The Book Formatting Formula

By Julia Scott

In this concise and practical book, you'll discover the secrets to formatting your manuscript like a pro. With step-by-step instructions and expert tips, you'll transform your work into a polished and professional masterpiece. In this guide you will learn:

• Essential formatting principles, with plenty of examples
• Common formatting mistakes and how to avoid them
• The fundamentals of fonts and where to find them
• Using images to create eye-catching chapter titles and headings
• How to format your manuscript for print using Microsoft Word
• How to format an ebook (for all ebook distributors) using Kindle Create
• Design ideas from my own portfolio to spark your creativity
• and much more!

'The Book Formatting Formula' is an invaluable resource for self-published authors seeking to make their books shine. Don't let formatting challenges hold you back—empower yourself with the knowledge and skills to create professional-quality manuscripts. Unlock the secrets of successful book formatting today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evenstar Books Ltd
• Release date: Jun 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781916727007

Book preview

TBFF_Ebook_Cover_-_EPUB.jpg

قائمة المحتويات

Title

Introduction

Choices Choices

Fantastic Fonts

The Perfect Page

Integrating Images

Preparing to Prettify

Engaging eBooks

The Formatting Formula

The Examples

Back Matter

THE BOOK FORMATTING FORMULA ©

First published by Evenstar Books Ltd, Essex, UK

Copyright © Julia Scott 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

Limit of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher has used its best efforts in preparing this book, and the information provided herein is provided as is. Evenstar Books Ltd. makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Trademarks: The Book Formatting Formula is an independent publication and is not affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation, Adobe Systems Inc., Amazon.com Inc. or any other company or software developer mentioned in this work. Microsoft Word and Windows are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Used with permission from Microsoft. Screenshots reprinted with permission from Microsoft. Adobe, Acrobat Pro, InDesign, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. Adobe product screenshots reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Inc.

For more information, email: [e-mail]

First edition June 2023

Book Cover Design by Evenstar Books

Interior Formatting by Evenstar Books

Edited by Britt Laux

Visit the author’s websites at:

thebookformattingformula.com

evenstarbooks.com

juliascottwrites.com

For the Instagram writing community: this book, my formatting business, and my novels wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for all your support, as well as the fun and friendship.

NOTE AND DISCLAIMER

Just a quick disclaimer; my opinions and methods regarding book formatting may not align with everyone out there in this particular part of the publishing industry. You may find alternative ways of doing things. I’m here to share what has worked for me and my clients.

The trickiest part about writing a book about any kind of technology is that advancements or changes in technology will make that book obsolete in time. I will do my best to point out where information is subject to change.

For Mac users: all of the information in this book is still relevant. Microsoft Word has a few changes in the MacOS version compared to Windows, but you should still be able to follow the steps in the tutorial. Kindle Create is available for Mac.

For printable versions of the checklists in this book, please visit thebookformattingformula.com

Self-publishing a book, be it fiction or nonfiction, requires an author to wear many hats. No longer are you just a writer; as a self-published author, you also take on the roles of editor, designer, marketer, and entrepreneur. When it comes to publishing, many of these tasks can be outsourced to professionals. In fact, professional editing is highly recommended in most cases. It takes time, effort, and the hard work of a team of people. But what happens once your story has gone through draft after draft, has been edited to near perfection, and proofread to weed out those sneaky typos? It’s ready to go out into the world and jump into the hands of eager readers... right? Well, not quite.

Your next challenge, is to prepare your manuscript so it is ready for printing and distribution. However, it’s not as simple as submitting a Word document to Amazon and hoping for the best. If you aspire to create a beautiful and professional-looking book, it requires proper book formatting.

Book formatting is a skill that can be learned, and that is where I come in. My name is Julia Scott, and I am an indie author. I self-published my first book, the start of a YA Science Fantasy trilogy called The Mirror Souls, in April 2019 and started my own publishing imprint, Evenstar Books. As of now, I have successfully published all three books in the trilogy and formatted two anthologies I was involved in. I spent a great deal of time researching the steps required to get my book out into the world, and found it a little overwhelming. Perhaps you’ve felt the same.

At first, I thought I’d be able to design the cover for The Mirror Souls myself. I gave it a good go, had a good laugh about it, and promptly hired a professional book cover designer. (Although, I did design the cover for this book myself! Progress!) When it came to the interior formatting of my novels, I thought to myself, how hard can it be? I’d worked with plenty of Word documents over my time as a student and in previous jobs, surely it wasn’t much different?

It turns out that yes, it is that much different. I knew I wanted my books to be at the same high standard of traditionally published novels, and so I set out to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible in order to make my books not only look professional and well-made, but also to stand out.

Once I published my first book and my author friends caught on that I had picked up this particular book formatting skill, they asked me to help get their books ready for print, and so Evenstar Books Design (evenstarbooks.com) was born. I started a book formatting business on the side of writing my own books, and did my best to balance the two.

I knew that not everyone could afford to pay for a formatting service, and some were still struggling to take that step for themselves. Learning how to format your books can be a helpful (and money saving) skill, and that is why I decided to create The Book Formatting Formula. This book will hold as much of the information I have learned over the years regarding formatting as I can fit in, and will hopefully help you avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that are easily made. I’ll show you how to make your book stand out among the crowd, and how to make the process as stress-free as possible.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THE BOOK FORMATTING FORMULA

So, what can you find out in The Book Formatting Formula? You’ll learn the terminology and key facts required to make all the decisions when preparing the interior of your book for publication. I’ll show you many examples of what to do versus what not to do. Time and time again, I see self-published authors make simple mistakes because of a lack of knowledge, and I’d like to help you avoid those same mistakes.

Some examples will be shown on full pages, with the incorrect version first and the correct version following it, so that you can see the difference made by following the advice in this book. I’ll also go into how to format both an ebook and a paperback book. My hope is that you’ll be able to walk away knowing what steps you need to take to get your manuscript reader-ready.

At the end of the book, you’ll find plenty of examples from my own portfolio of work. Sometimes it can be really helpful to see what others have done inside their books, so I’ll share some design ideas for chapter headers, dividers, fonts, and general page layout to give you some options. You may decide to go for something completely different, but it’s always helpful to have some ideas to spark your own creativity.

WHY IS THE INTERIOR OF YOUR BOOK IMPORTANT?

We all know the popular phrase, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ But how many times do we end up picking a book because we think, oh my goodness, that cover is so gorgeous! Now imagine picking up that stunning book, excited and already enamoured, only to open it up and see a hot mess. The fonts are weird, there are odd spaces where they shouldn’t be, the margins are ‘off’, and there are no page numbers.

That’s an extreme example, but it would put you off, right? The absolute main goal for the interior of any book, even aside from being visually attractive, is to not be distracting. Formatting that makes your book easy to read and keeps your reader engaged in the story rather than distracted by oddities in the layout is a job well done. The pretty chapter headers and fancy fonts are simply the icing on the cake.

The readability of your words is key.

The way your books look ultimately contributes to your overall brand as an author or publishing imprint. Keeping consistency across your books, and making them recognisable as yours, can help your branding and your business.

Before we jump into learning the hows and whys of book formatting, I’m going to quickly cover the pros and cons of going the DIY route vs. hiring a formatter.

Pros of Hiring a Formatter:

They already have the knowledge required to turn your words into a beautiful book and know how to resolve issues that crop up along the way.

They understand how the print-on-demand and ebook services work, and their specific requirements.

They usually have a good eye for design and know what works and what doesn’t in book interior design.

It saves you time, as it can be a lengthy process learning how to format books well.

Cons of Hiring a Formatter:

It is an extra expense that can potentially be avoided.

If you need to make changes to your manuscript, such as small edits or adding your new titles to the front and back matter, you’ll often need to pay your formatter to make those changes.

You are reliant on their schedule and pre-booking a time slot