When typing a book, how to publishers prefer to see the paragraphs?

Question

In my format I only have options of (left, right, centered, or justified). Justified is more for columns it seems. When I look in other books for reference, the words are hyphenated sporadically. How do I get that function?

Answer 1

For me: Left, double-spaced paragraphs, Tahoma or Verdana 12-point for fonts, hit the Tab key once--to indent--in order to start a new paragraph, and the hyphen-function?

Hold the Control key down and then hit the hyphen key on your numbers pad (where the NumLock key is. It's the third key on your right).

For publishers, they have their own submission guidelines.

Answer 2

No, don't hyphenate. That's a throwback to the old days of typewriters, or it's needed if you want justification on both left and right.
Just double space, justify the left margin only, and tab in for paragraphs (no extra line spaces between paragraphs).
Go to your library and look at the LMP (Literary Marketplace) which will tell you what publishers want you to submit--not format, but whether they want a first chapter, summary, etc. Don't send them what they don't want.
And, yes, most don't read unsolicited manuscripts. To even have a chance to get it looked at, you need an agent.

Answer 3

What? You indent five to seven spaces for each new paragraph. And, you don't need to type an MS exactly like a printed book would appear (the right margin being even down the page and all that sort of thing). Don't make it so complicated! And really, REAL publishers of REAL books(not this on line and self-publishing garbage that the teens think is REAL publishing. It's vanity garbage.), are inundated with hundreds of thousands of manuscripts a year and they supply far outweighs the demands. In addition, most don't read unsolicited work.

Answer 4

The correct answer is:

You format it EXACTLY how the publisher's submission guidelines tell you to format it.

You request their submission guidelines, and they will tell you exactly how they want it submitted. Then you format your manuscript accordingly. Some publishers request manuscripts have one inch margins and be double spaced. Others request rtf files. Each publisher has their own requirements based on how they do business.