26.5 Title Page Preparation

Title page preparation is the process of assembling the single opening page of a manuscript that provides identifying and contact information, the work's title and byline, and its approximate length, formatted according to conventions distinct from the rest of the manuscript body. It functions as the manuscript's professional cover sheet, giving an editor or agent the essential practical information needed before they begin reading the text itself.

Contact and Identifying Information

The upper left corner of the title page conventionally carries the author's legal name (or the name under which submissions are made), mailing address, phone number, and email address, positioned as a compact block rather than spread across the page. If the manuscript is being submitted through a literary agent rather than directly by the author, this block is typically replaced or supplemented with the agent's or agency's contact information instead, reflecting who the recipient should actually contact regarding the submission.

Word Count Placement

The upper right corner conventionally displays the manuscript's approximate word count, rounded to a reasonable figure (commonly to the nearest thousand or ten-thousand) rather than stated as an exact number, since word count is used by recipients primarily to judge whether the manuscript falls within expected ranges for its category rather than for precise accounting. Providing a rounded rather than exact figure is itself a signal of familiarity with professional convention.

Title and Byline

The manuscript's title is centered on the page, typically positioned roughly a third of the way down, set in a clearly distinguished style such as capital letters or a slightly larger point size than the body text, though without elaborate decorative formatting. Beneath the title, the byline appears as "by" followed by the author's name (or chosen pen name), also centered, establishing clear and unambiguous authorship separate from the practical contact block in the corner.

What the Title Page Omits

Title page preparation in a submission manuscript deliberately omits elements common to a finished published book's front matter — there is no dedication, no epigraph, no table of contents, and no back-cover-style summary or blurb. These elements are considered premature at the submission stage, since they pertain to the book's eventual published presentation rather than to the practical information an evaluator needs before reading, and including them can read as a departure from professional convention.

Genre or Category Notation

Depending on the specific market and submission context, a title page may include a brief notation of the manuscript's genre or category beneath the title and byline, particularly in markets or genres where categorization affects how a submission is routed or evaluated. This notation, when included, is kept brief and factual rather than functioning as marketing copy, which belongs instead in a query letter or synopsis rather than on the title page itself.

Consistency With Standard Manuscript Format

While the title page is formatted distinctly from the rest of the manuscript in its layout, it still follows the same underlying typographic conventions as the manuscript body — a legible serif font, consistent margins, and no unnecessary stylistic embellishment — so that it reads as a coherent first page of the same document rather than an unrelated insert. The title page is also excluded from the header and page-numbering convention applied to the rest of the manuscript, since it functions as an unnumbered cover sheet preceding the numbered body text.

Verifying Accuracy Before Submission

Because the title page is often the first and sometimes the only page an editor or agent reviews before deciding whether to continue, title page preparation includes a final verification step: confirming that contact information is current and correct, that the word count reflects the manuscript's actual final length after any late revisions, and that the title and byline exactly match what is referenced elsewhere in accompanying materials such as a query letter or synopsis, since inconsistencies between these documents can create confusion or signal carelessness to the recipient.