Formatting your book for print

After you format your manuscript in word, add finishing touches with kindle create. Print book formatting is the process of getting your final manuscript formatted and ready as per publication standards. Whether you are preparing to publish an ebook or a print book, i can help make sure the layout of your pages is consistent and clear. A wellformatted and designed book is critical to your success as an author. I was so happy with their work that i had them format my next book, light for the burning soul, for print, kindle, and nook. Diy book formatting what you need to know the main purpose of this site is to give you some templates and help you use them to format your book for free or very cheaply. If youve written a book but youre struggling to figure out how to get it ready for sale, or youve uploaded your ebook to an online store but it doesnt look right when you download it, we can help.

Typesetting and formatting your book completelynovel. It also makes certain to provide a great reading experience for your books target audience. Print and ebook formatting service from authorpackages. You do not want to over complicate the formatting and make the content too distracting. Having an isbn barcode on the back of your book that includes the book price allows bookstores to scan your book directly into their point of sale. Download our free guide to typesetting and uploading your book on completelynovel. Book formatting for ebook and print books the creative penn. Choose your book size, upload your manuscript, create your cover, set your price and press publish. Formatting your print book in ms word for kdp print spread. Although you dont have to do all that work on the manuscript again, formatting your book twice is pretty much built into the system. Here are the basics steps on formatting your manuscript in microsoft word for self publication. On the layout tab, in the page setup group, click size, and then select more paper sizes.

Printing a single copy of your book to proof in person before you buy, isnt just a possibility, its an incredibly easy reality. Print your own book single book printing one off book. Formatting your book is a big step, you finally get to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Again, avoid the temptation to get too fancy with fonts. The interior of your book should have no more than two or three fonts one for your normal text, one for chapter headings, and possibly one for subheadings or captions. Choose from 3 different page layouts, add captions to bring your. Plenty of authors and publishers were left with towering piles of unsold books that they had invested considerable sums of money in. Apr 26, 2018 complete book formatting howto guide for word templates duration. For the many indie authors who still favor microsoft word for formatting their books, heres a companion piece to ian andrews recent post about using word to create ebook interiors. In the past, selfpublishing a print book was expensive and risky. Turnaround time for your custom book within 7 days 3 days for rush jobs.

Make a beautiful book or ebook on the go with our mobile app ios only. All books going into the print program need two pdf files. The international standard book number isbn is a digit number that uniquely identifies books and book like products published internationally. Formatting experts book publishing services for independent.

A good layout is one of the key elements of a professional looking book, and not only enhances your words but allows your readers to sink into your work. Your book needs to look professional and be straightforward to read. Using the steps in this video you should be able to format for just about any print ondemand publisher. Formatting your book for print help for writershelp for.

Repeat this at the end of the story, at the beginning of the back matter now you can apply different formatting to each of these sections. Print book formatting is the preparation of a pdf file, to ensure that it meets the publishers requirements and is an enjoyable reading experience. This resizes your pages and changes your page count, which you need to know for setting your. Use 12point times new roman or arial font unless the publishers submission guidelines indicate otherwise. If you intend to selfpublish print books i can recommend the experience as a positive one, then having a few tips. Ill walk you through the steps to making sure your book looks.

Because of format your print book, i developed the knowhow and confidence to self publish with createspace without the paid services of a formatting expert. Yes, youve guessed it this time, hes explaining how to use word to format print books. If you need a doneforyou book outline to fill in your book s contents into, consider using a premade outline for your nonfiction or fiction book. Save even more time with my free package of book design templates click the link to download. In the apply to list, select whole document and click ok. If your book isnt exactly to your liking, well make it right. This eliminates your need to keep an inventory or deal with the logistics of shipping. Formatting the internal pages of your book for printing. Whether you want to create a booklet for an event or print out an ambitious book project, consider using the prebuilt page settings for booklets that comes with word. Kdp print and ingramspark have specific requirements that need to be met to be accepted. Companies like amazon kdp print and ingram free you from paying upfront fees for physical copies of your book and stockpiling them in your garage. This tutorial uses settings and options from the latest version of microsoft word, for mac or a pc. The issue with these three sections is that only the story part should have the title and page numbers in the header andor footer.

Part 1 is first steps in formatting for print in our first article in this series, we looked at three important topics for the writer who is selfpublishing print books. You can find the list of available trim sizes here. If you run your own publishing company and have a logo, use it here but dont bother including the logo of the company that is printing your book. What is the best service for print on demand books. These allow you to keep a lot of the design from the print book versions when you do the ebook version. How to format your word document for book printing on mac. If you are using a different version, some of the instructions and screenshots will be slightly different, but hopefully you can find the right feature in your software version.

The prices given below are for books with straightforward formatting. This is not a print ready format for your book, but an actual outline to organize your. Taylor covers details such as starting a set of styles, fonts and typefaces, how to insert images, widows and orphans, and drop caps, all new to me until i came upon this book. Blurb makes it easy for you to make a book or magazinein both print and digital formatsfor yourself, to share, or to sell. My personal choice for ebook and some print formatting is vellum. We even sell predesigned matching print book and ebook templates on our site. How to format your book for self publication bookstand. Request an ebook formatting quote by clicking the button below. How to format your word document for book printing on mac or pc. Trim sizes refer to the format of the finished book.

Interior book design manuscript formatting professionally formatted text is an important part of book design. This resizes your pages and changes your page count, which you need to know for setting your margins. A clear hierarchy and readable typeface help create a layout that is inviting to your reader. And with a fair number of free content changes to your manuscript, you can fix those elusive errors that slipped past your editor. This basically means that you are going to put the title of your book. With print ondemand, you can earn a royalty every time a reader buys a copy, just as you do with ebook versions. This article is the first in a series to address formatting for print books. Using font styles when formatting for print editor\s blog. Formatting your childrens books for print can be a challenge if you have never done it before. Note that most books set normal text in a serif font e. External hyperlinks to websites, social media, andor email. Scrivener is becoming one of the most recommended programs for writing books. Kdp print charges a hefty fee to distribute to stores other than amazon, and they do not provide the option to print hardcovers. But the design of the pages inside those covers have just as much impact and require the same amount of careful consideration.

Are you ready to send your manuscript files to begin the printing process. Heres some helpful reminders about file format requirements. Amazon kdp have kindle create, a kindle only formatting tool. Our print on demand service combined with our no fee bookstore lets your readers purchase through us after your book has been uploaded. Order book formatting together with custom book cover design and get 15% discount off book cover design.

Bookbaby will help you provide the best possible reading experience for your book s audience. From ebook formatting and print ondemand interior layout to cover design, we offer everything you need to publish your book in digital and print formats once you have a finished manuscript. How to format your childrens book manuscript dummies. There should be one pdf file of your book cover and another separate pdf file for the book. This post is all about the format of the actual print. If your kindle book has bullet points, graphics, tables, block quotes or any other special formatting issues, this tutorial may not work for you. Get started with our free book making and design software options. Jane dixon smith jane does my own interior book design for print. Click here to watch my tutorial on how to use vellum to format an ebook and a print book. This makes navigating and formatting your book a pain. After all, you want people to enjoy your content, not be put off by an iffy book interior.

Jun 25, 2015 this is part of an indepth video series on formatting your manuscript for createspace or other pod printers using ms word. Most of the options we will discuss below refer to printed books, but there are similar considerations to be made for digital formatting. You can sell your print books wherever you like while using kdp print on demand pod publishing. So you might be curious about how to take your scrivener file and format it for print books and ebooks. So lets get on to your diy guide on book formatting.

I go through importing into vellum from word, different style options, cover and titles, image autoresizing, various formatting options for fiction and nonfiction, hyperlinks and how to switch them out for the print version, making an ebook box set, and generating for kindle, epub and print ready pdf. Typesetting and formatting your book self publish, print. So you might be curious about how to take your scrivener file and format it for print books. Plenty of authors and publishers were left with towering piles of unsold books. How to format a book in word a stepbystep tutorial youtube. Even though you worked hard on your manuscript, it may not get the attention it deserves without professional formatting.

Start over again to format and output your ebook files. Alexandra amor my virtual assistant also does formatting for ebook, paperback and hardback. Weve formatted over 6,000 books fiction, nonfiction, poetry, kids picture books, etc in both electronic and print form for selfpublished authors see some of our testimonials here. Is formatting for print book and ebooks too much work. First off we need to clear up what we mean when we say formatting your book. Nov 01, 2017 your book will be divided into three main formatting sections the main one is the story itself, and then there are the mandatory front matter and optional back matter. Formatting your print book interior in ms word for kdp print. This is the second in a series on formatting books for print. These steps include including setting up the correct trim size, setting up the correct margins, formatting the text, and numbering the pages. The idea of formatting your book for print is to make it look professional and make the content of the book easy to read. Turn your completed manuscript into a formatted ebook with kindle create. In this video, i go through importing into vellum from word, different style options, cover and titles, image autoresizing, various formatting options for fiction and nonfiction, hyperlinks and how to switch them out for the print version, making an ebook box set, and generating for kindle, epub and print. Since its owned by amazon, kdp print is a good choice for authors who want to have their physical book and kindle book sales page joined. Create your book in five steps with our easytouse online tools.

Preparing your book for print with scribus onebookshelf. Enter your book s trim size into the width and height fields. The screenshots shown in this tutorial use scribus 1. See our guides for formatting your manuscript and creating a cover. Jul 15, 2017 well walk you through the steps to format your word document for printing a book that is a 5. Im also making some guides and video tutorials that will help you design a professional, balanced, aesthetically pleasing, wellspaced and flawless book. But since some of you may be writing your book in scrivener, ill be adding guides to formatting for print in scrivener as much as possible, uploading some templates and styles you can use, as well as guides for exporting to word for formatting, or converting to ebook. Your book format can be unique and exactly how you want it to be. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. As a former microsoft trainer turned selfpublished author, he is able to speak from considerable relevant. The directions below are for ms word 7 and 10 the most. Depending on your ebook, some steps may be unnecessary e. All those issues insert extra code that translates into junk code when the. How to format a novel in microsoft word selfpublishing.

The stepbystep guide to formatting your print book for kdp. As an author, you have invested ample time and effort in writing a book, and you need the interior of the book to complement the. The book fold layout sets you up for printing your. If you can afford it, get a professional designer to typeset your book for you they will be able to get your book looking like a book for you.

How to format your ebook and print book with vellum the. If your book includes a lot of images and tables, please contact us for a firm price. Enter your books trim size into the width and height fields. To create chapter headings, insert a section break at the beginning each chapter. The first thing you will need to do is determine what trim size you want for your print book. In a few clicks, it can help you format your title page, table of contents, and individual paragraphs and change your book. All you need to do is simply upload the print ready files we prepare to kdp print. Well walk you through the steps to format your word document for printing a book that is a 5.

Our staff of professional book designers will work. Many writers indicate a title or subtitle by simply changing the font size and changing the font from the default font ah, times new roman, how we miss you and thinking their job is done. When many firsttime selfpublishers consider the design elements of their book they only think of the front cover. This includes kindle direct publishing, ingram spark, book baby, blurb and lulu. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in 6. How to format a book for printing top tips on book formatting.