If you’re planning on self-publishing, then avoiding these common formatting mistakes is vital!
Just because you’re self-publishing your book, it doesn’t mean that you need to format it like a self-published book. If you want that premium, traditionally published book look and feel, then avoid these common formatting mistakes.
These days self-publishing has become extremely popular, but so too has that ‘self-published’ look and feel. No one wants to pour their heart and soul into their book only for it to be criticized as hard to read or have someone leave a review saying that it looks amateurish. Just because you’re planning on self-publishing doesn’t mean that your book can’t look as good as, if not better than, a traditionally published book.
There are several book design or formatting rules that almost all professional book publishers and formatting experts follow. If you have read several best-selling books and felt that the layout or formatting followed the same general style or flow, it’s because they do. Having your book look great is just as important as the content because if it looks bad on the inside or is difficult to read, most readers will put it down and never get to experience what you’ve written.
Many professional formatters follow the Chicago Manual of Style whenever they format any book. While there is some room to add personal touches to your book’s interior design, it’s best to avoid these common formatting mistakes listed below. Being different is great, but many book formatting rules are in place for a reason: to make any potential reader’s job of reading your book as easy as follows.
If you’re still in the writing stage of your book, be sure to read 10 Formatting Tips Your Editor Wants You to Learn!
Avoid These Common Formatting Mistakes
The first thing that we’re going to talk about is typography issues.
The different text elements in your book, chapter headings, section headings, and body text all present you with different typographical choices. What font do you use? What size? Bold or Italic? Small caps or all caps? All of these different choices will affect the reader’s experience and wave a big flag that says, ‘I’m not 100% sure I know what I’m doing!’
The Default Fonts
When you open a new document in Microsoft Word or whatever program you’re using, there is a default font. It’s often Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial. Using one of these default fonts may be easy, but it also leaves your book looking more like a document than a book. Your formatter will select a font based on the size of your book, genre, past books in the same series, and your personal preference. While there is some room here to choose a font you love, please keep in mind how easy it will be to read in a printed format.
Non-Standard Fonts
Almost all books use a serif font variation for their body text because the small strokes at the end make them much easier to read.
Sans Serif is used for titles, headings, and also captions in some cases. When you deviate away from the norm, you could be overcomplicating your book and making it difficult to read. There are some fonts that won’t do your book any justice at all, including Times New Roman, Comic Sans, script fonts, and blocky fonts that can be extremely difficult to read.
Too Many Fonts
Don’t go crazy with your fonts. Keeping it simple often makes it easier for a reader to discern the hierarchy of information. Switching back and forth between multiple fonts throughout the same book could leave readers confused or off-put, making it hard for them to track the storyline or even finish the book altogether.
Serif and Sans Serif Fonts
According to an article published by Paper True, the most common serif fonts are Garamond, Times New Roman, Century, Georgia, Palantino, and Merriweather. If you prefer a sans-serif font, you could go with Helvetica, Arial, Futura, Roboto, or Myriad.
As you get closer to the formatting stage, be sure to read 8 Book Formatting Tips for Your Fiction or Non-Fiction Book!
Spacing Issues That You Need to Avoid
The next common formatting issue that you need to avoid is spacing issues in your manuscript. this includes lines, paragraphs, and margins.
There are several hard and soft rules regarding spacing in book formatting, and breaking them can quickly make your book seem like it was prepared by an amateur while it may not make or break the popularity of your book if you’re putting your heart, soul, and money into self-publishing your book and making your dream of becoming an author a reality, your book deserves the best opportunity of success.
Ragged Right Justification
When your text is justified to your left margin, it means that the left edge is aligned, and the right edge is ragged. Right justification is the opposite, and fully justified text means that your text aligns with both right and left margins. Books are traditionally set to full justification, and yours should be, too.
Missing or Bad Hyphenation
When you use full justification, it sometimes stretches words a little too far or compresses them into one line too much. Hyphenation is your solution to this problem, but it requires a little bit of extra attention. A professional formatted will review your book before the final paperback formatting has been completed to ensure that the spaces between words aren’t impacted by the justification. However, you can also choose to turn off hyphenation if you so wish, but it will make the justification a little messy throughout the book.
Line Spacing
Give your words room to breathe! 1.1 to 1.5 will spread your words and lines of text across the pages, making your book easier to read. Whether they realize it or not, your readers will appreciate it as they finish reading your book. If you use a single space, it will cram your words into it and make your body text difficult to read.
Extra Space Between Paragraphs
Rather than putting a line space between paragraphs, consider using a first-line indent. Fiction books typically utilize an indent without a space to indicate a paragraph, while non-fiction books utilize a line space between paragraphs with no indents.
Widows and Orphans
Sometimes, it’s difficult to avoid widows and orphans when a paragraph splits across pages. The broken line at the bottom is known as a widow and orphan. Often, clever adjustments to spacing and margins can help you avoid this.
Incorrect Margins
When you’re trying to make a book look longer than it is, playing with your margins is one way to do it. However, going overboard with your margins isn’t recommended. Another common mistake is margins that are too small. Remember, you’re formatting a book that will eventually be printed, and when someone reads it, you don’t want your words running into the center margin known as the gutter, and you want them to be able to comfortably hold your book in their hands without having to shift the book around to read all of the words.
Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers
Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers
Your header is the small text you can read at the top of the page, and the footer is the small text that you can see at the bottom of the page. All of your headers and footers are outside of your body text. The header usually contains your book title, chapter title, or your author’s name. One element is usually on the odd page, and one is on the even page. Your page numbers can be part of either the header or footer.
Chapter pages typically don’t include a header or footer, and neither do any blank pages.
Odd and Even Pages
Your odd pages should always be on the right, with your even pages on the left. If you get this wrong, it will raise some red flags about your book’s overall professionalism.
Page Numbers
Your page numbers start on the first page of the first chapter or in the introduction but aren’t typically displayed on chapter pages. The pages before that are known as the front matter. If you had multiple front matter pages, you would use Roman Numerals for your front matter, counting down consecutively until you hit the 1st page of the book.
Avoid These Common Formatting Mistakes! | Conclusion
Formatting is one part of book design and self-publishing that you can’t afford to get wrong. When you’re doing it yourself, it can be quite time-consuming. However, when it’s done correctly, the end result is a fantastic-looking book that’s easy to read and looks professional.
If you have any questions about the self-publishing process, including professional book formatting services or interior design services, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our professional formatting team is standing by to assist you with paperback formatting, ebook formatting, or hardcover formatting for your book.
At Author Services Australia, we support Australian and New Zealand self-published authors and writers with a full range of affordable self-publishing services, including ghostwriting, copyediting, developmental editing, proofreading, ebook and paperback formatting, book cover design, children’s book illustrations, graphic design services, manuscript uploading assistance, and social media and marketing.
Do you have any formatting questions that you’d like to ask our book formatting team? Comment below, and we’ll do our best to answer them. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.
