STYLE GUIDE FOR AUTHORS USING OUR FULL DISTRIBUTION PACKAGE

THIS GUIDE WAS LAST UPDATED January 2025

 All submissions related to Author Type 1 (where you use the full Fiction4All distribution package) are asked to follow this guide as closely as possible.

This is so we can be fair to all our authors and to get your book on sale as quickly as possible.

 

BY SUBMITTING YOUR BOOK TO US FOR PUBLICATION,

YOU SHOULD PRESENT YOUR SCRIPT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THIS DOCUMENT.

 

When you submit your story to us we will assess it both in terms of the writing quality and the way in which you present it to us.

 

We are not seeking perfection, but need a certain standard as we do not have time to edit scripts for free that are poorly written or formatted, or where no attempt to correct basic spelling mistakes etc. has been made by the author.

 

This is only fair to all our authors who do make this effort. If the work is not of a suitable quality, we will either request you make changes before resubmitting it, or we can direct you to our recommended paid-editor services.

 

First and foremost, before submitting a script to us you MUST check it for spellings and grammar, as well as consistency in the spelling of names and places.

Script Layout Requirements

General page layout - 1.5cm margins top, bottom, left and right.

 

The first page should include two lines, centred on the page without any indentation as:

TITLE OF BOOK

AUTHOR NAME

 

We will replace this information with a proper copyright notice as appropriate for our own sites and any 3rd party site we distribute to.

 

Chapter headings - use Cambria font - font size 16 and bold, centred on page with no leading margin as:

CHAPTER ONE

 

Text body use Times New Roman font size 12. Paragraphs should be set using the Paragraph setting option - Before and After set to zero, line spacing should be single and Special, set to First Line indent by 0.8 cm. Also all paragraphs should be left and right justified as shown here.

 

Section separators can either be a single blank paragraph as between this paragraph and the one above or:

 

***

 

as shown above with three asterisks centred on the page (no margin indent) and an optional blank paragraph to either side.

 

Italics should be used sparingly and for emphasis. Do not use excessive bold characters apart from chapter headings and underlines should be avoided.

 

Do not use page numbers or any other header or footer information - they are meaningless in eReaders and serve to cause major conversion problems.

 

All stories should end with:

 

THE END

 

again centred and with no indented margin. These two simple words confirm we have received the whole of your script.

 

Use a hard page break before Chapter headings.

 

Check the meta data for the book by going to the File, Properties, Show Document Properties option. Make sure that the Author is as stated in the book.

 

Finally make sure the other fields do not identify anyone or any organisation and especially do not include any email addresses or contact information.

For print editions we will take your digital edition and reformat it and changed the frontispiece in accordance with our in-house style and standard print layout for

Please read our other documents if you are submitting an adult fiction story. There are some subjects we will not consider.

 

Cover images

 

We welcome you submitting your own cover image if you have one. You must either own the copyright to the image, have purchased a licence to use the image or it must be copyright-free.

 

If you are submitting an image for an adult story, please ensure it conforms with the requirements stated in the Adult Fiction Publishing Guide.

 

For cover images we work to a 665 pixels wide* 1030 pixels tall image. The image MUST be in portrait format. This image should be created at 300DPI which allows us to use it for both digital and print purposes.

 

If you do not provide an image or complete cover we will try to source one or we may direct you to an artist who can do the work for you.

 

If you are providing a complete cover the cover must include the exact title and author name on it. For us to use the cover for paperback purposes, please leave at least 1.5cm border on all sides without any text in it. This is to ensure the title or author name is not cropped when creating the print cover. If your cover does not include the title and author information we will add it.