NEVER use the tab key or spacebar to indent paragraphs This can be a difficult habit to break-but break it you must. Old school taught us to use the tab key to make paragraph indents. By paying close attention to your formatting, the resulting ebook will look professional, and your readers will have a more enjoyable reading experience – and that’s always the goal.What is the biggest mistake self-publishing authors make when preparing their book for ebook conversion? Improper word formatting of Paragraph Indents. Most ebook distributors also allow you to preview your ebook, so be sure to pick through the preview for display errors. Read their formatting guides and check for problems. If you do so, you’ll want to make sure the formatting of your manuscript file meets your distributors’ guidelines. High-quality ebooks are properly formatted.Īs an indie author getting started with your career, you may choose to self-publish an ebook before going into print. If you upload an incorrect file type, it may not process at all, or when it’s automatically converted to ebook format, it could display strangely. If you’re using different distributors that don’t share file type requirements, you may need to save your manuscript as multiple files for upload. Some platforms allow for multiple file types, and they are clearly listed on the upload page. When uploading the manuscript to the ebook distributor’s self-publishing portal, make sure you’re uploading the recommended file type. If you don’t apply styles to chapter titles, then the e-reader’s automatic Table of Contents either won’t list the chapter or will arbitrarily title it. For chapter titles, you should apply the “Header 1” style – you can customize it to look however you want, but the fact that it’s marked as a header will display it as a chapter title on some e-readers. Not applying stylesĪpplying certain styles to parts of the text helps e-readers determine where to mark chapters on an auto-generated Table of Contents. Don’t use hard returns (i.e., hitting Enter) more than once between paragraphs in the Word file, or it’ll add far more space between the paragraphs than you intended on an e-reader. If you want extra space between paragraphs, use the Paragraphs formatting feature to set a consistent amount of space after the last line of a paragraph. Maybe you like to type your manuscript with double-spaced lines, but in the final manuscript that you’ll be converting to ebook format, you should set it to single spaced. If you were to hit Tab to indent the paragraph, it may not show up on an e-reader or may create huge indents across half the screen. This will ensure that when your reader opens your ebook on their device, paragraphs will be clearly marked with an appropriately sized indent. Under Paragraph > Indentation, set the first line indent to 0.2” (5mm). Using tabs to indent your paragraphs doesn’t work for all e-readers, so you’ll want to automatically indent paragraphs. Instead, you should be using page or section breaks to mark a new page. If you were to hit Enter a bunch of times to get your text to continue on the next page in Word, this will lead to enormous gaps in the text on an e-reader. E-readers have different screen dimensions, so the way pages are broken up in Word probably won’t translate directly in the ebook page breaks tell the e-reader where exactly you want a page to end. Kindle requires page breaks, while NOOK requires a section break to the next page. When you want a page to end and the next to begin, you should use a page break or section break in Word. (Note that this is assuming you’re using Microsoft Word to write your manuscript.) 1. Here are five common formatting mistakes you should steer clear of while self-publishing an ebook. Fortunately, these pitfalls are easily avoided and simple to fix. While every ebook distributor has different formatting requirements, there are some mistakes that are common to most or all of them. Proper formatting for ebook manuscripts is vital for making sure your book is displayed clearly and professionally. And I don’t just mean messy looking – it may even be illegible. The problem with ebooks, however, is that if you don’t format a manuscript file in just the right way, the resulting product will be unpredictable and sloppy. For indie authors, ebooks are a solid option for getting your book out there if you’re not yet ready for print. They’re easier to set up than a print version, can be listed for sale more quickly, offer higher royalties than print book sales, and have a simpler cover design than a paperback or hardcover. EBooks are a common place to start for self-publishing authors.
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