Home Resources Shunn format generator
Free toolShunn manuscript format generator
Open the file you already have. This lays it out the way an agent expects and hands you a Word file back. It runs in your browser, so the manuscript never leaves your machine.
A .docx, a .pdf, a .txt or a .md, up to 25MB. It is opened in this tab and never sent anywhere. A .docx reads best, because it still knows which words are italic.
One or two words. It goes in the running header.
Word count, as it will appear
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there is no account to make.
How the file is built, and what happens to yours
The file is built from nothing. Whatever you open is read for its paragraphs, its chapter headings and its emphasis, and every other thing in it is dropped: styles, fonts, colours, images, tracked changes, comments, fields and macros. Then a new document is written from that text alone. So a macro cannot survive the trip, because nothing from your file is carried into the one you get back.
The layout. US Letter, 1 inch margins, 12 point in your
chosen face, double spaced with no gap between paragraphs, left aligned and
ragged right. Paragraphs take a 0.5 inch first line indent as a style, and
the first paragraph of a chapter or a scene takes none. Scene breaks are a
centred hash. Chapters open on a new page. The running header is
Surname / Keyword / page at the top right of every page except
the first, and page numbering starts at 1 on the first page of the story.
What each format gives it. A .docx still knows which words
are italic and which paragraphs are headings, so it comes through whole,
and underlining is converted to real italics on the way. A .txt or .md is
plain text: blank lines separate paragraphs, and *this* is
read as italics. A .pdf is the hard one. It records where text sits on a
page and nothing about what it meant, so emphasis is gone and paragraph
breaks are worked out from first line indents and the gaps between lines.
Running headers and page numbers are dropped where they can be spotted.
Read the result before you send it.
The word count is rounded before it goes on the page. Under ten thousand words it rounds to the nearest hundred, above that to the nearest thousand. Nobody wants 92,431.
What it refuses. A .docm, because that is the macro format and the plain .docx next to it is the one to open. A .doc, .rtf, .odt, .pages or .gdoc, each with the export that gets you a .docx. HTML, which is an attack surface and not a manuscript format. Anything over 25MB, which is not a manuscript. And a .docx that unpacks to far more than its size suggests, or that is built from thousands of parts, both of which are how a zip file gets used to hang a browser tab.
Nothing is stored. No server, no account, no cookie carrying your text, and nothing of what you typed written to the browser between visits. Reload the page and the boxes are empty again. The address and phone number you put in the contact block go into the file and nowhere else, and this site contacts no third party analytics domain that could see them.
Galley does this for a book that is already in it, chapter by chapter, in preview and export, next to the submission package. This page is for the manuscript you have somewhere else.
The specification itself is on the standard manuscript format sheet, with the pass to run before you send. There is a longer version in what agents actually check, the terms are defined in the glossary, and Galley for querying writers covers the rest of what goes out with a submission.
For working things out, not for signing anything. Printers and retailers set their own rates and specifications, change them without notice, and none of them is affiliated with me or with Galley. I checked these figures by hand in September 2026 against William Shunn's proper manuscript format and the classic version . Confirm on the official page before you commit money to a price, a print run or a contract.
Questions
Does my manuscript get uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server behind this page. Your file is opened, read and reformatted by the browser you are reading this in, and the .docx is built on your own machine. Nothing is kept between visits either, so a reload empties the boxes.
What files can it open?
A .docx, a .pdf, a .txt or a .md. A .docx gives the best result by a distance, because it still knows which words are italic and which lines are chapter headings. Word, Google Docs, Pages, Scrivener and LibreOffice all export one.
What does it give me back?
A .docx. That is what agents and editors ask for, because it is what they can mark up. Most submission pages reject a PDF outright.
How good is it at reading a PDF?
Rougher than a .docx, and that is the format rather than the tool. A PDF stores where each piece of text sits on the page and nothing about what it meant, so italics are gone and paragraph breaks have to be guessed from indents and line spacing. It works. Check the result. If you still have the file the PDF was made from, open that instead.
What is the difference between modern and classic?
The typeface. Modern sets the manuscript in Times New Roman, classic sets it in Courier New, and Shunn publishes both with the same text. Pick classic only when a submission page asks for Shunn classic by name.
Does it work for a short story?
Yes, and the layout changes when you switch. A novel gets a title page of its own with chapter one on the page after it. A short story puts the contact block, the title and the first line on one page, which is the part people get wrong most often.
What does it not do?
It does not read your book for typos, check your word count against a genre, or write your query letter. It lays the file out. Anything that needs to understand the manuscript lives in the app.
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