I emphatically agree: single space! No double spaces. For sentences. It seriously is inconvenient, tedious, and sometimes a test of patient when it comes to layout. At best. At worst, it can send some of us into fits of apoplexy.

Em-dash should be typeset as an em-dash, not as double dashes. Doesn't work very well to do the double-dash thing, and most wordprocessing programs have a way to enter the correct symbol (in MSWord, it is ctrl+alt+dash [or minus, sometimes depending on your keyboard]). In InDesign, it is Alt+Shft+dash. And there should be no spaces. In good layout programs, this will come out right. In Word and other applications not specifically geared for printed layout, they come out looking wrong because they process differently.

I use the Em- much more in poetry than in fiction. I prefer the ellipsis in fiction and sometimes may abuse it.

ALL CAPS for just about anything but a simple, single word tends to raise my BP. Especially in titles. I realize it is easier and okay to use in titles on blogs, but for a submitted work, I deplore it. Use Title Case, Please.

The double space IS dead (in America). It's just not gracious about it.

Oh, and I loathe Courier more than just about any font out there. About the only time I'll read it for more than three words is if I get subs obviously typed on a typewriter (and I do get these - in part I don't mind them because of the feel and smell of the paper, which is very different from paper run through a puter printer).

Well . . . I don't think I've actually written it into my guidelines. Since the vast majority of my subs come electronically, I reformat to suit my reading. I do, however, explicitly state that all content is formatted to the publication.

YES, Jordan, I do agree: always good to pay very close attention to the details of the guidelines.

As for "standard manuscript format", that's about as clear as saying to use standard grammar and punctuation. So much depends on which standard.