Tag: how to format your manuscript

Book Design, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

The Book Beautiful: Formatting the Masterpiece

As you finish your manuscript and move toward the stage of publishing, the layout of the inside of your book (such as formatting, font choice, etc.) must come into serious consideration. The formatting of your book transforms your word document into a book, it brings your manuscript to life.

Now while many readers won’t spend much time musing over the careful ruminations that went into the formatting of a book, they will notice if that care hasn’t gone into your formatting. The formatting style you choose should not only reflect, but also enhance the overall feel and mood of your story. Even if the careful decisions you spend hours vacillating over are never consciously acknowledged by your reader, those decisions absolutely affect the reader’s subconscious perceptions and preconceptions of your book. For example, merely picking up a book and scanning through the pages will immediately tell a reader whether or not your book is professional, before they’ve even read a sentence. Among readers there is a certain unspoken, but expected standard for how a book should appear, thus, when a book falls short of that expectation it acts as a giant red flag that your title might not be worth purchasing. You want your book to ‘fit in’ with the other books on the shelf, you want it to look polished, legitimate, and professional.

open book formatting

Once you’ve caught the reader’s eye with a sleek, professional cover and they’ve started thumbing through the pages, something they will take subconscious note of is the font you’ve selected. Note that every time someone opens a word processor that Times New Roman is probably the pre-set font, meaning that if your book is in TNR, it won’t seem special or really pop before the reader’s eyes. There are thousands of appropriate fonts that will help your book stand out, so don’t be afraid to try something new; that being said, avoid over-the-top or childish looking fonts as well.

Further typography considerations to make are the number of characters per line, lines per page, spacing between words, etc. Think of those books you’ve read that have too many characters per line, the kind where you feel like the page or chapter is never ending. The satisfaction of turning pages and progressing to the next chapter is a thing a lot of readers enjoy–not to say you should have

HUGE FONT WITH HUGE SPACING …

… but tiny font with small spacing

isn’t great either. Find a happy middle ground. A further consideration, when there is little spacing between lines, the reader’s eye will often skip a line and they will then have to readjust and thus lose their engagement with your story. It’s a small detail, but it affects the reader’s experience which means that it’s not a trivial detail.

open book formatting

Another thing to consider: how far your text goes in toward the spine of the book. Paperback book readers know how frustrating it is when the text of the book they’re reading goes nearly all the way to the spine so they nearly have to crack it to see what you’ve written–don’t make your readers ruin your beautiful book!

The moral of the story is: don’t just settle for the bare minimum requirements of your publishing company. Treat the formatting process of the interior of your book with the same kind of tender love and care that you treated the writing and editing process with–your readers will notice, and you can rest confidently knowing that you’ve produced a well-thought out, professional book.

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com.  And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com
Jodee Speaks, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing for the Non-Tech Savvy

For many people, self-publishing is a fairly simple process. You type your manuscript. Submit the file to the self-publishing company. Possibly hire an editor or illustrator to improve and polish. Approve the files before publication, and receive your printed book.

However, that process isn’t simple for everyone. There are still plenty of authors who prefer writing with the trusty pen and paper or the classic typewriter. There are also people who have trouble formatting their manuscript to meet self-publishing standards or who encounter other technical issues. These problems can be costly and frustrating. For instance, self-publishing companies may charge for the following services:

  • Mail-in Fee — If an author does not submit an electronic file, he/she may have the option to mail a hard copy or digital file (such as flashdrive) to the self-publishing company. Because this is not a standard option and creates more work, this often results in an extra fee.
  • Transcription Fee — If an author doesn’t own a computer or know how to type the manuscript, he/she might pay someone to transcribe the written manuscript into a digital file that can be submitted.
  • Removal of Hard-Returns — A common formatting mistake is hitting enter at the end of every line while typing. These are called hard-returns. Fixing this formatting issue takes the self-publishing company a great deal of time, so the cost is often passed on to the author.
  • Photo Fees — If authors choose to mail in hard copies of photos that will be used in the book instead of submitting them electronically, there is often a fee.

There are ways for authors to avoid these problems and avoid spending extra money. These simple solutions can help non-tech savvy writers save time, money, and stress.

  • Ask a friend, family member, or neighbor to help you prepare a digital file and submit it electronically.
  • If the manuscript has already been typed and unnecessary hard-returns exist, you could remove them on your own (or with help of a friend or family member) rather than paying the publishing company to do it.
  • Take hardcopy photos to a local office supply store and ask them to scan them at high-resolution and save to a flashdrive.  You can then email them to the publisher.
  • If the author doesn’t own or use a computer, hire someone to help with the process. Most self-publishing companies will not complete the process via phone or mail. Email is often the main method of communication.

Just because you are not tech-savvy does not mean self-publishing is hard. You may just need to enlist a little extra help to make the process less costly and stressful. With a few minor changes (such as deleting hard-returns), you can have a professionally self-published book in no time.

ABOUT JODEE THAYER: With over 20 years of experience in sales and management, Jodee Thayer works as the Manager of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Jodee Thayer can put you on the right path.
Jodee Speaks, Uncategorized

How to Format Your Self-Published Book

One of the questions I am most frequently asked by self-publishing authors is how to format the manuscript for submission. Every self-publishing company may have its own requirements, but here is an overview of what is most common:

PAGE SIZE: A typical manuscript page will be the standard 8.5 x 11. If you want an idea of how long your book will be, you can set your page size to the trim size you plan to select. Changing to the trim size you plan to select will also help you see how your text shifts and moves.

MARGINS: It’s fine to use the default margins in Word. However, if you want to get closer to standard margins for many self-publishing companies, set the top and bottom margins to .95” and the left and right to .75”.

SPACING: Most authors prefer to use double-spacing when creating their manuscript because is allows for easier editing and proofreading. It is fine to submit it with double-spacing to most self-publishing companies. However, if you want to get an idea of the length of your book and how the text will look, change the manuscript to single-space.

PARAGRAPH INDENTS: It’s best to not use spaces or tabs, but rather to set your paragraph setting to the first line hanging .25”.

HARD RETURNS: Only use hard returns at the end of a paragraph, NOT the end of each line like a typewriter.

SPELL CHECK: Run the grammar check and spell check and have a third party proofread your manuscript. It is important to note that grammar and spell check don’t always catch every error and the suggestions aren’t always correct. It is best to have another person as well as yourself proofread the text.

ABOUT JODEE THAYER: With over 25 years of experience in sales and management, Jodee Thayer works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps, publishing consultants and marketing professionals; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams and on assisting authors with marketing and promoting their book once published. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Jodee Thayer can put you on the right path.