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Formatting your manuscript for book printing
**Properly formatted
word processor files
can produce respectable
books, but will
never achieve the
professional look
of a true layout
program like Quark
or Indesign. If
you plan to do a
lot of layout work
it's well worth
the investment to
have the proper
software or hire
someone to do it.**
We realize not all self publishing authors have access to the expensive layout programs used by the professionals. Odds are those of you doing it yourselves will be using MS Word on a PC. With that in mind we have prepared a brief tutorial on how to properly format a Word file and produce a print ready PDF file. This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of Word. It's not intended to set out any rules rather it's here to give you a start. All of the settings used can be modified by you to achieve a layout which best suits your title.
Setup your page size
Once
you have decided
on a page size it's
time to tell Word.
With your manuscript
open go to "File-Page
Setup" then
click the "Paper"
tab.
.
+ click to enlarge
Select "Custom Size" and enter the width and height. Next click the "Margins" tab and enter your preferred margins, or use the suggested values in the graphic. While in the margins menu select "Mirror Margins" from the Multiple Pages drop down.
+ click to enlarge
If
you want headers
or footers you can
set them up in this
menu. Click on the
"Layout"
tab and set the
appropriate preferences.
Something to notice
is the "Section
Start" drop
down. If you have
different headers/footers
or page numbering
based on sections
or chapters, this
is where you would
go to tell Word
a new section or
chapter is starting.
+ click to enlarge
Define the look of your book
The
professional way
to format your manuscript
is through the use
of style sheets.
Setting them up
just takes a few
minutes and they
can make your life
so much easier.
A style sheet is
a defined set of
parameters for the
look of text, it
can include the
typeface, size,
weight, spacing,
indent rules, etc...
Typically there
would be styles
defined for things
like body text,
chapter starts,
chapter titles and
any other variations
in text. The advantage
of the style sheet
is in the speed
at which text can
be formatted and
particularly the
speed at which global
changes can be made.
For example once
finished laying
out your book you
might want to see
what half a point
larger body text
might look like.
Instead of selecting
all the body text,
you would make the
change to the body
text style and it
would immediately
reflect through
your entire document.
Find the style menu
under "Format".
Selecting "Styles
and Formatting"
will bring up the
style sheets.
+ click to enlarge
Word
will come with a
bunch of defualt
styles, feel free
to right click and
delete all of them,
we'll start fresh.
Make a new style
sheet for all the
types of text you
might have in your
document. The example
below shows how
to setup typical
body text. Once
again, you can customize
your own settings.
Either click "New
Style" or right
click and modify
an existing style.
Give this new style
a name and select
the typeface and
size. Then click
the "Format"
drop down and select
"Paragraph"
+ click to enlarge
+ click to enlarge
Here
you can adjust the
alignment (usually
justified for body
text), any indents
and the spacing
between lines. Usually
the first line of
a new paragraph
will be indented,
and this can be
set with the "Special"
drop down. Try to
pick an exact point
size for the space
between lines. You
might have to experiment
to find something
you like. Whenever
trying to judge
the look of the
document, always
print a few pages
and base your decision
on the hard copy,
not the screen.
+ click to enlarge
Finally
select widow and
orphan control.
This will help prevent
single lines and
words from being
"abandoned"
on the bottoms or
tops of pages, a
sure sign of an
amateur job. Even
with this checked,
Word will sometimes
allow them to occur,
so check your document
carefully.
Get Formatting!
You should now be ready to go through your document and apply the various styles to the copy. This is as simple as highlighting a block of text and clicking on the appropriate style. Hint, it's typically faster to highlight everything and define it as body text, then go through and fix up chapter starts.
Making it Print Ready
Now
that you've done
all this work making
your Word file look
great, there's one
thing left to do.
Unfortunately word
processors have
some inherent problems
in their design,
which makes it very
difficult for a
printer to reliably
output from them.
Simply put, the
way it looks on
your screen is usually
not how it will
print. To solve
this, most printers
will ask you to
create a PDF file
from your Word file
and send that along
instead. Most everyone
has the free Acrobat
Reader, but in order
to produce a PDF
file you will need
to the full (Adobe
Acrobat) package
installed, or a
free PDF maker like
PDF995.
Once installed you
will have a new
printer available.
This tutorial assumes
you have PDF995
installed. With
your document open
in Word go to the
file menu and select
"Print"
+ click to enlarge
Select
PDF995 or Adobe
Acrobat as your
printer and hit
OK. You'll be prompted
for a location to
save the PDF file.
Once the PDF file
is written, open
the PDF and have
a VERY CAREFUL look
through it. The
PDF itself will
be very stable,
but oddities can
arise when converting
from Word. In most
cased the PDF is
the final word and
will reproduce exactly
as it displays on
your screen.
If you're final PDF prints out and looks good it's time
to send it to us.
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