Some queries about formatting novels

[DAgent]

Hi everyone, I've always wondered about how you should format novels in general and I've looked up online and of course gotten a lot of contradictory advice.~
I'm just about to finish my first draft which I've written on google docs and just left everything on their standard settings, as such I've got 70 pages of material on that setting and close to 55,000 words done so far on those pages with the title and page number included in a header.
What I'm wondering about is what to do about formatting once I've re-read and edited the text itself.

Should I for example have the title on one page alone and then have each chapter on their own pages afterwards without having the title as a header?

What would be the best settings (font size, spacing etc) to use to format it for reading on the pages of a book?

Do you really need to have double spaces between each word, or would the format settings take care of that for you?

How much of this kind of work, if any, is done by the publishers?

Is there anything else in this regard I should be aware of and are any official online guides by agents or publishers alike?

Would these same rules apply to short stories?

Thanks in advance, been a bit wordy here.

 

[AllanR]

There is no 100% standard format. Each agent/publisher has different rules, though they are similar, it only takes a minour tweak to get compliant.

Every time you submit a work, review the specific format requirements of the agent/publisher. They will have specification on their web page. Here is someone list of agents/publisher (some links dead) with links to each specific guidelines.

60 Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishers - TCK Publishing

Discover 60 science fiction and fantasy publishers currently accepting submissions.

www.tckpublishing.com

 

[Wayne Mack]

This is the formating advice I have been using for my writing (I have not gotten anything close to submission to an actual publisher, though).

Manuscript Format: How to Format a Novel, with Examples (2024)

Submitting an incorrectly-formatted manuscript is a quick ticket to an agent’s trash bin. Learn the professional standard for manuscript formatting.

www.scribophile.com

 

[JS Wiig]

12pt Courier double-spaced is easiest on my eyes. No way I could read for any length of time whatever 50k words you’ve got on seventy pages.

 

[DAgent]

12pt Courier double-spaced is easiest on my eyes. No way I could read for any length of time whatever 50k words you’ve got on seventy pages.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm trying to go over the links provided and that will take a bit of time. just been experimenting with the font type, my default is Arial, which looks tiny compared to Time New Roman and is dwarfed by Courier New (google docs doesn't just have plain simple Courier for some reason) and both of the later ups the page count tremendously and increases the size of the white between each line too, which does take a bit of getting used to as I've always preferred the more bunched up nature of the standard settings.

Quick additional question, which way does everyone prefer to type up initially? Just using the standard settings for first drafts and editing, or just biting the bullet and getting all the settings altered first and working through it all like that?

 

[AllanR]

One I didn't do that I wish I had, page break at the end of a chapter.