscript. Mark a stanza break with one blank line, not three. And never push a poem down a page by pressing Enter repeatedly; insert a page break instead, or any change to the font or margins will scatter your careful layout.
Long lines and deliberate indents
Long lines are one of the few genuine problems poetry formatting has to solve. Do not let them wrap silently, because the reader cannot tell a wrap from a line break. Use a hanging indent so the continuation is visibly subordinate, and keep it consistent. Where guidelines specify a maximum line length, respect it.
For example, if a line runs past the right-hand margin, a wrapped fragment at the left margin can look like a new line. A hanging indent of about 1cm signals that the fragment belongs to the line above. Use the same indent for every wrapped line in the manuscript, and check the pages in a PDF as well as in your word processor, because pagination can shift when the file is converted.
Sequences and section breaks
If a long poem has numbered sections, use roman or arabic numerals consistently and decide whether sections run on or begin on new pages. Within a single poem, a change of speaker, time or argument is often marked by a blank line or a numbered section; in a sequence, use the same marker throughout so the reader always knows where they are. If the first section begins "i", keep roman numerals; if it begins "1", keep arabic. Do not mix. If sections should begin on fresh pages, insert page breaks rather than repeated blank lines, and check that the contents page still tells the truth.
File format and naming
Most publishers now ask for a digital file, and the guidelines matter more than habit. If they ask for a .docx, send a .docx. If they ask for a PDF, send a PDF. Do not send both unless asked, and do not assume that a file which opens perfectly on your computer will look the same on theirs.
Use a clear file name: your surname, the collection title and the word "Poems", separated by underscores. Morgan_SmallHours_Poems.docx is easy to find and easy to file. finalfinalversion2.docx is not. Keep the manuscript as one document rather than sending each poem as a separate attachment; an editor should not have to assemble your collection before reading it. If you are sending a Word file, accept all tracked changes, remove comments and check that no revision marks remain.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using more than one font. It fragments the reading experience and looks amateurish.
- Centring every title. A centred title may suit one poem, but as a default it fights the left-aligned body text.
- Forgetting the contents page. Even a pamphlet benefits from one, and publishers expect it.
- Letting long lines wrap invisibly. The reader cannot tell where the line actually ends.
- Using tabs and repeated spaces. They collapse or shift when the file is opened elsewhere. Use indents and page breaks instead.
- Inconsistent stanza breaks. One blank line throughout, unless the poem deliberately does something else.
- Missing acknowledgements. If poems have been published, say so clearly and accurately.
- Decorating the pages. Borders, coloured headings and images rarely help a poetry submission.
A final checklist before you press send
- Read the publisher's guidelines and follow them exactly, even where they differ from this article.
- Check the title page for your name, collection title and contact details.
- Check the contents page against the manuscript, including page numbers.
- Check that every poem begins on a fresh page.
- Check page numbers and the running header.
- Check the file name and format.
- Read the manuscript on screen and on paper; problems that are invisible on a monitor often appear on a printed page.
- Ask someone else to find one thing that looks confusing, then fix it.
Then stop. A formatted manuscript is not a perfect one; it is simply one that lets the poems do their work without interference. Send it, and start thinking about the next submission.
