Read Lovely Books
Unless you prefer your friends to be story nerds or those who lean toward obsessive-compulsive tendencies when
One of the simplest ways to do that — which too many authors fail to consider — is formatting
With the greatest of respect for book designers and internal formatters, formatting isn’t exactly the sexiest
But, if you don’t know how to format a book it can cost you a reader
When you skip over the basics of how your manuscript is formatted, you’re subconsciously showing a
In these instances, an editor will either edit your manuscript as-is or spend the time you’re
But once you incorporate the standardized basics of formatting a manuscript in preparation for your editor, you’
While this article attempts to offer standardized recommendations, some editors, literary agents or publishing houses may have
The following formatting recommendations hold true for both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts in the U
Yes, Times New Roman is boring, but it’s essentially on every computer ever made
Save that for your book’s interior design, which comes much later after the editing process
(Font trivia: Times New Roman is no longer used by The Times
The text will align itself along its left side, leaving its right side nonuniform (unjustified)
If you were trained to type two spaces after a period, retrain yourself
Tip: if your manuscript has two spaces after a period, use your word processor’s Find and
Type two spaces into “Find” and one space into “Replace” then hit “Replace All” with reckless, typing-teacher-be-damned
If you’re a tab-hitter or space-space-space-space-spacer, select all of your text in Word, then set indentation
Note: Generally, the first paragraph of any chapter, after a subhead, or following a bulleted or numbered
Fiction authors should use indented paragraphs without full paragraph breaks
Nonfiction authors may opt for no indentation so long as paragraphs are separated by a full paragraph
To begin a new chapter, don’t just keep hitting return until you create a new page
To place page numbers in Word, double-click within the header area of the page on which your
Choose to place your page numbers at the top left of the page
You don’t have to compose your masterpiece in Word, but because Word’s “Track Changes” feature
This kind of software can help you with both ebooks and paperbacks
It will help you produce professional-looking books easily, with no technical background
Plus, with all of its features, you can customize your book and make it truly unique
These 10 easy-to-follow steps will put you on your editor’s good side
Want more help formatting your book? Check out this related article on “Book Format: 7 Common Mistakes &
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published
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