Formatting Standards

Please adhere carefully to the following formatting standards listed below. These are not arbitrary, high-and-mighty rules. They are instead a way for us to receive content that is consistent and easy to access and/or manipulate.

When following these standards, you enable us to review and edit your stories quickly and efficiently. This save us time, which allows us to focus on improving the overall experience at The Bizarchives.

Thank you for reading through these, and feel free to reach out to us if you require any clarification.

For information on what to write, see Content Guidelines.

“Buck Rogers” operating an “air ball”
Amazing Stories, March 1929 (public domain)

Overall Story Requirements:
  • 1,000-word minimum
  • 6,000-word maximum
  • Story Title and Author Name must be written at the top of the document

File Types accepted:
  • Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx)
  • Text (.txt) document

File Name:
  • [Story-Title-by-AuthorLastName] or [story-title-by-authorlastname] (capitalization optional)
  • ALL DASHES, SO SPACES PLEASE (spaces in file names cause problems in some areas)
  • Sample: “The Burning Okoulos” by Timothy Farseval
  • file name: [The-Burning-Okoulous-by-Farseval] or [the-burning-okoulous-by-farseval]

Option 1: Text (.txt) file

This is the quickest and easiest way to submit, but any font features such as Bold, Italic, etc. will be lost. This is the best option for prose which does not contain any such features.

  • Header at top:
    • story title
    • author name directly below title
    • contact info for author (email preferred)
  • one blank line between header and story
  • no extra lines between paragraphs

Option 2: MS Word (.DOC/.DOCX) file

The most common way of submitting.

  • Document
    • PAPER SIZE: Letter (8.5″ x 11″); NOTE: [A4] is not the same as [Letter]
    • 1-inch margins (Top, Bottom, Left, and Right)
    • Times New Roman, 12-point font (this is for the entire document, including the title and author name)
  • Header (at top, centered)
    • story title
    • author name directly below title
    • contact info for author (email preferred)
    • one blank line beneath author name
  • Story
    • 1-inch indentation at each paragraph
    • no extra lines between paragraphs
    • Paragraph Settings –> Indents and Spacing Tab –> Spacing
      • Before: 0
      • After: 0
      • Line Spacing: Single