From The Margins To The Middle Final .Docx: Fill & Download for Free

It’s very easy. You have to do a few formatting things and I’d recommend that for future books you start with the right formatting.There are some hard and fast rules. If you already used PAGE BREAK and PARAGRAPH you can skip down and bypass this part:NEVER indent using TAB or spaces. You only use the PARAGRAPH function and space it like 0.15 or 0.20.If you don’t indent you MUST put a blank line between paragraphs.If you already used TABs or SPACES you need to do the PARAGRAPH THING immediately. Then highlight the TABs and SPACES leading up to the first letter and use the FIND & REPLACE tool to remove these one at a time. That should bring your text over to the left side with PARAGRAPH indents.Your Title Page, Copyright Page, Contents Page and ALL CHAPTERS need to be separated using PAGE BREAK. Simple go to the last letters in a given chapter or title text and hit the PAGE BREAK or MANUAL BREAK item. Then go to the next page and if required use DELETE to bring the page of text back to the top.That takes care of any goofs you made in the original formatting.Your chapter titles or numbers should be highlighted and formatted using HEADING1 from the style selector. This should make it large and bold. You can leave it left flush or center it.The rest of the text is standard. All eBooks are made from webpage files so the text will be automatically changed to default system text (basically Times Roman). In your eBook viewer the reader can change fonts and type sizes based on the tools in a given eBook reader.Fancy fonts are not supported in eBooks. If you see any they are generally JPG images and it takes some work to do those, don’t worry about it for your first book.So, now you should have all your individual pages and chapters separated. Your titles in Heading1. Your body text normal. You either indented with Paragraph about 1/4″ or have spaces between paragraphs.That’s the primary formatting for eBooks.Making a table of contents takes work. If you are only doing it in Kindle and have Microsoft Word they have an automatic table of contents maker. But this won’t work for Nook Books, only Kindle MOBI files.To make a universal table of contents you highlight each chapter title or number. Use the BOOKMARK option (clear existing bookmarks before you start) and do that for each chapter. Then you make a table of contents page and go to the Hyperlink function, find your BOOKMARKS from the document file and import them ONE by ONE into the page using HYPERLINKS and giving them a title, like Chapter 1 or whatever your printed title for that chapter is.When you finish you can test this with keyboard and mouse. Put the mouse pointer over the CHAPTER 1 in your table of contents, hold down the CONTROL (<CTRL>) key and click the right mouse button. It should move you to the page. Check each link. Fix broken links.There are YouTube videos showing you how to do this.If it’s a bother just shine it on. It is a pain to do it. It can take an hour or two. You may have to re-do it. The alternative is NO table of contents (TOC) or paying someone to do it for you ($50 - $150).Now you’re done with the eBook. You simply start an account at Kindle. You need a Social Security or Tax Number, you must give them your name, address and phone. Payment is either by check (there is a minimum of either $25, $50 or $100) to get a check, so some people never see a check because they only make $10 a book. If you have a US bank account you can get direct deposit and they will give you 5 cents that way. You get paid 60 days after the sale (provided you meet the minimum for a check). You can track your sales on the dashboard.You then start a new title. You upload your title. You tell them the author’s name (you can use a pen name, a different one for each book if you want). You write a blurb (the better the blurb the better your chance at selling the book). You upload a cover (they have a free cover creator with simple pictures and graphics, or you can make your own cover in Paint or Gimp2, lots of authors COSPLAY and take selfies or use their BGF or BBF or BGFBF as the model [make them sign a model release for your own protection]). You can also find public domain picture (don’t use any with a clear face as you need a model release on file to avoid being sued).I’ve seen covers made simple. Stephen King’s IT! just had IT! in big strange looking red letters on a white background with his name in Arial letters in black. That’s as simple as you can get. Except the name Stephen King sells books, your name doesn’t.The cover has to be at least 1,000 pixels on each side and in JPG format.You upload your manuscript as either DOC, DOCX, RTF or PDF and the cover as JPG.You press a few buttons.Then you can preview it on your own system, phone or see it previewed on an app. Now you look it over. Page by page.If you’re happy with it your move on, decide if you want to do that Kindle Unlimited for payment of $0.0051 cents per page ($1 for a small novella and $4 for a huge 200,000 word tome) and decide what you want to sell copies for (99 cents is minimum you get 35% or 34 cents to 2.98 and at 2.99 you get 70% or $2.09, this continues to up to $9.99, at $10 it goes back down to 35%). The cheaper you make the book the easier it is to sell. The more you make the book the more you make AND if you advertise it you can give discounts dropping a $2.99 book down to $0.99 and pick up sales that way.You decide your markets You generally want them all, unless it’s EROTIC then you have to stay away from the Middle East and places like that).If you’re happy you press PUBLISH and by tomorrow (the day after that at the latest) it will be on Amazon unless there’s a technical problem you must correct.If you chose Kindle Unlimited it goes for 90 days and is exclusive. You can’t even sell from your own site. But you can make Print Books available everywhere.Amazon Kindle does Print Books.More and different formatting required.You have to pick a page size. There are three primary sizes the average author may select. 8.5″ x 11 which is basically how you wrote it. Almost no additional formatting is required (page must still be MIRRORED and margins may need adjusting). This is for How-To books with forms. Like Do Your Own Divorce (except you MUST be a lawyer to do that book legally). Professionals use this format a lot.The most popular format is Trade Paperback or 6″ x 9″ and this is used for everything provided that you’re at 45,000 words or higher. Below 45K the spine starts getting too thin for text.The final size some people use is either 5″ x 7″ or 4.25″ x 7″ and this is commonly referred to as a pocketbook or mass market book. This size is good for novellas and some romances.You need to set the PAGE for MIRROR image and set your margins. I have two I use regularly and you can use these as a starting point.6 x 9 trade publicationinner 0.68outer 0.36top 0.46bottom 0.32footer spacing 0.47auto fit height4.25 x 7inner 0.74outer 0.40top 0.38bottom 0.24footer spacing 0.20auto fit heightThese use a PAGE NUMBER in the CENTER of the FOOTERText is generally JUSTIFIED, but this is optional.Title page is identical to eBook. Centered, except dropped to 1/3 down from the top.Contents and Copyright pages are now FLUSH LEFT (they were typically centered for eBooks).You can NOW use FANCY FONTS for your Chapter Titles and Numbers. Any fancy font you have on your system. Simply highlight the title, then use the text DROP DOWN menu and test out the various fonts until you find one you like.You can also use fancy fonts as a first letter or for the first word BUT it may space your line a bit. You have to live with that if you want that first letter to be fancy. It also may spaced to the right too much, but if you look at professional books they have the SAME problem.Chapter Titles are generally centered and spaced down 1/4 to 1/3 of the page.The chapter body text starts at 1/3 to 1/2 down from the top.Your table of contents now needs to have PAGE NUMBERS. You can do this manually by printing out a copy of your contents page and thumbing through the book and marking where each chapter starts. If you have Microsoft Word IT WILL DO THIS FOR YOU with the Table of Contents tool.Your formatting is now done. AND for future books you can start with this format and it should make a perfect eBook file with no changes. It ignores MIRRORED, it ignores the MARGINS, it ignored the page number. YES, you will have to remove the page numbers from the contents and do that HYPERLINK THING.This way you only need one master file and when you go to make your eBooks you save AS MY FILE EBOOK and change that table of contents. That should be the only change you need.You will need back cover. This is either a BLURB or a picture of the author with a bio. Don’t use a PROFESSIONAL PHOTO that is illegal. It must be a selfie or have a friend take it or go to Walmart and get a Passport photo. Leave the bottom right area open and available for the bar code.Back cover goes on the left, front cover is the one you used for your eBook it goes on the right. Between them is the spine.If you book has lots of pictures or charts inside the book. I recommend you save it as a PDF and check it for proper placement. Re-do the pictures and charts ad needed and make a new PDF. They tend to float and can go out of place when you upload the DOC file, but if you get a perfect PDF file it stays perfect.When you upload your text file to the print book it will generated a TEMPLATE for your cover in PDF and JPG.You go to your word processor. Make a page that size (for 6 x 9 this would be about 13″ wide by 9.5″ tall). Set the margins for 0.00″ all the way. Then copy or import that JPG template image into the page and use your SIZE controls on the PAGE settings to adjust the white edges until they are covered by the JPG image. You now have a cover blank page. Save this page. Remove the JPG template.Now open up Gimp2 or Paint and copy or import that TEMPLATE image into it. Then take your mouse pointer and drag the bottom white area down so that it is TWICE as tall. If necessary copy the JPG template top and bottom to force the Paint screen to get that big.Now save this page as COVER ATTEMPT or some other title.Get your front cover. Copy it into the clipboard. Call that COVER ATTEMPT file back in and place your front cover on the right side of one of those JPG templates and size it until it fits over all the orange lines on the right side. Save this as COVER ATTEMPT2. Now copy your back cover into the clip board and call COVER ATTEMPT2 back in. Place that on the left side and size it until it covers all the orange lines up to that center SPINE area.Now save this as PRINT COVER 1Decide what color you want for the spine. White, black, red? It can match the front or back covers.Use your fill tool to put that color into the SPINE area. Use the ERASE or CUT tool to clean that area out, but don’t touch either of the covers.Now rotate the picture 90 degrees so that the book title is on the left side of the vertical image.Now pick a color and font for the spine text and use the TEXT tool to put it in. Book Title, Author name. Make sure to leave 1/8 to 1/4″ blank area above and below the spine text.Once you do that SAVE AS Print Cover 2Rotate in the other direction so it looks right. You should have left at least 1/4″ on either side of the spine text so they can fold it over the book.You should have also left a 2″ rectangle at the bottom right of the back page near the spine. This is for the Bar Code.The cover is now done and ready for testing.Import PRINT COVER 2 into that blank page you formatted. It should be a perfect fit. Use the mouse to drag and crop as needed to make sure no white shows.Remember they are going to trim 1/8″ in all directions.Now export this as a PDF file and import that into your Print Book.General a preview copy and see how it looks. From there you can make changes to the cover and spine as required.If you are happy with this save and order up a PRINTED PROOF. That takes a week or 10 tens to come. It will cost $8 to $12 depending on size.Look the proof over. Make sure everything is prefect. If not make changes. Change margins. Change fancy fonts for the titles. Change alignment of the cover. Make NEW FILEs with NEW NAMES. Import them and run more tests.I usually have to run 2–4 test prints before I’m happy with my book and formatting.http://www.puburbook.comFree site with Mobi, PDF and EPUB files covers details and showing pictures of things.

There are lots of ways to format an ebook. Some people use special software, others pay someone to do it for them. That’s an option – today there are many freelancers who do this for very low fees – compared to your time. (See bottom of this response.)I taught myself to format using Microsoft Word, back in 2010. It takes me about 1.5 hours to do a 60,000 word book. It took a while to get that fast but, like anything, practice lets you pick up speed.BEFORE YOU STARTSome initial preparation helps.· When you begin the book, save it as Microsoft Word 1997-2003 – that is an option in later Word editions. Why? The older version has fewer instructions within it, and your book will have a greater chance of working with what I call the shortcut method. If you have finished your draft, save it in the older format.· Work only on one computer, or at least using one program. If you move from Word to Google Docs and back, you may have more formatting problems when you load a book to an e-retailer site (Amazon or BN’s Nook Press).For final ebook preparation, your document should have:Single space between paragraphs throughoutNo page numbersNo headers/footersMinimal use of extra hard returns—none between paragraphsNo tabsConsistent presentation of your choices – same font size for chapter text, larger for chapter headings, page or section breaks between chaptersAn electronic book is continual text, unless you insert a page break. The Table of Contents lets readers move through the book. They are going to a place in the book via a link you establish, not a page number.Readers can set their ebook readers’ fonts and type sizes, so any page number you inserted would be meaningless. And most would appear in the middle of a page.A book with spaces between paragraphs will look unprofessional, and the reader will have to slide (or click, on older devices) to more pages.I use a space between scenes, and put the first few words of a new scene in all caps. Some people do a few stars between scenes and have no extra space.Tabs mess up spacing all over the place. (You remove tabs by doing a search and replace. Search for ^t and replace with nothing. The ^ is called a carrot, and it is above the number 6, below the function keys. Your document still knows there is a hard return at the end of each paragraph.) To delineate paragraphs in an ebook, indent. (This is done through the Paragraph component of Word’s formatting menu.)Much of what is discussed below can be learned in publishing guides the ebook retailers produce. They vary ways of presenting information, and most don’t talk about stripping all formatting. This is what works for me.It may be that when you do these things, your book will load and look perfect. If not, you remove formatting and put it back in.REMOVING FORMATTINGIn a nutshell, take all formatting out of the book by copying it, placing it in Notepad, and then moving it back into a new Word document (doc, not docx, which means Word 1997-2003). The full explanation is below.When I started loading books to Amazon in 2010, removing all formatting was essential. Without it, rogue fonts and varied type sizes would appear, and centered text would suddenly be at the left margin. It happens less often now, but it still happens.Taking out the formattingSave your book to a CD or flash drive and email yourself a copy.Open Notepad, a Microsoft Program. If you don't normally use it, go to the Windows search bar and type 'Notepad'. A link to the program should appear.Back to your original book or story. Select the entire document and copy.Go to Notebook and paste the book. It will look bad without the formatting.Select the now unformatted book in Notepad, and copy it.In a NEW Word document, paste the book.Save the book as a doc (not docx) document. Give it a different name than the original copy so you don't get confused.ADDING BACK THE FORMATTINGRemember, even though you saved your document as Word 1997-2003, you’re still working in Word 2010 or later. Showing is better than telling, so look first at Figure 1. Even though small, the image will give you an idea of what to expect on your computer screen.So that you do not have to insert every indent or alignment individually, use the Styles list.At the top right of the Word document, you will see Change Styles--it's under two capital A's. Beneath the words Change Styles is a tiny arrow. Click on it.You create ‘styles’ that you then use to format large amounts of text. In other words, ten minutes spent creating one set of instructions (a style) will save you a lot of time later.You’ll have to play with this, but once you learn it, it’s worth it! These explanations will only be understandable when you spend time trying and (probably) making a couple mistakes as you practice.When you click the arrow to change styles, a narrow column will appear on the right. It will have white background, black text. Some standard lines of text are Normal, Heading 1, No spacing. These are styles. You are going to create a new style.At the bottom of the list (below the white background that has text) are three little boxes, with A's. Click on the first one, which will show New Style. When you click, a box comes up.Here are the steps· Name the style (it will say only Style ). Delete what's in the name area and add your name. I call it Book Format or Basic Book Format.· Style type will stay paragraph.· Style based on normal will stay.· Choose your font and size. A graphic artist suggested Book Antiqua, 11 point. I find it easy to read.· Underneath the font, make it fully justified (as opposed to left justify). Ragged text marks you as an amateur.· At the bottom, check Add to Quick Style List, and Automatically Update. You can leave as 'Only in this document' or pick 'New documents based on this template.'· Click on the box at the bottom left -- format.· A list comes up. Select paragraph and you’ll get what’s in the standard Microsoft Word paragraph formatting info.Where it says left indent, I suggest making it zero, but it's up to you. You'll probably want zero because if you want to indent something later, you'll use .5 (or another number).· Your paragraphs will be indented by selecting 'First line' under special. I suggest .25 or .3. It's up to you how far to indent your paragraphs.· Single spacing.· Alignment justified.· Spacing is 0 point before and after.When you are done, click OK. This takes you back to the first box you worked with -- New Style from Formatting. Click Okay.In the list of styles (Figure 2) you will see Basic Book Format (or whatever you called it).Now It’s All Worth ItYou will now apply the basic book style to an entire chapter or other block of text. Select a large block of text -- perhaps a chapter, except for the title.Now that the text is selected, click on Basic Book Format. An entire chapter is now formatted with indented paragraphs.Okay, this is a lot. Remember, I said you can find formatters to do this for you for reasonable prices. I recommend the Smashwords List as a place to start. You are responsible for working with the person you hire – I’m not recommending any freelancer in particular. However, Smashwords is a good place to start.https://www.smashwords.com/listGood luck, and keep writing!Elaine L. Orr Home