Manuscript Formatting & Typesetting
Once your book or article has been edited and proofread and is ready to reach its audience, the final step is ensuring it is correctly formatted for publication. Our manuscript typesetting and formatting service performs the work of a typesetter at a traditional press — preparing your manuscript for final publication by applying your publisher’s typesetting guidelines to the print-ready draft of your book, dissertation, or article.
We also offer citation style formatting services, with particular emphasis on the styles used in the social sciences and humanities: Chicago/Turabian, American Sociological Style (ASA), APA Style, and — for our British and Australian clients primarily — Harvard Style. Clients who require formatting for a reference list alone may order copy editing and add citation formatting as a service type at checkout.
Our manuscript formatting work is done by human editors who understand the logic of typesetting — not automated tools that apply rules without understanding how a well-formatted document is meant to read. When you send us your publisher’s guidelines, we follow them. Every element. Every specification. Since 2002.
Our Promise
We will ensure that the final draft you receive from us is completely ready to publish or submit. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full. That commitment has held since 2002.
When you place a formatting order, send us your publisher’s typesetting guidelines. We will request them at checkout if you do not have them on hand.
Manuscript Formatting Service
Our manuscript layout and typesetting service applies your publisher’s formatting guidelines to the following elements of your document — along with any unique typesetting requirements your publisher specifies.
Preliminary pages — title page, copyright page, abstract, dedication, acknowledgments, Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures — have distinct pagination requirements and publisher-specific formatting rules. We prepare your preliminary pages to meet your publisher’s specifications precisely.
Page number placement, margin widths, header and footer formatting, and the transition between Roman numeral and Arabic pagination in preliminary and primary pages vary from publisher to publisher. We apply your publisher’s specific requirements throughout.
We format the spacing in your manuscript — between and within paragraphs, before and after headings, around tables and figures — when these need to be corrected due to word processing errors or to comply with your publisher’s house style.
We correctly format and tag your section headings and subheadings to your publisher’s house style — ensuring they are properly styled in Word to generate an updatable Table of Contents and that heading hierarchy is consistent throughout.
When chapter and section headings are correctly formatted in Word, they generate automated Tables of Contents. We use this feature to comply with your publisher’s specifications — including leaders, dot leaders, indentation, and any other ToC formatting requirements your publisher specifies.
We ensure that your tables and figures are correctly placed, formatted, and tagged to generate automated Lists of Tables and Figures in your preliminary pages — if these lists are required by your publisher. All figure and table formatting follows your house style.
Citation Style Formatting Service
Our citation style formatting service correctly formats the parenthetical, footnote, or endnote citations and external reference lists in your manuscript. We specialize in the styles most common in the social sciences and humanities.
We format citations and reference lists in Chicago/Turabian (Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date), American Sociological Style (ASA), APA Style (6th and 7th editions), and Harvard Style — the style most commonly required by British and Australian publishers. Contact us if your required style is not listed; we handle a range of additional styles on request.
We format all in-text citations and reference list entries to your required style, and isolate and flag any missing information — date, place of publication, page numbers, DOIs, publisher names — so you know exactly what needs to be resolved before submission. Clients who need only reference list formatting may order copy editing and add citation formatting as a service type at checkout.
Manuscript Instant Invoice
Ready to place your formatting order? Use our secure portal to generate an immediate, word-count-based quote. Send us your publisher’s guidelines when you place your order and we will handle the rest.
Our editors do not have access to your manuscript until an order is placed.
Direct Support
Reach our editorial team directly to discuss your formatting requirements or confirm that we support your publisher’s specific style guidelines. Initial consultations of up to 15 minutes are complimentary.
608-535-6324
editors@offthegridediting.com