Manuscript Formatting and Submission Pack
Three documents and two sheets that hold each recipient's own anonymization rule, file type, and page cap, not one house style.
Free download · No account needed
Formatted Manuscript
[Title], by [Author]
Base typography, every variant
12pt serif, one-inch margins, double-spaced, half-inch first-line indents, left-aligned.
What changes by recipient
| Variant | Anonymization | Length | Recipients |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | — | — | — |
| B-1 | — | — | — |
| B-2 | — | — | — |
The number this page exists to produce
Not a formatting checklist. How many distinct files this round needs, and which named recipients each one actually serves.
Before it ships
Every anonymized copy checked against the file's own Author property and its comments, not just against what is visible on the page.
Standard manuscript format is one specification: 12-point Times New Roman, one-inch margins, and from page two on, a running header carrying your surname, a title keyword, and the page number. Most agents expect exactly that. A real share of this pack's other recipients expect the opposite. Blind-judged fiction contests forbid a visible name anywhere in the file, and disqualify an entry that carries one, entry fee kept.
On one worked round, Wren Adeyemi queried twenty-four recipients for a finished novel: sixteen agents, all expecting a name, and eight contests, all run blind, split across three excerpt lengths. Crossing anonymization against those caps produced four distinct files, not one. Sent as a single named, full-length file to everyone, eight of the twenty-four, a third of the round, would have arrived already disqualified, and four of those eight would also have been the wrong length. A manuscript revision plan runs before this stage; this pack starts once the pages are final.
Removing the header is necessary and not sufficient. A file's Author property, and any tracked change or comment carrying a name, survive deleting the text on the page, because both live in the file's own structure. On the worked round, the word processor's full inspector caught two such traces on the anonymized copies that no amount of reading the pages would have found. A book proposal crosses chapters against comps the same way this pack crosses recipients against rules: one register, one row per fact that has to be tracked instead of assumed.
What's in the pack
Submission Register
One row per recipient: their anonymization rule, accepted file type, and page or word cap, plus which variant they were actually sent.
Response Log
What came back per recipient, including the disqualification from an earlier round that this register now exists to prevent.
Formatted Manuscript
The named specification every agent expects, and the anonymized specification a blind contest requires, down to the header and the file name.
Query Letter
One page, drafted from the manuscript itself, ending on the question the pages answer rather than the book's resolution.
Synopsis
The complete plot, ending included, in the third-person present-tense convention nearly every recipient expects regardless of the manuscript's own voice.
How it works
- 1
Open or download
Edit with AI installs the pack as a private Space and asks for your recipient list first, agents, contests, whatever the round is. Download gives you the blank files, no account.
- 2
Build the register
Each recipient's own anonymization rule, accepted file type, and page cap, read from their actual guidelines rather than assumed from their type, the same discipline a source register applies to interview contacts.
- 3
Cross-check before formatting
How many recipients a single default file would disqualify, and the exact number of distinct variants the round actually needs, reported before anything is produced.
- 4
Run the metadata check
Every anonymized copy through the word processor's full inspector, not the quick properties view, before it is marked ready to send.
Frequently asked questions
Is this free?
The download is free and needs no account: the real Submission Register, Response Log, Formatted Manuscript, Query Letter, and Synopsis, blank, as Word and CSV. Edit with AI creates a free account and fills them in from your own recipient list and manuscript.
What format are the downloaded files?
Three Word documents and two CSV sheets, zipped. The documents open in Word, Pages, and Google Docs; the sheets open in Excel, Numbers, and Sheets. Nothing needs converting, and a PDF query string on the download swaps the documents to PDF if you want to circulate rather than fill in.
What does Edit with AI actually do?
It installs this pack as a private Space, then builds the register from your recipient list, reading each one's actual guidelines for its anonymization rule and file type rather than assuming them from the recipient's type. You get the variant count the round needs, the compliance check against a single default file, and the metadata check on every anonymized copy.
Does deleting the header actually anonymize the file?
Not on its own. A word processor stores the Author and Company properties separately from the page, along with the identity behind any tracked change or comment, and none of that is removed by deleting visible text. This pack's metadata check runs the file's full inspector, not the quick properties view, before an anonymized copy is marked ready.
How do I know if a recipient requires anonymization?
Read their actual guidelines for the words anonymous, blind, or identifying information, rather than assuming from whether they are an agent, a contest, or a magazine. Two contests in the same genre routinely land on opposite sides of this question, which is exactly why the register holds it per recipient instead of guessing from type.
My manuscript isn't finished yet. Can I still use this?
No, and that is deliberate. This pack formats and tracks a manuscript that is done. Getting the chapters into a defensible order first is a structural outline; come back once the pages are the ones you actually intend to send.
What happens after an agent offers representation?
Formatting stops mattering once representation starts, and the prose does the rest. A signed agent typically wants a clean copy of the finished manuscript, not a new round of anonymized excerpts, since representation ends the blind-judging problem this pack exists to solve. Once a sale sets an actual publication date, the next backward-counted register is a launch plan built from that date.
Find out how many files this round actually needs
Download the blank Submission Register, Response Log, and Formatted Manuscript as Word and CSV, or have River build the register from your own recipient list.
Edit with AI