Articles on: Writing

How do I export an agent or publisher-ready manuscript?

Submission Manuscript exports your whole book as a Word document laid out the way literary agents and editors expect, so you only have to make minor tweaks for it to be submission-ready.

Where to find it

Open your project and choose Export project from the three-dot menu at the top right (or Export on a project in your projects list).
Pick Submission Manuscript (.docx) from the file type dropdown.
Check the details below and click Export.

Submission Manuscript formatting is only available when exporting the whole project.

What it asks you for

Page size. A4 or US Letter. Pick whichever your agent uses.
Contact details. Printed in the top corner of the title page so the agent can reply to you.
Name on the manuscript. If the book has co-authors, add their names here too, as you’d like them to appear. The first surname is used in the page header.
Writing as. An optional pen name, printed beside your real name.
Include subsection titles as headings. Ticked, any sections nested inside anotehr section keep their titles as sub-headings. Unticked, they run straight into the section with no title or marker.

Your page size and contact details are remembered for next time.

What the file looks like

Word document (.docx), which agents and publishers ask for so they can add comments and pass it on to editors.
Times New Roman 12pt, double spaced, left aligned, 1 inch margins.
A title page with your contact details, the word count rounded to the nearest thousand, the title and your name. No copyright symbol or artwork.
A header on every page with your surname, the title and the page number.
Every section on a fresh page, numbered in order, with your section title beneath. A section titled Prologue or Epilogue is left unnumbered.
Paragraphs indented, with no blank lines between them. Horizontal rules marked with a centred # instead of a line.
THE END after your final paragraph.

The sections and sub-headings have Word formatting but styled to look like ordinary text, so they show up in Word’s navigation panel.
Italics, bold, and underlining are kept as you wrote them. Cover images, notes, planning and your synopsis are not included.

A section still called “Untitled section” exports as just its number, for example “Chapter 7”.Every top-level section is treated as a chapter. If your book is divided into parts, you’ll want to arrange those yourself in Word after exporting.Always check the agent’s own submission guidelines. If they ask for something different (a particular font, only the first three chapters, a PDF), follow their instructions.

Updated on: 08/10/2026

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