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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 24, 2018 2:16:37 GMT
Formatting is hard. I always take the easy way out and let D2D format for me, and seems to work okay since I'm not trying to do anything fancy. But back when i tried to format for myself I always ended up with major errors that I couldn't fix. So maybe this could be a thread to discuss formatting - how to do it properly and easily. I know we have a poster who just put up a services thread for formatting, so that's pretty cool. Also, apparently one of the scammy KU tactics is using double and triple spaces between paragraphs to make the KENP longer. I also think there are other things they do, but I'm not sure what. If anyone has any info on this formatting, no, here would be a good place to share.  All I know is you're not supposed to hit the enter key ever. You are supposed to align right, I think? And you need to insert your images not copy/paste them in. And that's all the formatting know-how I've got.  Beuler? Beuler? |
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Post by shermp on Jul 24, 2018 3:23:11 GMT
Hi, my first post here.
I'm not an author, but am a heavy reader. I've been reading ebooks since about 2008 when I got my first ereader.
As a reader, I am very picky about how I like to see ebooks formatted, to the point that I usually edit most ebook files I come across to get the formatting 'just right' for me. So I may as well share some of my thoughts on the matter. Be aware, some of these can be considered personal preferences.
Paragraph indenting. Please please please do NOT use spaces or tabs to indent the first line of a paragraph. Word allows you to style paragraphs with a specific indent, or you can let your bookmaker, or program do it for you later.
Paragraph justification is personal choice. It's more common to 'justify' the text (straight right margin), but some prefer 'left aligned' text (ragged right margin).
Give your chapter/part headings some sort of structure if your software allows it. (eg. One of the default styles in Word is 'Heading n'). This makes it easier to convert to an ebook format later, especially when building a table of contents.
As K'Sennia Visitor mentioned in the OP, please avoid hitting enter multiple times to create vertical space. Your bookmaker/software can create vertical spacing and margins using styles.
Spacing between paragraphs vs. first line indentation. Seems to be personal preference. I personally hate blank lines, and you don't see many trad pub books using blank lines, but some do prefer it. Just whatever you do, follow the rule above regarding hitting enter multiple times to create your spacing between paragraphs.
Most importantly of all, be CONSISTENT in your formatting. Nothing worse than coming across an ebook, where paragraphs have different indentation, or font sizes etc. Or having the styling change half way through the book. Or... You get the the idea I hope.
I hope some may find this a bit useful. I'm merely a reader, after all.
(Maybe I should start a bookmaking/formatting service. I've 'lifted the skirts' of ebook files enough times...)
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Post by possiblyderanged on Jul 25, 2018 13:22:29 GMT
If using Word (and probably Open Office and Libre Office), you only hit enter at the end of a paragraph. Any other spaces you need should be set up in Styles.
You do insert images in to Word, rather than copy/paste, if you want it to look right on an ereader.
Never space or tab to start a paragraph. You set up line spacing, indents and paragraph spacing on the ribbon.
I justify my text, because I think it looks better and is easier to read. You don't align right, though. That makes things all line up at the right margin, but the left will then be jagged edged. Some say they don't justify, but accept the ragged right. My understanding was that Amazon's conversion justified the margins, but I may be wrong on that.
Let's see. What else? Hm. Oh, don't use any fancy fonts for either typing or making symbols (like scene breaks). Amazon won't recognize them, and you'll get weird symbols. Times New Roman at 12 pt body text and 14 pt headings is fine. Amazon converts it to their proprietary font anyway. Of course, you can type in Comic Sans, if that's what you want, but you should change it to TNR when formatting.
If you want fancy images for chapter titles or scene breaks, you have to make them into an image and import them. Remember that lots of images makes your delivery cost rise, which cuts into your profit.
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Post by not2esoteric on Jul 25, 2018 15:05:03 GMT
I use LibreOffice and create an epub through Calibre. I keep it simple. For body text, I use Georgia 11 pt and set my spacing at 124% proportional. Justified left/right. I use two heading styles. For the title, I use heading 1 at 14 pt, with the copyright and other front matter below. Each chapter I use heading 2 at 11 pt bold with spacing above so the chapter begins on a new "page" about a third of the way down (mimicking a print book). Nothing fancy, but it makes for a clean, easy-to-read e-book.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 25, 2018 16:23:04 GMT
I use LibreOffice and create an epub through Calibre. I keep it simple. For body text, I use Georgia 11 pt and set my spacing at 124% proportional. Justified left/right. I use two heading styles. For the title, I use heading 1 at 14 pt, with the copyright and other front matter below. Each chapter I use heading 2 at 11 pt bold with spacing above so the chapter begins on a new "page" about a third of the way down (mimicking a print book). Nothing fancy, but it makes for a clean, easy-to-read e-book. Do you insert a page break in between each chapter so that a new chapter always begins on a new screen? I was told to do this a long time ago, but I'm a little worried because it was a marketing type person who said that, and with all of the formatting shenanigans going on, I'm wondering if that's one of the tricks? |
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Post by not2esoteric on Jul 25, 2018 17:43:58 GMT
No page breaks, keep it flowing. It's best to keep e-book documents as simple as possible. Less to screw-up means less headaches. But you use D2D, so you're good.
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Post by possiblyderanged on Jul 28, 2018 13:52:11 GMT
I put a page break between chapters in an ebook (and between front matter and back matter pages). I like how it separates the story as it would in a print book. Readers are used to this, so they won't complain.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Dec 19, 2018 6:01:12 GMT
Good, good. When I was formatting my last book I was like, "do I insert breaks or not? I can't remember!" But I did because it's what I'm used to. One thing I just discovered with D2D is that they've been inserting a second TOC into all of the books that I made my own TOC first. So you'll have TOC, followed by TOC, which looks really weird. I should probably fix that. But effort.
I made sure to not create my own TOC for my last book. It's short anyway, so it shouldn't matter. And don't use the dropcaps with D2D. They look really weird.
What fonts do y'all use? Do you have favorites?
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