Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hello,
When submitting a short/partial manuscript that has been copied and pasted into an e-mail (not as an attachment), all formatting is lost. The text often looks far different from the original, depending on the recipient's system/settings. Without double spacing, indents, etc., I worry that the dialog, in particular, will be difficult to read. Yet the editor has requested it be sent this way. Any tips for formatting my e-mail submission so it looks professional instead of messy? I'm tempted to send it in the text, and as an attachment just in case.
Thanks!
Diane

You can make plain text look almost as professional as a formatted document. The idea of this is just so the agent/editor can scan through the email and get a sense of your writing. Make sure you still have enough white space between paragraphs and quotes for any dialogue, so that it doesn't come out as a giant block of text.

I definitely wouldn't include an attachment as your email may be marked as spam by their email filters and thus wouldn't be read at all.