I've read several finished manuscripts now, and would like to suggest the following.
Prepare your manuscript in a format that you would send out to an editor.
Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :
What, exactly, are you telling us with this topic? Not rude, just confused
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
my guess would be that what Rick is saying is that getting it correctly formated and reasonably clean before you post it is an important part of the overall presentation of the material. Its slopping, and aggravating for the person who has offered to read, when there is a lot to clean up. I've gotten stuff that hasn't even been run through spellcheck, and i end up feeling like the writer doesn't really care much about my time, or about his or her writing. They want someone else to do the work for them.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, once I get past the first draft, I'm generally writing them as I intend to print them up---at the top left of page one, name and address; top right, word count; middle, title and byline; last name / title (or key word of title) / page number on every page afterwards. I run spell checking as I go---that way I can ignore it when it tells me my name is spelled wrong.
How this all shows up in the reader's lap after an e-translation I can't say---and I've had problems over the years with it. When I'm dealing with a printout I know what it looks like.