Just finished writing your novel? Congratulations! You’re done with only half the work. The next step is to get it published. Before you get to this, you need to format your book to make it look appealing. If you’re thinking your work is done when you finish the last chapter, you’re mistaken. Knowing how a book should be edited for publication is crucial for success as an author. Formatting, especially for new authors, can be a bit of a challenge. Before readers even get to know anything about what you’ve written, they first see how it looks. This is the first interaction they have with the text, so the first impression needs to be a good one. In this blog, we have listed all the steps you need to take to edit your final draft in a way that will definitely impress your audience.
What Exactly Does Book Formatting Involve?
It is a process in which the final draft is prepared for publication by selecting the right font and layout. The work is tailored to specific technical and design standards for printing. This includes fonts, margins, structuring text, and style-based formatting to improve readability. Editing ensures consistency and gives the book a pleasant appearance. It deals with the page layout, chapter headings, subheadings, front and end matter, images, and text.
Here is how you can effectively format your writing for it to stand out
Steps to Formatting Your Book for Stellar Success
Choose The Right Software
Adopting the best formatting software for your novel is going to save you from a lot of hassle. Some of the most popular software are Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Kindle Create. All of these have their distinct features that you need to keep in mind while making the choice, depending on whether you’re intending on creating an ebook or a printed one. eBook publishing services in UK can help you edit your text by picking the best tools for you. These services adhere to certain specifications to meet the standard of publication.
Title Page
This is the first thing that readers are going to see right when they open your book. It is your chance to make a positive first impression. The title page should have your story’s title, your name as the author. You can also add a brief author bio, a copyright page. It needs to be the most prominent element, usually in a larger font than the author’s name. This page does not need to have a page number; you can begin numbering the work from the introduction.
Page Size
The size you decide on for our book is going to depend on the genre. Novels are typically smaller in size compared to cookbooks and magazines. You can choose an unconventional size for your novel, but keep in mind that the typical standards exist for a reason. Readers are accustomed to certain page sizes, and it is advisable to put the experience over experimentation to achieve an aesthetic look.
Font
Fonts are probably the most important part of the book. It is how the words appear on the page, and it is not readable. The reader will be easily thrown off. You do not want to make them put your work second; they pick it up because the text is in Comic Sans. Usually, serif fonts are recommended for physical versions, and fonts without serifs are preferred for ebooks. Some of the best serif fonts include Times New Roman, EB Garamond, Georgia, and Lora. Their small strokes are pleasing to the reader’s eyes and make the experience more pleasant. For the digital version, the most commonly used sans serif fonts are Calibri, Arial, and Helvetica. These fonts are ideal for digital versions because they give a clear, uncluttered look on screens and, upon zooming in, do not hurt the eyes.
Format the Text
Your book’s content needs to be appropriately spaced, indented, and organized to make the paragraphs look visually appealing. Make sure to justify your text, indent the first lines of each paragraph, adjust spaces between lines, and insert page breaks. This is going to make the reading process easier and add to the overall appeal of the text. If the content is not edited properly and has inconsistencies, it’s going to affect the appearance of the text and negatively impact the experience that the reader has with your work.
Front and Back Matter
These sections appear at the beginning and end of the book. For the initial pages, roman numerals are used to signify page numbers. These are used to set apart sections like foreword or introduction in works of non-fiction. This matter has important information that adds to the context of the novel. The front matter includes a title page, table of contents, preface, and dedication. At the same time, the back matter has acknowledgements, an introduction to the authors, an appendix, and a bibliography.
Chapter Titles
The titles of chapters and headings are the most effective in ensuring readability in books and contributing to their aesthetic appeal. Appropriate titles and headings help in guiding your readers through the narrative. Ideally, each chapter should begin with a new page, and the title should be placed at the top of the page with space beneath it to indicate the beginning of a new section. Make sure to stay consistent with the formatting of chapter titles so readers can easily follow the story.
Finalize The Manuscript
When you are done with all these steps, make sure that your draft is properly exported and saved in the appropriate format. This is going to determine how the content is going to appear to the readers, either in print or digital mediums. If you think you’ve missed out on some important detail or require more assistance with editing, consider consulting UK book formatting services. They are going to guide you through the entire process and choose the file format for your work as well. For physical versions, the PDF file is often preferred. Word processing software allows easy exports to PDF. If you intend to publish digitally, you might need to export your content as an EPUB or MOBI file.
Conclusion
As an author, the writing process is only half of what’s needed for the book to be a success. The layout, font, and other visual aspects of the work are just as important as the content. When readers open your book, they don’t immediately see your story. Their eyes first land on the text. This is your golden chance at making a good impression so that they continue reading. By following these steps, you can successfully format your work to look pleasing to the eye and ensure a smooth reading experience.