How Do I Format a Book? ~ Noteworthy Mom Honey at Home

Understanding formatting: Why did my page count go up?

One of the main shocks my clients have when writing their book is when their page count goes from a nice, easy, 200-300 pages to over 500 pages. First-time authors never expect that, or think about that happening when writing their book. So why does that happen?

The default page size in any word processor (such as Microsoft Word) is 8.5 x 11 inches. The typical book size is 6 x 9 inches. So when you take your book and reduce the trim size to fit a typical book, the same word count doesn’t fit on the same page any longer. Instead, it carries over to the next page, and the next page. It makes sense that when you shrink any page, it’s going to overflow. But again, first-time authors don’t know or realize this. So my goal here is to help people understand formatting, how it works, pitfalls to avoid, and how to avoid being surprised by these types of changes.

How to Format Your Book

1. In Microsoft Word, you can adjust the body text by selecting “Normal” or creating a new style on the ribbon (in the “Home” menu). Usually, I like to create a new style for body text, and name it “body” so it differentiates between normal text and body text.

Your font size should be at least 12 pt and you don’t need to add space between paragraphs by hitting the enter key extra times to create space. This can be adjusted by the “paragraph” section on the ribbon, or by hitting the paragraph button while modifying your “style” for your text. Typically, the space you need is around 8 pts.

2. Create headings for each section of your book. On the ribbon (in the “Home” menu) you should see styles for Heading 1, Heading 2, and sometimes, Heading 3, 4. Your main content, such as each Chapter, Introduction, Preface, Acknowledgments, Prologue, Epilogue, etc., should use “Heading 1.” Any subsections of each chapter would use Heading 2 then Heading 3 depending on their relevance.

3. Adjust the trim/page size. Click on “Layout” at the top to open the layout options. You can adjust each element individually there on the left hand side, or you can hit the little arrow drop down button to open a box to adjust everything at once. When it comes up, you can set your margins, paper size, and “layout” of your book.

Before doing anything else, where it says “Multiple Pages,” click on that drop down box and select “Mirror Margins.” That will make your book have even and odd pages.

Once you have done that, adjust the margins:

Top, bottom, and outside should be 0.5 margins, and the inside should be at least 0.6. This may need adjusted later (the bigger your book, the more space you need in the middle of your pages so the book doesn’t eat your words).

Now select “paper size.” This is where you will shrink your book down from the standard 8.5 x 11 printer paper size to a true book size. The most common book size is 6 x 9, so we’ll go with that for this blog post. There are plenty of other book sizes that may be better for your book based on your genre, however, most novels are 6 x 9.

Set your width to “6” and your height to “9.” At the bottom, make sure is says “Apply to Whole Document.”

Next, select layout. Most books start a new section on an “odd” page (on the right) so you will select “Section Start” and “Odd Page” at the top. Then on the other options, select “Different Odd and Even.” If your book has parts (such as Part One, Part Two, etc.) then you would select “Different First Page.” This is typically used if your header or footer is going to be different for each section’s first page, but if you don’t know it’s usually better to leave this one unchecked.

4. Click “OK” to set your new trim/page size for your book. Now you should have an accurate page count.

Pitfalls to Avoid

The typical novel is around 80,000 to 100,000 words. Writing more than that usually results in a 500+ page book. 80,000 words usually ends up less than 300 pages unless you include photos in the content, which can drive up your page count.
Do not use hard tabs to indent paragraphs. Instead, while you have the modify body text box open, click on “Paragraph” and under the word “Special” select “First Line.” Set the indent to 0.25, not 0.5. An indent at 0.5 is too big for most books.
Do not use the enter key repetitively. One “Enter” for each paragraph is enough. To get to the next page or section, use “Page Breaks.” Under “Layout” you can choose which type of page break you need. At the very least, use a regular page break and your formatter can fix these later. However, if you’re doing it all yourself, typically you’re going to want to select “Breaks” under Layout, then use the “Odd Page” break if you’re separating sections (Such as going from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2).
Do not use double spaces. You only need one space between each word.
On page numbering, don’t start with the Title Page as “page 1.” Instead, your book shouldn’t begin numbering until content is introduced. Front matter is usually formatted with lowercase Roman numerals and back matter is sometimes formatted with uppercase Roman numerals. Editing page numbers within the header and footer is a whole other process, but as you go through each section, the best thing you can do under the “Header and Footer” menu is deselect “Link to Previous.” This allows you to adjust page numbers as needed for each section. Each section is divided by “Odd Page” breaks. Simple “page break” doesn’t separate sections.

Did this help? I would love to hear from you! Let me know what kind of posts you would find useful on my blog. Email me at jeannieculbertson2017@gmail.com, or click on “Contact” under the home menu. Here’s to your self-publishing success!