In this digital age your manuscript is probably as ready as you need it to be.
Traps to avoid
- If you have been writing your book on your computer in a wordprocessor (MSWord, LibreOffice Write, Google Docs, Apple Pages), you're already on your way. If you have done it in longhand, you will need to find someone to type it out for you so you can present it as a digital file.
- One trap to avoid is trying to elegantly format the entire manuscript so it looks the way you want it to. The hard reality is that most of your careful formatting is going to destroyed in the process of transfer to book production software, where everything is reformatted. All your designer and production person needs is just a couple of printed pages from you showing what you have in mind. Your book will be formatted as closely as possible to the way you want it but do not go to the trouble of meticulously getting your formatting "correct" in what you have prepared for the designer. Just make it clear where chapters start, what your chapter titles are - and any subheadings you are using in your chapters - and where paragraphs are meant to start and end.
- Make sure your paragraphs are not too long. A paragraph as long as a page is too long.
- Never format your book by pouring your text into MSWord tables. Tables will appear to put everything into nice rows and columns, but are intended for tabular data only, not text. They will not import correctly and will have to be dismantled to avoid technical chaos at the printing and e-book stage!!
- Make sure you print out a "hard" copy of your manuscript to give to the designer at the same time as you hand her the digital file on a USB stick. As your designer works it's important for her to have a "hard" copy alongside her that can can easily referred to as she reworks the digital version
- And before you bring the manuscript to your designer make sure it has been edited as thoroughly as possible - either by family and friends or by a professional editor. Your designer will also pick up errors that you may have missed but she is not your primary editor.
