When your book is published, your manuscript will not serve anyone to any further extent except for future Ph.D. candidates. However when you present it to the publisher’s office, it should have the appealing, clean and professional appearance that would give the editor no reason to reject your work. It should be readable enough that the editor will not have to complain because his eyes hurt. There should also be enough space where he can place corrections on spelling and other points that need revisions.

Format
The ideal format of passing your manuscript is in laser – printed form, however it could be costly. Cheaper alternatives are with the use of inkjet printer, a dot – matrix printer, or an electric typewriter. In many cases, the dot-matrix printer produces a faint appearance of the letters. It may be necessary for you to make a darker photocopy of the earlier printout.
Font
Choose the right font to use for your manuscript. There is a slight difference between legible and readable. By legible, simple means that a word is comprehensible. Readable, means that it is comprehensible and at the same time, a person will not get tired of reading page after page. Choose the font that is more readable. A sans serif font is legible but a serif font is more readable. Avoid writing letters in bold. Readability should also be the chief factor to be considered when deciding on the font size. Although 12-point Times New Roman allows you to put more text on a page, 14-point times is more recommended because it is more readable.
Paper
Size – 8.5 x 11, 20 lb. white bond. When using a fanfold paper in a dot matrix printer, always consider the weight. It should be relatively heavy. When you present your manuscript, all your fanfold papers should have the strips on the sides removed and each page separated.
Margin – There should be at least one inch margin at the top and at the bottom while the sides can have an inch or an inch and a half. Always double – space your text. There should be no extra double – space between paragraphs. This is important to distinguish a shift in the scene or a transition in time.
Using a right – justified margin is greatly opposed because it results to gaps between words. As a consequence, your work looks tidier but harder to read.
Spacing
If you are using fonts which are naturally sizeable, you can put a single space after the period instead of putting two spaces, although the latter is preferred. You can put two spaces when using a relatively smaller font or when using the typewriter.
After other punctuations such as commas, semicolons, and colons, only one space is necessary; on the other hand, putting a space between the “em dash” and the surrounding words is not needed. You can use two hyphens instead. Do not underline text. You can only if it is impossible for you to italicize it.
Avoid using hyphenations.
Paragraphs
“Widows and orphans” refers to a paragraph whose first line is on the last line of a page, or a paragraph whose last line concludes at the first line of the subsequent page. This should be avoided. Do not fret if in the process, you end up with large bottom margins.
Presentation
A plain Arabic numeral should be fixed in the upper right – hand corner indicating the order of the pages.
It is better to send your manuscript with loose pages inside a typing – paper box, rather than sending it fastened to a cover. It is practical for you to keep spare copies, you can put them in a disk or you can have the original photocopied. Although some publishers would require you to send in both hardcopy and a disk with your manuscript.