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How To Prepare Your Manuscript

Before sending us your manuscript, please ensure you format it appropriately for publishing purposes.

The most important piece of advice we can offer is keep it simple. Always bear in mind that the book will be read on print and on a variety of different devices; mobile phones, Kindles, Nooks, PC’s, laptops, tablets etc. This means that the page sizes, font size etc will all be variable, so the original document must be clean and simple.

Overall tips

Do NOT include any of the following:

  • Page numbers (some devices will allocate page numbers to the eBook based on the preferences of the device owner, but eBook files do not have universal page numbers)
  • Headers and Footers
  • Borders, background colors or background images – not recommended, as these can look make the text faint or indistinct on gray scale e-reading devices
  • Fancy drop-caps at the start of each chapter
  • Different color text – see above
  • Multi-column layouts – just use a single column
  • Text Boxes – These can be included but bear in mind that the box may break if the text within runs onto the next page. This can happen if someone is viewing the book with a large font size, and therefore as less text on each ‘page’ or screen view
  • References to specific eBook retailers such as Amazon or Apple, as the retailers do not allow promotion of competitors in products listed on their websites.
  • Advertising – although you can of course, mention other titles, or your website or Facebook page.

Page layout

  • The page size is not relevant – A4 or letter is fine.
  • You do not need to consider margins, just use the standard settings.

Manuscript formatting

  • Separate chapters with a page break (Ctrl + Enter/Return) – do not use multiple line breaks to move to the next page.
  • Separate paragraphs with a single paragraph break (using the enter button) – do not use double paragraph breaks and do not use shift+enter.
  • Separate subsections or sections within a Chapter with a centered break – usually  * * *   – do not use a double paragraph break.
  • Do not use tabs or multiple spaces – if you want to indent a paragraph use the Word Quick Styles options. (See below for more information about Quick Styles)

Fonts and text styling

Support for different fonts and styles is limited in many e-reader devices, so again, keep things simple. Using Word’s inbuilt Quick Styles tool is a great way to save time and maintain consistent styles across your document – visit the Microsoft help pages for more information on using Quick Styles.

  • Main Body Text
    • Use a standard font like Times New Roman, Georgia or Arial for the body font.
    • 10, 11 or 12pt is ideal for the main body text.
    • Use black text.
    • Single line spacing is fine, but avoid line spacing that is greater than 1.5
    • You do not need to consider leading or kerning – these are not relevant for eBooks.
    • IDEALLY, use the ‘Normal’ Quick Style in Word for the main body text, and manage the appearance of your body text through the Quick Styles options.
    • If you need to make certain words or sentences stand out, try to only use basic formatting such as bold, italic, and ALL CAPS.
  • Chapter and Sub-Headings
    • Use the Heading styles available in the Quick Style list. Heading 1 for Chapter titles, Heading 2 for subtitles or section headings, etc.

Images

You can include images, but please be aware of the following:

  • Color images are fine but some e-reader devices cannot display color and will display images in gray scale instead. If you have diagrams that rely on color, make sure that they still make sense if they are shown in gray scale.
  • Insert your images into your manuscript but, if you can, also supply them as separate files (JPG, PNG, PDF, TIFF, GIF formats are fine)
  • Do not float images to the left or right of text, but keep them on their own line instead (see below)

 

How to insert images into an ebook

Links

  • You can add links to websites and email addresses within your manuscript – although these will only work automatically on e-reader devices which have an Internet connection.
  • To link from one place in the manuscript to another, use Word’s bookmarks and hyperlinks tools. See this Microsoft tutorial for more details.
  • If you are linking to or referencing another part of your manuscript, avoid using page numbers. For example, rather than writing “For more information on lawn mowers see page 120” use “For more information see the section on lawn mowers”.

Adding a Table of Contents

If your book is a fiction title we will add a simple, linked Table of Contents (ToC).

If your title is non-fiction, the ToC can be a very useful tool for a) navigating the book and b) displaying a snapshot of the scope of the book. Again, we will add a ToC, although if you want to ensure that the ToC displays all the relevant chapter and section headings it is straightforward to use Word’s inbuilt ToC generator – especially if you have used Quick Style headings. See the Microsoft Tutorial here.

Do not include page numbers on your ToC as these will be irrelevant on the eBook version.

And Finally

  • Run a spell check and grammar check before you consider the document complete, make any corrections and then run the checks again. It is better that you find any mistakes rather than the first person to review your eBook on Amazon or GoodReads.
  • Ensure that someone competent, aside from you, has read the entire document before you sign it off. If you can afford to, it is advisable to engage an editor or proofreader to go through your complete manuscript (which is a service we also provide if you’re interested).