In the publishing industry, ms word is the norm, so. We dont have to concern ourselves with this for kindle, so it can come as a bit of a shock to authors to realize that they have to think about the size they want their book to be for paperback. That means you can move it outside the document to make more room or even more it to a second monitor if you are using dual monitors. How to format your book for self publication bookstand.
Basic manuscript formatting and word styles duration. Using styles also saves you time because you dont have to format the font and spacing for each part of your book. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in 6. The smashwords e book publishing service transforms word s doc files into the epub, mobi, and other e book formats, but only if. That way theres less cleanup work to do if tables or other objects in your. Well walk you through the steps to format your word document for printing a book that is a 5. You can be formatting your document like a pro in no time. The style dialog box like format shape floats independent of microsoft word. However, for ease of transmission and because virtually any word processing program can open them, you should probably use rich text format. How to format a novel in microsoft word selfpublishing. They saved my book and can certainly do it for yours as well highly recommended. Then upload the word document directly to amazon kindle direct publishing kdp. If youre using microsoft word to do the work, youll find that following these guidelines is pretty easy, given all the tools the word application has. What document format should you use for electronic submission.
So the word document of a print book template should look smaller than it usually does if you create a new word document. Word has a handy feature that automatically formats what you type, as you type it. Afterwards, you can create a bibliography of the sources you used to write your paper. Booklet printing in word microsoft word word tips tips. This is a guide to formatting your book in microsoft word 2010. For a book format, use the mirror margins to create facing pages for a book that is doublesided.
How to format your book for self publication bookstand publishing. However if your ebook does not contain these formatting issues, here are 6 easy steps to turn your microsoft word document into a kindle book. A file format for saving word 2019, word 2016, and word 20 files so that they can be opened in document applications that use the opendocument format. The standard way of calculating word count, aside from simply using the word count feature of your word processor, is to format your document in standard submission format and then multiply the number of pages by 250. Paste the text where you want it in your book and apply a simple style to the text, e. With the above described blank document open in microsoft word, go to the top tool bar. Do you want to convert your word document to an epub or mobi file. How to make a word document into a book format quora.
At diggypod, we offer free book templates for the author wanting to publish a book. Ive seen a lot of homebrewed content in that style but i dont know if theyre making it themselves or they found it online somewhere. Apr 23, 2014 by colin dunbar with our page size set, we continue with the global settings, and in this post we cover page layout and margins. A simple way to check this is to make a 4 page document in word set up o a4 pages, put page numbers on those pages and then print to your sharp printer as a booklet if those pages are printed correctly and that a3 sheet folds correctly, then you can go ahead and set up your document on single a4 pages. You have now put your book in the correct basic format. Tips and tricks for writers and authors february 23, 2015 author marketing experts, inc. Microsoft word comes with prebuilt page settings for creating books.
You are now ready to put your book into this format. How to convert a word document to epub or mobi for kindle. Now, you can easily turn your writings, blogs, drawings, images, documents and variety of content into professional quality books in. How to format a book in microsoft word with pictures getting started. Free book design templates and tutorials for formatting in ms. Preparing your microsoft word document for ebook publication. You may be familiar to view multiple webpages in firefoxchromeie, and switch between them by clicking corresponding tabs easily. After you format your manuscript in word, add finishing touches with kindle create. Click options and you can select how the styles pane is shown and sorted. Apr 06, 2020 converting and checking your word document and ebook formatting on your kindle, ipad, or pc is vital. Formatting your word manuscript for smashwords format book in word.
Styles in microsoft word is the easiest way to perfectly format an ebook the stepbystep procedure for using word styles to format an ebook file. How to automatically format an existing document in word 20. So, you could set your word document up to be 6 in. Formatting your print book in ms word for kdp print. Now, you can easily turn your writings, blogs, drawings, images, documents and variety of content into professional quality books in print or make ebook from pdf. Thereafter, all lefthand pages will be evennumbered, all righthand pages oddnumbered. Citations can be added in various formats, including apa, chicagostyle, gost, ieee, iso 690, and mla. By colin dunbar with our page size set, we continue with the global settings, and in this post we cover page layout and margins. How to format your book for kindle using microsoft word in.
How to format a book for kindle using microsoft word. Ive written a small book and id like to format it into book form with word. In a few clicks, it can help you format your title page, table of contents, and individual paragraphs and change you book s look and feel by applying themes. You can help protect yourself from scammers by verifying that the contact is a microsoft agent or microsoft employee and that the phone number is an official microsoft global customer service number. Click custom margins to change the widths of the margins. Free book template microsoft word book templates diggypod.
Even if you dont use a book template, you can still write a book using microsoft word just be aware that you may have to spend more time formatting your book when its time to publish it. Here are 7 sites to get free microsoft word book layout templates. In microsoft word, you can create a book format by setting specific page margins. Its recommended that you adjust these setting before writing the content of your book to prevent formatting issues late on. How to apply a word template to an existing word document. Enter the widths you want in the inside and outside boxes. Presto, the document will be converted to the native kindle format and sent to your device using wispersync. File format reference for word, excel, and powerpoint. By using the word convert in the subject you trigger amazons servers to convert it to a more usable format for you. You will need a template for the inside pages of the book, and a template for the outside cover of your book. Usually they are blank space, but you can also put headers or page numbers in the margins. This free video workshop is a 10step series on book formatting in microsoft word. So, if you want to format a word document such that it sails through the.
Make sure to apply to the whole document instead of this section. Our allpurpose online book creator lets you create your own books from one or multiple documents in pdf or word, powerpoint, photos, text and graphics. Free book design templates and tutorials for formatting in ms word. Odd sizes for print purposes generally are printed on larger stock, then trimmed.
How to format a picture book manuscript for publishers. Free book design templates and tutorials for formatting in. Page margins are the spaces around the edge of the page. Yes, youve guessed it this time, hes explaining how to use word to format print books. How to use microsoft word to create an ebook pcworld. Next, click the margins tab, click custom margins at the bottom of the. The best way to format a book for kindle is to type your manuscript in microsoft word not mac pages using word styles. To reserve space on the inside fold for binding, increase the width of the gutter. In the page setup group, click the small arrow at the bottomright.
The orientation automatically changes to landscape. Jul 20, 2017 to format a document is a simple matter of using things that expert programmers have built into word for us. Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your book s font and spacing is consistent. So, if you want to format a word document such that it sails through the conversion process for kindles mobi or the more generic epub read on. If youre quite new to using microsoft word, dont worry. How to format your book for amazon kindle using microsoft. However, there will still be some variance due to margins, printed text size and typeface, paragraphs, etc.
How to format a book in word a stepbystep tutorial. Using the multiple pages dropdown list, choose book fold. I believe its primarily a contrived specification used for e book publishing, not printing. The easiest way to do this is to format a document using the book fold layout, but you can also select and. If you use microsoft word, heres how your paragraph settings should look. Aug 23, 2015 when you format a document for printing as a book, the first page of your document will become the page of your book that appears on the righthand side when the cover is opened. Before sending your book to print, you will need to layout the book. You can use the preset styles in microsoft word or modify them for a custom look.
In microsoft word, open a new document and click on page setup under page layout. Once you have finished making the edits to your manuscript, you can upload your word file to our secure server, and our software will convert. Format your book microsoft word on a mac bookbaby blog. How to format your word document for book printing on mac or pc.
Tips for formatting your book correctly in microsoft word. Using word styles is the easiest way to prepare your word file before you publish your ebook you will also need to make sure that your document is clean of any background code that can affect fonts, paragraph styles and line spacing in your ebook. The word to pdf book conversion will make sure the fonts. With a few customizations, it can make writing your book easy. This is the technique that was used back in the days before computers could instantaneously count the number of words in a document. Type it clean use the default settings in microsoft word. Oct 23, 2018 in my last video i talked about how much i hated formatting and in todays video im showing you how to format your novel. Diy book formatting what you need to know the main purpose of this site is to give you some templates and help you use them to format your book for free or very cheaply. Convert word document to pdf book for free diggypod. You can create with a table of contents and chapter breaks for easy ereader navigation and readability. Jul 03, 2012 convert ms word docs to ebooks for free. Start by doubleclicking on the ruler at the top of your document and bring up the document formatting window. Im an expert word user, so just by reading this, i can tell that prepping my book for publication will be a fairly straightforward task. Word2kindle was a integral part in getting my 2nd book framer into publication as its formatting was pretty problematic.
I suggest you save your word document as well be adding formatting features, and itll be useful. These steps include including setting up the correct trim size, setting up the correct margins, formatting the text, and numbering the pages. Here are the basics steps on formatting your manuscript in microsoft word for self publication. For best results, change the document layout before you start your writing project. The reason for this is that what you see as the first, left page in your word document is actually located on the right and not left side of the book. In word, you can easily add citations when writing a document where you need to cite your sources, such as a research paper. Copy and paste your text into the document or, if youve already been writing in word, save the document as a new file to be safe and then start formatting. Common mistakes made when writing a book in microsoft word. Word is the best word processor to write your book in. I suggest you save your word document as well be adding formatting. If you plan to make multiple ebooks, design a basic layout and save it as a word template so that you can use it for each new book.
As a former microsoft trainer turned selfpublished author, he is able to speak from considerable relevant. Sadly, so few even know these things exist, let alone how to use them. It is not for creating pages used in printing and publishing. However, what if you have an existing document you want to automatically format. Microsoft word is universally recognized, and youre probably already familiar with it. You give the style a name, and then you use it to format your text in a word document. The problem with this is that ms word s gutter option wont work when it comes to book formatting. Microsoft word is at its core a word processing program. Attention to proper formatting will help your submission stand out. Microsoft word allows you to create an event booklet or book that looks both, professional and impressive, using any booklet template you want. Click size more paper sizes and set the document to 6x9 or your book size. The directions below are for ms word 7 and 10 the most.
Then, go back to save as, navigate to the same folder and this time, select the dropdown under the filename and select pdf. It is very easy to convert your word document to mobi and epub. Im always amazed by books produced by authors who apparently never noticed what a professionally published book. To use a document size that isnt directly supported by your printer, select manage custom sizes from the paper size list, then define the size you want.
How to make a booklet in word with pictures wikihow. Change the setting for multiple pages to book fold. You can accomplish this by running auto format, but beware this command can also make changes you dont want, so always double check your document. Word has a ton of options for editing your story, including comments, tracking changes, and comparing documents. Formatting print books with word selfpublishing advice. Jan 15, 2020 the only way to find an exact correlation is to set your word document up to be the same size as your finalized printed book. When you convert word to kindle format, you will be able to see if there are any formatting errors in your docx or doc file before your ebook is published and goes on sale. Its not that hard to format your word document for a kindle ebook if you know how. Because word is a flexible word processing system, you can simply use a book template within word, and start typing your book directly onto the page. The most common and most economical trim sizes is 5. How to use a formatting style in word 2010 dummies. For the many indie authors who still favor microsoft word for formatting their books, heres a companion piece to ian andrews recent post about using word to create ebook interiors. The text in your document is reformatted to fit within the page layout you just.
Using the styles function in word can help you ensure your books font and spacing is consistent. This includes changing quotes to smart quotes, automatically creating bulleted and numbered lists, and creating hyperlinks from web addresses. There are over a hundred things that can go wrong with your book formatting, and if we wrote about all of them youd be reading from sunup till sundown. This tutorial uses settings and options from the latest version of microsoft word, for mac or a pc. Whether youre writing a product user guide, a personal memoir, steamy novel or a kids story, free yourself from book template setup hassles by using microsoft. That way theres less cleanup work to do if tables or other objects in your document dont fit quite right. Every time you publish a new book, all you have to do is open the word file and add the new title to your backlist section. A brochure is a paper document or a booklet that gives information about an. Any word processor like word will have the same issues shown in the article.
In a few clicks, it can help you format your title page, table of contents, and individual paragraphs and change you books look and feel by applying themes. If you fail to use exactly that subject line, you will only get the file in its original format. This word to book conversion tool will take your microsoft word document and convert it to a printready pdf file. But the mobi ebook format, or kindle book format, is the only file type that can be added and read on kindle devices and kindle apps. Build your book format a paperback manuscript word for. If you had to convert it to other file formats, too, that would be an awful lot of extra drama. Tech support scams are an industrywide issue where scammers trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services. For the layout, a professional book designer would take your word document and format it in adobe indesign, but the book should not be written in indesign, which is a page layout program. May 02, 2016 preparing your microsoft word document for ebook publication theres an ongoing debate on the kindle direct publishing forum regarding formatting and uploading ebooks in microsoft word. How to format a book in word a stepbystep tutorial youtube. I wish this book had included information about prepping the word document for release as a print book up on amazon. How to create a booklet or book with microsoft word.
Mar 30, 2015 word has a handy feature that automatically formats what you type, as you type it. I use the comments feature to make notes to myself where i need to recheck facts or add description later. After you have uploaded your word document to the pdf conversion software, it will check to make sure your page size of your word document matches the size of the book trim you have selected. The smashwords e book publishing service transforms word s doc files into the epub, mobi, and other e book formats, but only if you shun text boxes. May 16, 2016 how to format a picture book manuscript for publishers. Im also making some guides and video tutorials that will help you design a professional, balanced, aesthetically pleasing, wellspaced and flawless book. If you want to write a book, you need word processing software thats up to the task. This wikihow teaches you how to set up a microsoft word document so it prints like a booklet. It has a powerful document editor for spelling and grammar checks. Go to the file menu in word, choose save as, navigate to where you want your document to be saved and save it first as a standard word.
To format a document is a simple matter of using things that expert programmers have built into word for us. Open kindle create and click new project from file. How to format your book for amazon kindle using microsoft word in only 30 minutes 0 comments one of the factors that decides whether your book will be successful or a flop on amazon kindle is the formatting. Insider secrets to professional book formatting for print. Choose the type of book youre making and click choose file. How to format your book for self publication be sure your book is in one electronic file. How to format your word document for book printing on mac. The stepbystep guide to formatting your print book for kdp. From our experience, most authors make the same mistakes when with their book format. Insider secrets to professional book formatting for print in ms word. In word 2010, a style is nothing more than a clutch of text and paragraph formats. Plus, that makes it really easy to update your manuscripts. This creates a wide margin on the top and side for a book.