Cheat Sheet for Self-Publishing

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A Reliable Work Flow for Production:

  1. Create book in manuscript form.
  2. Create the ebook cover.
  3. Copy edit.
  4. Revisions/proofreading by author.
  5. Create graphics, tables, images and indicate placement in the base document.
  6. Format the ebook.
  7. Proofread the ebook.
  8. Use the proofed text to lay out the print edition.
  9. Format the print edition. Print-on-demand companies have charts to let you know what trim sizes they offer, along with minimum/maximum page counts
  10. Proofread the print edition—insert any corrections in the ebook files, too.
  11. Finalize the print cover.
  12. Create the book description and determine key words and categories for the listing.
  13. Upload the finished files to retailers.

Tips for Authors in Creating a Manuscript:

  1. Use a common font (Times New Roman, Courier, Arial). If you must use unusual characters, make sure the font from which the characters are used is embedded in your document.
  2. Do not use headers/footers (unless you are submitting a printed copy).
  3. Ensure that all scene breaks and deliberate blank lines are clearly marked.
  4. Do not embed images in the base document—make a note about placement.
  5. Do not create tables—use a note to yourself or your formatter.
  6. Do not insert footnotes/endnotes. Indicate their placement and supply them to the formatter in a separate document.
  7. Don’t bother “formatting” while you compose your story. Composition is a separate process from production.
  8. Include all front and back matter in the base document when you submit it to a formatter.

Specs for Ebook Covers:

  1. Format: .jpeg
  2. Resolution: 300 dpi
  3. Size: 1600 pixels by 2400 pixels
  4. RGB color

Specs for Print Covers:

  1. Format: pdf
  2. The image must be flattened.
  3. Cover templates are available from all print-on-demand companies.
  4. Paperback and Hard cover editions need different covers.
  5. Do not purchase barcodes for print covers—all POD companies will create one for you.

Tips for Formatting an Ebook:

  1. Free Programs: Sigil, Kindle Create, Notepad ++
  2. Paid Programs: Vellum; MS Word, Scrivner
  3. Make sure your source document is as free from “junk” as you can make it (tabs, extra spaces, illegal characters, etc.).
  4. Keep it simple.
  5. Use styles (as opposed to tabs, multiple hard returns, or hitting the space bar to align text).
  6. Images can be color or black-and-white.
  7. If you use Word to format an ebook, do not convert the file to EPUB before uploading it to a retailer. Upload a .docx file.
  8. If you use a word processor or publishing program (such as InDesign or Scrivner) to format your ebook, do not justify the text or use hyphenation.
  9. The majority of digital reading devices do not support tables very well. Find an alternative.
  10. Make sure your ebook is validated before listing it. (Google epub validation services. Many companies offer the service for free.)
  11. Double-check all links, both internal (such as for the table of contents) and external.

Tips for Print Editions:

  1. Use a high-quality font—avoid the “common” fonts that come with your computer or that you find on Google fonts—they shout “amateur”. Licenses for high-quality fonts can be purchased from sites such as Adobe, fontspring, font brothers, fontsquirrel and many others.
  2. Study the design of books on your shelves to give you an idea of what a professionally published book looks like.
  3. Google is your best friend when you run into a problem.
  4. Print on demand requires a pdf that meets the PDF/X-1a:2001 standard with compression set at bi-cubic downsampling to 300 dpi.

Tips for Covers (if you are doing it yourself):

  1. To figure out what readers in your genres expect to see, go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and study the top 100 best sellers in your genre. (“unique” is not your friend.) Your ultimate goal should be for readers to see your cover and say, “Good! It’s a romance (or a mystery, or horror, or fantasy, or a Western, or whatever the genre might be).
  2. Use bright colors and simple designs and typography that is sized so that your cover is legible in a thumbnail.
  3. Stock images can be obtained from a wide variety of online sources.
  4. Premade covers can be obtained from a wide variety of online sources.

Images in an Ebook:

  1. Black and white, or color.
  2. .jpeg format.
  3. 300 dpi.
  4. Maximum size for an interior image: 1600 by 2400 pixels.
  5. If possible, use percentages rather than fixed points when sizing images.

Black and White Images for Print on Demand:

  1. .jpeg or .png format.
  2. Minimum 300 dpi.
  3. Images should be grayscale (rather than black and white)
  4. Line art should be at least 600 dpi.
  5. If you are supplying images to a formatter/book designer, give them full-sized images in ,jpeg, .png or .ai formats and let the formatters modify the files as needed.

Color Images for Print on Demand:

  1. Every printer has their own standards. Read their FAQs.

PRINT-ON-DEMAND: Using Styles

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For DIY print-on-demand formatting, the number one skill needed is USING STYLES. Once you learn to use styles, whether in MS Word or in a publishing program such as Adobe InDesign, everything else falls into place.

A STYLE tells the program what to do with a paragraph or a character.

PARAGRAPH styles determine the font family, font-size, line spacing, leading, text-indent and alignment for an entire paragraph (from hard return to hard return). It sets the parameters for hyphenation and dealing with widows and orphans.

CHARACTER styles are applied to a specific set of characters (such as the first letter at the beginning of a chapter to create a drop cap) or to set a font size (such as for a word in all caps).

For any fiction format, I use, at a minimum, three styles:

  • Normal: The body font
  • Heading 1: For chapter starts (in Word, it also creates a navigation guide)
  • Break: For scene breaks

For working documents in MS Word I’ve set up a template that uses the above three styles. The entire doc is first styled in Normal, then I apply the Heading 1 and Break styles where needed. It makes zero difference what the styles look like since everything will be modified when it comes time to format a print-on-demand book. What matters is that the styles are in place.

TIP: Use tags (special characters or phrases that are easy to search for) to denote where special styling is required (such as poems, notes, lists, footnotes or endnotes, etc.). My tags are enclosed in square brackets—a search for a square bracket ensures no areas requiring special styling are missed. Find/Replace can be used to apply styles.

STYLES IN MS WORD

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TIP: If using Word to format a book, open the Styles pane by clicking the arrow in the lower right of the Styles block in the tool ribbon, and leave it open while working. In OPTIONS select to display only the styles IN USE.

To MODIFY A STYLE, hover the cursor over the style name and right click. Click on MODIFY. A tool menu will open. Once the style is modified, if you have checked the AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE box in the menu, styling in the document will update to match the selection.

To ADD A STYLE, click on the NEW STYLE button at the bottom left of the styles panel (it has a plus sign over an A). That will open a tool menu. (There is no limit to the number of styles you can create and use.)

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Go through the menu to select your preferences. Use the FORMAT menu (bottom left) to open up PARAGRAPH and FONT menu boxes.

If the style you want is already in use, either rename the new style, or click the MANAGE STYLES button from the bottom of the styles pane (it has a checkmark over an A) to find the existing style and apply it. The style can be modified.

TIP: Create and name your own styles. Word has a bazillion built-in styles, but they are geared toward business documents. Other than the Heading styles, which are extremely useful for creating navigation guides, you will probably discover that creating and naming your own styles makes more sense and will be easier to use.

To APPLY a style, click on the beginning of a paragraph, then click the style you wish to apply. To apply a Character style, select a character, word or words and apply the style.

STYLES IN ADOBE INDESIGN

Styling fiction in InDesign is much easier than in Word. When I import text from Word into a new ID document, it is usually styled with the basics (Normal, Heading 1, and Break). ID will list them in the styles panel. Right click on the style and select EDIT STYLE to modify it. It also allows you to load (import) styles (paragraph and character) from other ID documents. Click on the MENU button in the top right corner of the panel to open a list of options.

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To create new styles, click the plus button at the bottom of the styles panel.

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This creates a new style. Right click on it, select EDIT, and go through the menu to give it a name and set your preferences.

TIP: Use folders to organize your styles. This is especially helpful if you are formatting non-fiction and need special styling for lists, tables, footnotes, etc.

Styles can be modified at any time and there is no limit as to the number of styles.

TIP: Whether using Word or a publishing program, get in the habit of styling the document from BIG to SMALL. Style the body text first, then the all the headers, then all the scene breaks, then any special areas such as first paragraphs, lists, notes, poems, etc., and then the front and back matter. Doing it step-by-step from big to small ensures you don’t miss anything.

If you have questions or need to solve a specific issue in your styling efforts, ask in the comments and I will do my best to find an answer for you.

Happy Publishing!

PRINT-ON-DEMAND: ISBN

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From Wikipedia:

“The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

 “A different ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and variation of a publication, but not to a simple reprinting of an existing item. For example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book must each have a different ISBN, but an unchanged reprint of the hardcover edition keeps the same ISBN. The ISBN is ten digits long if assigned before 2007, and thirteen digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007. The method of assigning an ISBN is nation-specific and varies between countries, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country.”

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Do you, as a self-publisher, need ISBNs for your books?

For e-books, not really. If you publish an e-book through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, they will use their own book identifiers. For Amazon, that is an ASIN; for B&N, it is the BN ID. Kobo uses an ISBN, but Apple Books doesn’t appear to assign any identifying numbers to e-books. I don’t know about everywhere else, but can only assume each retailer will use whatever they deem fit. What many of my clients do is purchase one ISBN for the e-book, don’t use it for Amazon, but do use it when they list their e-book through Draft2Digital (which is now affiliated with Smashwords) or some other distributor. If you don’t have an ISBN, the distributor will assign an ISBN through their system.

A POD edition will definitely have an ISBN. If you purchase the ISBN, that number will be the same no matter which outfit prints it or which retailer sells it. If you opt not to acquire an ISBN, Amazon, Ingram Spark and Barnes & Noble—and possibly other POD printers, do your research—will assign an ISBN to your book, free of charge. In that case, you will not be able to transfer the ISBN to other printers. For instance, if Amazon assigns an ISBN, and you decide to use Barnes & Noble, too, the B&N book will have a different ISBN.

This does not mean that the printer/retailer owns any rights whatsoever to your book. Even if they own the ISBN, they do not own the book or have any vested interest beyond printing and selling the book.

Should you acquire your own ISBNs?

  • Some countries issue them free-of-charge.* In the United States, however, R.R. Bowker charges a lot of money (up to $125.00 per number).**
  • Some self-publishers only use one print-on-demand company, and see no reason for the added expense.
  • ISBNs are important for non-fiction, especially if it’s a book that requires updating or revising periodically—such as a textbook. Each revised edition will have its own ISBN. And yes, readers do use the ISBN to search for the exact edition they need.
  • Few readers search for fiction using the ISBN.
  • Libraries do use the number for cataloging. Many libraries acquire POD books, but do they discriminate against books using the printer-issued ISBN? That I cannot tell you.
  • Some self-publishers are building publishing empires. I have some clients with dozens of works, or hundreds, in their catalogues. They form publishing companies. They maintain control over every aspect, which includes owning the ISBNs for all their books.

There are pros and cons to owning ISBNs. Only the individual self-publisher can decide if the expense is worth it.

A side-note about barcodes. Is it necessary to purchase one along with an ISBN for a print-on-demand edition? Absolutely not. Print-on-demand companies will generate and print a barcode on every book cover.

*Find the agency that services your country.
**What R.R. Bowker charges for ISBNs.

If you have questions about ISBNs or have a specific issue, ask in the comments and I will do my best to find an answer.

Happy Publishing!

PRINT-ON-DEMAND: Headers and Footers

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Does your book need a header? A footer? A header and a footer? You’re the publisher, do whatever you want. I mean that with all sincerity. Are there ways of doing things? Are there standards? Yes. Is there a right or wrong way? Other than it’s probably a bad idea to put page numbers in the middle of the page, there’s no wrong way to do it.

Here are three samples from books I’ve formatted. The first has the page numbers, author name and book title in the headers. The second has the author name and book title in the header and the page numbers in the footer. The third is a short story collection with the book title on every even page and individual stories having its title and author in the odd page header, and then the page numbers in the footer.

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First consideration is page numbers. Readers like them. It’s an easy way to keep track in a book. If you’re into minimalism, insert a page number in the footer (you could use a header, but that might look more distracting than useful) and leave it at that.

If you’re of an artistic bent, feel free to tart up your headers and footers with small graphics or colored backgrounds. It’s a design choice. Your personal bookshelf is full of ideas. Find something you like and emulate it.

Some General Guidelines for Fiction

  • No headers or footers in the front and back matter
  • Page one of the story is numbered 1
  • Author name on the even pages (recto or right)
  • Book title on the odd pages (verso or left)
  • No headers on the chapter start pages

How to insert Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word

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  1. No page breaks, instead break the book into sections. Go to Layout > Page Setup > Breaks.
  2. At the title page/very first page of the document, set the cursor at the first line. Go to Insert > Header & Footer > Header. Click on Header and the Header and Footer ribbon will open. See above.
  3. Select Header: Blank (one column) and clear (uncheck) all options.
  4. Go to page 1 of your story and click the Header field, clear it, and check all three options: Different First Page; Different Odd & Even Pages; Show Document Text. Clear the Header field and deactivate Link to Previous.
  5. Go to page 2 of the story and fill in the Header field with your desired text. Deactivate Link to Previous.
  6. Go to page 3 of the story and fill in the Header field with desired text. Deactivate Link to Previous.
  7. Page numbers can go in the Header or a Footer. Once the Header and Footer ribbon is open, you can select the placement of where you want the page numbers and select how you want numbering to start.
  8. To remove headers and/or footers from the backmatter, go to the first page of the backmatter and open the Header/Footer ribbon.
  9. Select style: Blank, and clear all options. Deactivate Link to Previous. Delete all the text in the Headers and Footers.

(If you are struggling to format a print-on-demand novel with Word, I wrote a book called WORD FOR THE WISE Using Microsoft Office Word for Creative Writing and Self-Publishing. There is an entire section about formatting a novel with detailed instructions.)

How to insert Headers and Footers in Adobe InDesign

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  1. Go to page one of your story. Go to Layout > Numbering & Sections. Click and open the menu box. Name the section. Select a style.
  2. From the Pages panel, double-click on A-Master.
  3. Create text boxes for the header or footer or both, and fill them in with the desired text.
  4. To number the pages, right click to open the drop-down menu and select Insert Special Character > Markers > Current page number. (In the master it will display as a letter.)
  5. All the pages in the document will now have the A-Master applied. To remove the headers/footers from the front matter and/or backmatter, select those pages from the Pages panel, right click and select Apply Master to Pages. Select the master “None.”
  6. For a different chapter start, either apply “None” or create a new master.

As always, if you have a question or a specific problem, ask in the comments and I will do my best to help.

Happy Publishing!

PRINT-ON-DEMAND and EBOOKS: Platforms and Standards

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When I finish a formatting job, I provide my clients with a minimum of three files: A pdf for the print interior; an Amazon Only EPUB; and an EPUB wide-distro (generic, for everybody other than Amazon). They might need multiples of the print file with different ISBNs. They might request I give them a converted file for side-loading onto a Kindle device for review purposes, but that is clearly marked “non-commercial.” Three files are the bare minimum.

What is the standard for print-on-demand? Companies want a pdf file using the PDF/X standard, specifically PDF/X-1a2001. That is for optimal digital printing. You can use a Word doc as your base—as long as it’s exported or converted into a pdf file. If you’re doing it yourself, and your book project is fiction, without any bells and whistles such as images, and you follow a good guide for formatting your book, that Word doc will be acceptable. If your book layout is more complicated or you want better than what a business/office program can produce, use an actual publishing program or hire someone who uses a publishing program.

Standards and requirements for the big three print-on-demand services:

You might ask, but why two EPUB files? The answer is, Amazon uses different standards and platforms than everyone else.

A little history: When Amazon first introduced the Kindle, it used MOBI files. (Anyone remember MobiPocket Creator? What a joy to use.) Everybody else used the industry standard: EPUB. Then Amazon introduced the Fire tablets, and those used KF8. Then Apple came out with the iPhone and suddenly people were reading books on their phones. So Amazon came up with yet another platform—iOS. So since converting from MOBI to KF8 to AZW3 to iOS wasn’t the easiest process, Amazon finally conceded that fine, they’ll use the industry standard with EPUB as the base. Oh, and they dropped MOBI—it is no longer supported.

When your ebook is listed on Amazon, it will be optimized and converted for all the platforms and devices Amazon serves. The three main ones being the Fire tablet, the Paperwhite-type readers, and iOS. (Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple and other ebook retailers are also optimizing and converting EPUBs for their particular devices and apps, BUT they remain mostly EPUB files.)

Needless to say, the Amazon Only and EPUB wide-distro files are NOT interchangeable.

The beauty of Amazon devices and apps is how flexible they are, and how user friendly they are. The user preferences offer a wide variety of font families, font sizes, margins and line spacing with a goal of providing optimal reader comfort. I appreciate the hell out of that. As a reader, though, I don’t appreciate how easy it is for a formatter (professional or amateur) to mess with those user preferences, including breaking and/or disabling them.

With the files I create, if you use the generic EPUB instead of the Amazon Only file for KDP, the worst that will happen is your book will display two covers. Depending on the age of the device or type of app a reader uses, however, there might be issues with line spacing and margins. Not a major deal to most, but a big deal to me because I’m picky and I notice when things go awry.

Also, two files allow for customizing hyperlinks. Or including inducements to readers to leave a review. No retailer is going to allow links to other retail sites, and some (*cough* Apple) can and often do reject any ebook that mentions Amazon or even Goodreads (Amazon-owned).

REAL problems occur with one-size-fits-all formatters (and here, it’s my not-so-humble opinion that the major offenders are professionals).

I often lurk on forums where people ask about book formatting. Inevitably, some yahoo will pipe up with, “Don’t pay anybody! Just format a Word doc and use the same file for print and ebooks.” There are many problems with that, the major one being, most writers don’t know how to use Word for publishing.

(If you want to learn, I wrote a book called WORD FOR THE WISE, Using Microsoft Office Word for Creative Writing and Self-Publishing)

Ugly things happen when print-on-demand formats are converted into ebooks. The major issue is breaking user preference controls. Ever had an ebook where, no matter how hard you try, you cannot change the line spacing? Or it has drop caps that warp into strange positions when you change the screen orientation? Or the font families change for no discernible reason? Or the text is left-aligned when it makes more sense for it to be justified. Or worse, it’s all centered! Or you’re reading along and all the sudden there is a teeny-tiny word you can barely see? Or, if it has images, they’re cut off the sides or at the bottom?

That’s one-size-fits-all formatting.

While the one-size approach can work on some platforms, I guarantee it will not work on ALL platforms.

What should a self-publisher do? If you have more money than time, hire a pro who does NOT practice one-size-fits-all formatting. If you have more time than money, then there are tools available that are not difficult to learn and use.

To create an ebook for Amazon, use Kindle Create. I wrote a blog post about it when it first came out. Interesting program and fairly simple to use.

To create a generic EPUB that can be used everywhere (yes, even Amazon with some minor modifications), try Sigil. It’s freeware (big plus!) and well supported (even bigger plus!). There’s a learning curve, but overall it isn’t difficult. You might even learn some handy-dandy html while you’re at it.

To create your print-on-demand book without using Word, you can take the plunge with Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. Those are expensive, but if you are in it for the long-haul or want to learn how to format books for other self-publishers, they’re worth the expense. (Both offer free trials.) Or, you could try a freeware program I’ve heard good things about called Scribus. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard it’s very similar to InDesign.

Whatever you decide to do, always remember that there are standards and good practices for every publishing platform. Take the time to learn and use them.

As always, if you have questions or a specific problem, leave a comment and I will answer as best I can.

Happy Publishing!

PRINT-ON-DEMAND: Trim Size and Margins

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TRIM SIZE

From Amazon:

TRIM SIZE. Your printed book’s width and height. The most common trim size for books in the US is 6″x9″ (152.4 x 228.6 mm), but you have several other options. Books with a measurement more than 6.12 inches (155.5 mm) or more than 9 inches (228.6 mm) in height are considered large trim sizes.

Every site that offers print-on-demand has their own range of trim sizes for paperback and hard cover. You can look up the sizes offered. Do be aware that if you want both paperback and hard cover, the sizes can differ enough that you might have to create two interior files.

What’s the best trim size for your book? Only you can answer that. You want something that looks good on the shelf. You want something easy to hold. The higher your word count, the larger your trim size should be. It is very important to remember that print-on-demand books use heavy stock—50# paper is the standard, but it can go higher. That means a print-on-demand paperback is going to weigh twice as much or more than an offset printed mass market paperback.

Also from Amazon:

BLEED. Bleed is a printing term that refers to when printed objects on a page, such as images, background color, or graphics, extend past where the publication will be trimmed. Setting your bleed properly ensures printed objects reach all the way to the edge of the page. Accounting for bleed is important, because it prevents a white border from appearing at the edge of the page when the book is trimmed.

Bleed is rarely an issue with fiction, unless your book requires images that fill the entire page. In those cases, it’s best to set up the bleed when you create your initial document.

MARGINS

From Amazon:

MARGINS. Every page has three outside margins (top, bottom, and side) and one inside margin (also called the gutter). Margins ensure your text isn’t cut off during manufacturing. Set your trim size before you set your margins, since margin size depends on page count and on whether you have elements that bleed.

Two main things to consider when determining your book’s margins: SAFE SPACE and EASY READING.

SAFE SPACE: Print-on-demand technology being what it is (imagine a giant, high-speed copy machine and massive guillotines to chop the whole thing up), it’s not as precise as offset printing. Be aware of that fact and give your words a .25-inch safety margin all the way around. You don’t want any of your text to trespass into the safety zone. (If you have images that bleed, that’s okay—but never the text!) That includes your headers and footers, too. My personal rule of thumb, is that my minimum for the top, bottom and outside margins is .5 inch.

The inside margin falls under EASY READING. My rule of thumb is for up to 200 pages, the inside margin is .8 inch. For every 100 pages, add a tenth of an inch. That way the reader doesn’t have to crack the spine in order to read the text.

To set margins in Microsoft Word, go to Layout > Margins. Click on Custom and it will open a dialogue box like this:

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Notice I set “mirror margins” to make sure there is an inside margin.

To set margins in Adobe InDesign, go to File > New > Document. It will open a dialogue box like the one pictured. Again, be sure to select “facing pages” so there is an inside margin.

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If you have an questions about trim sizes and margins, or if you have a specific issue I haven’t addressed, feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

Happy Publishing!

HOW TO PRICE A PRINT-ON-DEMAND BOOK

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PRINT-ON-DEMAND HARDCOVER AND PAPERBACK BOOKS FORMATTED BY YOURS TRULY

The majority of writer/publishers I work with are very aware of production costs: editing, proofreading, cover design and formatting. What some don’t consider are printing costs and competitive pricing. Many factors go into any particular title’s success in the marketplace: Talent, craft, genre, timing and all too often, just plain luck. The price of a book is a big factor, too—unlike luck, it’s something the writer/publisher can control.

Pricing an eBook is fairly straightforward. Research competing titles, decide at what price-point your readers are most likely to bite, and there you have it. Unless your book is over 5MB in file size, there is no onsite production cost to you. You get a cut of the retail price and that’s that.

Print is different. Unfortunately, print-on-demand production is expensive. Price per unit is higher than offset printing costs. The paper is heavy, too—50# stock is the standard—meaning shipping costs are higher. Trad publishers can use much cheaper, flimsier paper, saving costs on several fronts. (Of course, they have to pay upfront for large print runs and storage, and you don’t, so there is that.)

This is why I encourage my clients to be mindful of costs when formatting their print editions. Bigger is not better with print-on-demand. Price isn’t the only consideration, weight is also a factor. A 500-page mass market paperback is hefty, but not uncomfortable to hold. A 500-page print-on-demand book feels like a textbook.

There is a reason Amazon limits the maximum page counts to either 550 or 828 (depending on trim size) in the books they print. They know when too much is just too much. (Also because of the size of the stock used for covers, but…) For trim sizes on Amazon, click HERE.

My goal, always, is to keep the page count as low as possible without sacrificing readability.

Step One: Keep the word count as low as possible.

Some rough calculations:

  • Early reader or young adult novel: Word count divided by 250 equals approximate page count
  • Adult novel: Word count divided by 350 equals approximate page count

If you run those numbers, you can see how a novel that is 250k words long can cause some problems.

It is possible to increase or decrease approximate word counts per page (use a larger or smaller trim size; increase or decrease the font size; increase or decrease the leading; increase or decrease margins). It’s also important to consider reader comfort. Do you want to force a 6pt font size on your readers? Or decrease the leading (space between lines of type) to the point where your ascenders and descenders are overlapping?

If you can keep your finished book under 400 pages, your readers will appreciate it. So will your bank account.

Other ways to reduce page count:

  • Minimize blank pages
  • Use reasonable margins
  • Manage white space

What about really short books? The biggest issue I run into is whether or not it will have a spine with text. It’s been my experience, to keep the printer from having fits about the spine, a minimum of 125 pages.

Step Two: Calculate the printing cost

The three major companies writer/publishers use for printing are Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Ingram Spark. Each of these companies has their own pros and cons. Do your research to make your decision about which to use. (You can use more than one.) To calculate printing costs:

Amazon: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834340

Barnes and Noble: https://press.barnesandnoble.com/print-on-demand

Ingram Spark: https://myaccount.ingramspark.com/Portal/Tools/PubCompCalculator

Amazon also offers a nifty tool: A royalty calculator. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/royalty-calculator

Step Three: Calculate Price

The best way to figure out a price is to see what others are charging. Search Amazon or Barnes and Noble for books similar to yours. (Trad publishers can charge less for mass market paperbacks because of factors mentioned above.) Price isn’t based on how much effort you put into it or how much it costs to hire a cover designer or pay a formatter. Price is based on how much a reader is willing to pay. So if you’ve written a mystery novel and paperback mysteries on Amazon are priced under $15, then pricing your novel at $20 makes your book non-competitive. Even $16 would be too high.

But don’t price too low, either. Printers will not allow you to price a book below production costs. Amazon says:

The minimum list price is calculated based on your book’s printing cost. It ensures that your royalties earned are always enough to cover the cost to print your book. KDP will not allow you to enter a list price lower than the minimum list price.

To calculate your minimum list price, we divide your paperback’s printing cost by the royalty rate (60%):

Printing cost / (60 / 100) [royalty rate] = minimum list price

Paperback or Hard Cover?

If the paperback and hard cover editions use the same trim size, then the same interior file (with minor modifications made for the ISBN and front matter legal language) can be used for both. If the trim sizes are different, then you will need two interior files. Even if the trim sizes are the same, you will have to use different templates to properly size your cover for each edition.

What About Images?

Images? Graphics? If you’re printing in black and white, then images won’t add to the printing cost. Color, however, can be expensive.

If you have any questions about specific issues in your book project, ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

Happy Publishing!

Amazon’s Kindle Create for Ebooks

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Have you heard about Kindle Create from Amazon? It’s a free service for self-publishers to format ebooks and print books to sell on Amazon. It will accept a Word .doc or .docx file and allow the publisher to create a “custom” ebook.

I’ve been fiddling around with it for a while, trying to figure out the best, easiest ways to use the program. There are things about it I like; and things I dislike thoroughly. So first, the pros and cons (in my rarely humble opinion):

PROS
  • Relatively intuitive and user friendly (an 8 out of 10 for ease of use)
  • Allows for some customization
  • Foolproof as far as creating a functioning ebook
  • Help pages are readily available (I give them a 6 out of 10 for usefulness)
CONS
  • It’s a proprietary format that can only be used on Amazon (Big consideration, given that you cannot use your formatted ebook for any purpose other than selling on Amazon. You will have to format an EPUB for other retailers.)
  • Themes are clunky (I don’t think a book designer had a hand in creating the styles. The results aren’t awful, but they don’t look very sophisticated either.)
  • Making batch changes is not possible (that I can figure out)
  • There is a Find function, but no Replace function
  • Uses page view only, rather than an adjustable Web layout view
  • Cannot edit with the Previewer open (Makes proofreading even more tedious.)

Before You Begin

As with any type of format, it’s Garbage In, Garbage Out. Your source document must be in tip-top shape–edited, polished, proofread–and as clean as you can make it against unwanted coding. (I’ve written extensively in this blog about the importance of a clean source doc and how to efficiently get it into shape.) I tried different levels of styling to see what the program will accept and what it won’t. I found that the best way is, in Word, to set up the body text or Normal style as if the doc is formatted for an ebook, but to leave the headings, front matter and back matter unstyled. Place all front and back matter in the order you want for the finished book. (And big pro, don’t worry about the table of contents–Kindle Create will generate it for you.) I also used tags to note where I want page breaks, scene breaks, and special paragraphs (the tags serve as search terms).

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Above is a clean doc, styled in Normal, with Heading 1 applied for my own purposes in Word. Kindle Create doesn’t appear to recognize heading styles. And notice, no page or section breaks.

If you want to link to other works (Amazon listings only), your website, blog, social media or Amazon Author Page, create the links in the Word document. (All the hyperlinks I created in the Word doc worked just fine in the KC program.)

Step by Step in Kindle Create

1. When you first open the program a box will appear that asks you what type of project you are creating, and the language (the program supports a multitude of languages).

2. Next, open a Word .doc or .docx file. It will be converted. (If the conversion isn’t successful, that can only mean that you’ve done some damage to the Word doc. You will have to scrub it clean and copy/paste it into a text editor to remove destructive coding.)

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Above, the loaded and converted Word doc. Basically no styling. The tag you see == is a search term, my indicator for page break.

3. Now select a theme. KC offers four. (The icon is on the upper right of the screen. Click it for a dropdown menu.)

4. Apply element formatting. In the Text Properties pane on the right side of the screen KC has broken down the “elements” into Common Element (the body of the work); Title Pages; and Book Start and End Pages (front and back matter). In a work that is text-heavy, such as a novel or narrative non-fiction, you will be able to find just about everything you need. (I’d be reluctant to use this program for any non-fiction project that requires sophisticated styling and multiple images.) To apply an element (actually, a style), set your cursor at the beginning of the text and then click on the option you want.

You can modify the “elements” to an extent. On the tool pane to the right click on “Formatting”. Any item that isn’t grayed out can be modified. For instance, if you want more or less space above or below your chapter headings, you can adjust them. Be aware, though, modifying one does NOT modify them all, and it does not change the element styling. So you will have to go through your book and modify each element individually. (Here is where using tags is helpful. Use the tag as a search term in the Find box.) You can also clear the formatting, if you wish, and apply all new formatting. If you make a mistake use Ctrl+z to undo the mistake.

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In the above example, I changed the spacing above and below the chapter heading. For the first paragraph, I set a zero indent. (KC does offer a drop cap option. Personally, I hate drop caps in ebooks–don’t actually love them in print either. The option is there if you want it.)

Customizing the styling works on multiple paragraphs, too. For instance, in the book I was using for practice, I disliked how KC set up the copyright page. So instead I went to the first line, right clicked, and selected “insert a section break”. This put my material on its own page. Then I selected all the text and styled it.

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With the text selected, you can see the options for custom formatting in the right hand tool pane. Click “Clear” to remove all formatting.

Now it’s time for last looks. If you used tags, make sure they are all deleted. Scroll through the section list in the left hand pane and make sure you’ve listed all your chapters/sections.

Once all the formatting is done, time to create your table of contents. In the above image you can see all the start pages in each section. Click on a page. The right tool pane displays “Section Properties”. Check the box if you want the section included in the table of contents. You can also customize what shows up in the list of entries. Next, go to the Title Page, right click and select “Insert Table of Contents”. (The ToC itself cannot be edited. So if you goof, or want to make changes, you will have to do so in the ebook itself.)

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This is quick and easy–but I heartily dislike that I cannot modify the heading. If you will use this program for a print layout, KC will insert page numbers for you.

Now it’s time to preview your ebook and run it through its paces with various font faces, font sizes, and different devices.

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The previewer does a fairly good job with a nice display. It leads to my biggest gripe with the KC program. I’m a huge proponent of proofreading. With every ebook I format, the author gets a chance to proofread it. The best way to proofread an ebook is to load it up on a device and go through it line by line. That way you can catch not only typos, but errors in formatting, too. If there’s a way to generate a proof file from KC, I can’t find it. (I haven’t gone so far as to try publishing my practice books. I’m assuming clicking “Publish” will take you to KDP.) You can use the previewer for proofreading since you can see the formatting, but with the previewer open you cannot do any editing. So it’s open, close, try to remember where you are, on and on and on. Ridiculous. My best suggestion is to have a markup doc (in Word) open as you go through the text in the previewer. Once done, transfer any changes to the ebook in KC.

What About Images?

Inserting images is easy. Place your cursor where you want the image, right click and select “insert image”. By clicking on the image, a tool pane opens that displays Image Properties. You can kind of size your image, position it and add alternative text.

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The images I played with scaled pretty well in the previewer. Keep in mind, any image used in the print file must be at least 300 dpi. For the ebook, 96 dpi is sufficient. (Do not insert your cover! That will cause two covers to be displayed and that’s a seriously rookie mistake.)

What about print?

I haven’t messed around with that yet. So that will be in another post.

My Conclusion

For the self-publisher on a tight budget who intends to use KDP Select, this is a reasonable option. It produces a product that will work properly on any Kindle device or app.

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So, Dear Readers, does anyone have a book they formatted with Kindle Create they’d like to link to in the comments?

 

Creating Custom Templates in MS Word

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I have come to the bittersweet conclusion that y’all don’t need my formatting wizardry much anymore. At least not you fiction writers. The good news is the reason why: The major sites for self-publishing have caught up with the tools most commonly in use (mostly, Word), and the conversions are better than ever. You can upload a formatted Word doc to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Direct2Digital and, if you’ve followed the basic best practices for ebook formatting, the results will be professional. You can even use Word to lay out a print edition for Amazon. (And if your version of Word has the capability, you can export a pdf that will work for IngramSpark.)

The biggest problem Do-It-Yourselfers run into isn’t ability, but lack of experience. I do multiple ebook formats and print layouts every week. My routines are down pat. But when you’re only doing one format a year it can be like re-inventing the wheel each time.

The solution? Make custom templates. You can make multiple templates: one for composition; another for editing; one for ebook formatting; another for print layouts. (Don’t be put off by the word “template.” If you are using MS Word, then with every new document you create you are using a template–Word’s template.)

For an ebook it’s super easy to make a boilerplate template that includes your standard front and back matter. When you’re ready to format, all you have to do is fill in the blanks, update whatever needs updating, import your text, style the headings and such. Boom. Twenty minutes. Ready to go.

Below is a custom template I made for a friend:

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STEP BY STEP TO CREATE A TEMPLATE

  1. Open a new blank doc in Word.
  2. Save As into a .dotx file and give it a name such as Ebook Template.dotx
    Word will place the file into a folder called Custom Office Templates. (You can, if you wish, create your own  template folder, and then copy/paste your template into that.)
  3. Open the Styles pane and click “Manage Styles”
    In the toolbox:
    Check the box for “New documents based on this template”
    Hide or delete any styles you do not want showing in your template
    Click Okay.
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  4. In the Styles pane click “Options…”
    Check the boxes that best fit how you work.
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  5. Modify and/or create new styles for use in this template.
    NOTE: It’s unnecessary to do more than the basics that you will require in a bare bones format. If you need additional styles for a project it’s super easy to add them to your working document. Or, you can update the template itself.

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The sample above is a template I created for markup documents to provide to my clients when they are proofreading their ebooks. It has only four paragraph styles and two character styles. The navigation guide is created automatically when I use Heading styles. Super simple.

USING YOUR TEMPLATE

To use the template to create a new document:

  1. Open the template
  2. Save As into a .docx file with a new name (MyOpusMagnus.docx)
  3. Start typing (Normal will be the default style. Apply other styles as necessary.)

To use the template for existing text (requires some prep work):

  1. Open the doc containing the text you want to use
  2. Save As with a new file name to preserve the original
  3. Tag the italics; make sure all scene breaks are clearly marked; make sure all deliberate blank lines are clearly marked (such as stanza breaks in poems)
  4. Delete all tabs; convert any soft returns into hard returns*
  5. Copy the text and paste it into a text editor (such as Notepad on a PC)
  6. Clean up the text to remove extraneous formatting, extra spaces and unneeded blank lines
  7. In Word, open the template
  8. Save As into a .docx file with your document name
  9. Copy the cleaned up text in the text editor and paste it into your new doc (everything will be styled as Normal)
  10. Restore the italics
  11. Go through the doc and apply styles where necessary
  • *Quick way to delete tabs with Find/Replace. In the Find field type ^t and leave the Replace field blank. Click Replace All.
  • Convert soft returns with Find/Replace: In the Find field type ^l and in the Replace field type ^p. Click Replace All.

Crafting a template for a print layout is a little trickier. It’ll probably take another blog post. The same principles apply. It’s all about styles. If you all want a post about print layouts, say the word and I’ll get on it.

By the way, if your do-it-yourselfing needs a bit of a jumpstart, I’m more than happy to create a custom ebook template for you. It’ll cost you ten to twenty-five bucks, depending on the complexity, but you’ll be able to use it over and over again for stellar results every time. Contact me at jayewmanus at gmail dot com.

Two Quick, Easy No-Cost Ways to Convert a PDF into a Word Doc

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There are two types of PDF files that concern writers and from which writers would like to extract editable text.

The first is created by exporting a text document from a word processor or publishing program into a PDF file. The second type is created by scanning printed material and producing a PDF file.

(The second type, the scan, is actually an image file that requires further conversion via OCR (optical character recognition). OCR conversion requires special software, and it falls into the category of “you get what you pay for” and will be the subject of another blog post.)

This post concerns the first type of PDF. A common request I get is: “I had someone do a print layout for my book and it’s been edited and updated, but it’s in a PDF and I need a final copy as a Word doc. Can you help?”  No problem. It takes just a minute, so I don’t charge people to do it. (I do, however, charge an arm and a leg to clean up conversions. Just kidding, only an arm.)

The good news: Converting a PDF file into a Word doc is easier than ever and the results are better, too. And, you probably have the tools on your computer already.

The bad news: Conversion is always a mixed bag—some results are vastly superior and some will make you tear your hair out.

The good news about the bad news is that if you know what is happening, you can fix it without ending up in a weepy, shivering, fetal ball. Or sending people like me an anxious email saying, “I’ve spent months trying to fix this fripping’ Word doc and I’ve torn all my hair out and can you please, please, please help meeeeee!” Then wondering what is wrong with you when in a couple of hours I send you a fully restored Word doc—nothing wrong with you, but I’ve recovered millions of words from PDF files and pretty much know what I’m doing. 😉

Use MS Word to Convert the PDF

If you have a version of MS Word that is capable of exporting a PDF file then it is capable of importing a PDF file. How to know? Open a doc in Word and click Save As. In the tool box is a dropdown menu of different file types: .doc, .docx, .rtf,. txt, and a bunch of others. If the list includes PDF, you’re golden. Conversion is as easy as opening a document.

In Word, click on File > Open and select the PDF file you want to open. (Be patient. Depending on how fast your computer is and how large the PDF file is, conversion may take several minutes.)

Once it is open on your computer do a SAVE AS into the DOCX file format.

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In the example the Show feature is activated so you can see the paragraph returns and other formatting.

What I like about this method:

  • Headers and footers are rendered as headers and footers (for the most part, depending on how the original PDF was created), meaning they can be quickly deleted or safely ignored.
  • It’s not horrible about retaining paragraphs.

The disadvantages:

  • It can hide hyphenation. (Sometimes the hyphenation is there but invisible and Word will not allow a search for them—if this occurs, you’ll need a text editor to clean them up. See below.)
  • If the fonts used in the pdf are not available on your computer, Word will substitute fonts. If Word is unable to read the font, it will insert black boxes, pink boxes or gibberish.
  • Images and other graphics can make the file difficult or impossible to open. This works best for a text-only document.
  • Depending on the source PDF, Word can go into overdrive attempting to retain the formatting. That can result in massive (and slow!) files.

Use Google Drive to Convert the PDF

You may have to create a Google account (gmail account) in order to use Google Drive, but it’s free and widely available.

  1. Go to Google Apps > Drive
  2. Click New > File Upload
  3. Select the PDF file you want to convert
  4. When the box opens saying “1 Upload Complete”, click on the file name
  5. Tell it to “Open with Google Docs”
  6. File > Download As > Microsoft Word (docx)
  7. Open the downloaded file in Word
  8. Save As to make sure the new Word doc is on your computer.

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The advantages:

  • The PDF file is editable in Google Docs, so if you don’t have Word or don’t want to use it, you can work on the PDF directly. VERY IMPORTANT!: This version remains on the cloud, not your computer, so if you want it saved on your computer you will have to download it.
  • No real formatting to fight with.
  • It makes very little effort to convert images and graphics during conversion, so it rarely chokes up or crashes because of it.

The disadvantages:

  • Headers and footers will have to be removed manually.
  • Hyphenation will have to be cleaned up manually.
  • Spacing issues.
  • Not fabulous about retaining paragraphs.

Tips for Making Clean Up Merely Mildly Annoying (as opposed to having you curled up in a fetal ball, quietly weeping)

  • Forget trying to retain the formatting from the PDF file. The text is what matters, focus on it.
  • Work in Web Layout view rather than Print Layout view so that you can adjust the width of the screen to approximate the width of the PDF text. This will make checking for and fixing wayward paragraphs easier.
  • Make sure all scene breaks, page breaks and deliberate blank lines are clearly tagged with some kind of marker so you know exactly where they are. Don’t use extra hard returns or actual page breaks to mark them—you’ll regret it.
  • If possible, work with the Word doc and the PDF open on the screen side by side so you can see scene breaks, page breaks, deliberate blank lines and special formatting such as italics.
  • Activate the Show feature (click the pilcrow icon ¶ in the Home Ribbon menu) so you can see such things as paragraph returns, soft returns, tabs and spaces.
  • If Word is having trouble reading a font, you will need to try another method. Contact me (see below) and I’ll see if I can find a solution for you.
  • Clear the formatting. First, make sure all your scene breaks, page breaks and deliberate blank lines are clearly marked. Second, tag your italics (easy way: https://jwmanus.wordpress.com/tag/italics-in-ebooks/). To clear the formatting. Ctrl+a to select all text then click the Clear All Formatting icon in the Home Ribbon. This will leave you with a blank slate, essentially, and remove any unwanted formatting Word has applied. Apply the Normal style to the selected text then modify the style so it suits you. Restore the italics.

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Quick Find/Replace terms useful for clean up:

Get rid of unwanted page breaks:
In the Find field: ^m
In the Replace field: leave blank
Replace All

Get rid of unwanted section breaks:
In the Find field: ^b
In the Replace field: leave blank
Replace All

Turn soft returns into hard returns:
In the Find field: ^l
In the Replace field: ^p
Replace All

To find and delete unwanted hyphens (in most cases, discretionary hyphens that are turned into single dashes have a space after them):
In the Find field: -(hit the space bar once to create a blank space)
In the Replace field: leave blank
Replace All

What if Word has hidden the hyphens?

It’s a common problem. It’s frustrating because you might never know it happened until you format your book as an ebook or send it in an email to someone. To find out if Word has done this, you will need a text editor. On a Windows machine, Notepad works fine. Open a blank document in the text editor. Use Ctrl+a to select all the text in the Word doc. Copy it, then paste it into the text editor. If you see this character ¬ then Word has replaced the hyphenation with “non-characters” that will cause trouble down the line. Word’s Find/Replace won’t do you any good. You will need to tag your italics, copy/paste the entire document into the text editor then use the editor’s Find/Replace function to delete the hyphenation.

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If neither of these conversion methods works for you, feel free to contact me at jayewmanus at gmail.com. I have other tools on hand that can convert difficult files. If the conversion does work for you, but you’re struggling with restoring the text, explain your problem in the comments and let’s figure it out.