How to Format a Poetry Manuscript for UK Submissions

Poetry submissions are read quickly. A poetry editor at a UK press will often know within a couple of pages whether a manuscript has been prepared with care, and formatting is part of that judgement. It will not rescue a weak poem, and no editor will reject a good one over a stray double space. But a manuscript that is awkward to read makes the work harder to see. The conventions below are the ones most UK publishers expect, and setting them up takes an afternoon.

Start with the page, not the poem

Set up the document before you type a line. A4 portrait, margins of around 2.5cm on all sides, and a plain serif typeface at 12pt — Garamond, Baskerville, Times New Roman or similar. Left-align the text and leave the right edge ragged. Justified text stretches the word spacing and distorts the shape of a poem, which is the one thing a poetry editor is looking at most closely.

Use 1.5 or double line spacing for the body of the manuscript unless the guidelines say otherwise. Whichever you choose, apply it consistently, and never combine a blank line between stanzas with extra paragraph spacing on top; the gap then grows or shrinks depending on the reader's software.

Add page numbers — top right or bottom centre, pick one and stay with it — and a header carrying your surname and the collection title. Keep both in the same font and size throughout. No coloured text, no borders, no decorative fonts.

One poem per page

Start every poem on a fresh page. It is the convention most UK poetry publishers ask for, and it makes the manuscript easy to read at speed and easy to rearrange later. If a poem runs over, put a line such as continued overleaf at the foot of the page, or the poem's title with cont. at the top of the next, so nobody mistakes it for a new piece.

Reproduce the poem's own indentation exactly, because indentation carries meaning. Use the tab key or paragraph indents rather than strings of spaces; spaces shift when a font changes and collapse when text is pasted between programs. If a line is too long for the measure, let it wrap naturally or set the whole document a fraction smaller. Do not break lines by hand to fit the page.

Leave one blank line between stanzas. Keep the title in the same typeface as the body, bold or italic caps if that is your consistent style, and don't centre a poem unless it is genuinely meant to sit in the middle of the page. Sequences follow the same rules as any other poem, and if the parts are numbered, keep the numbering consistent all the way through.

Section breaks and the shape of the collection

If the collection is divided into parts, give each one a divider page: Part One or a numeral, centred, in the same typeface as everything else. Divider pages normally carry no page number and no header. The first poem of each part starts on the page that follows.

Then build a contents page listing every poem in order, with page numbers that actually match. Editors check this. Nothing slows a reading down more than a contents page that has drifted out of step with the manuscript, and it happens easily when poems are moved late in the process. If you use an automatic table of contents, update it after the final edit and check the printed result rather than trusting the screen.

Cover sheets and front matter

Many UK publishers want a separate cover sheet rather than a page inside the manuscript. Keep it to one side of A4 and include:

• Your name, postal address, email and telephone number
• The collection's title, and its approximate length in pages and poems
• A short note of previous publication — magazines, anthologies, a pamphlet — in two or three lines
• A note that the submission is simultaneous, if the guidelines ask for one

Inside the manuscript, the usual order is title page, contents, acknowledgements, then the poems. Dedications and epigraphs sit on their own page before the contents. If a publisher asks for a statement about the work, keep it factual; a couple of sentences on the territory the poems cover is enough.

Acknowledgements and permissions

List every poem that has appeared elsewhere, with the publication's name and the issue or date. The heading is Acknowledgements, and the page goes near the front, after the contents, even though you will write it last. Group repeat credits rather than repeating the same magazine twenty times: a line such as Poems from this collection first appeared in The Rialto, Magma and Poetry Wales reads more cleanly than a fragmented list, and it is easier to keep accurate.

If a poem quotes or reproduces a substantial piece of another writer's work, you will usually need written permission from the rights holder before publication. Copyright is more technical than it looks from the outside, and if you are unsure whether something needs clearing, ask the publisher you are submitting to or take advice before you sign anything. Personal thanks can be brief — a short paragraph, no long list of everyone who read a draft.

Files, and what to send

Read the submission guidelines twice and follow them exactly, even where they contradict the advice above. Most UK presses now ask for a single PDF or Word document. Name it clearly, something like Surname_Title_Manuscript.pdf, and avoid sending a link to a cloud folder or a file that has to be converted before it can be opened. Remove tracked changes and comments, and check that any document properties carrying your name are ones you meant to leave there.

If the guidelines ask for a sample rather than the whole manuscript, send the number of poems requested, in manuscript order, with a brief covering note. Poetry cover letters are short: who you are, what you are sending, and any credits worth knowing about. Editors rarely want more.

A last read-through before it goes out

Print the manuscript and read it on paper. Screen reading hides the details that matter here: a poem beginning halfway down a page for no reason, a single line stranded at the top of the next, a header that vanishes in the middle. Then work through this list:

1. Every poem starts on a new page, with the title in a consistent style.
2. Page numbers run through the manuscript, with none on divider pages.
3. The contents page matches the poems and their order exactly.
4. The acknowledgements list is complete and accurate.
5. The cover sheet is present, filled in, and a separate file if that is what was asked for.
6. The file is named and formatted as the guidelines specify.
7. Your contact details are current — an old email address is the easiest way to lose a reply.

Formatting is the least glamorous part of assembling a collection, and it is the part entirely within your control. Get it right once and every submission that follows takes minutes rather than hours.

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