Formatting for Createspace and Kindle

I decided to blog first of all about formatting because I had several requests for it in my class and I feel that putting it here would best benefit all who are interested in this topic. Let me first say that the formatting tips listed below are things I have learned in formatting my own books. I write young adult fantasy/urban fantasy/dystopian/epic fantasy/contemporary. I have found that the formatting guidelines below have worked for all the genres I write. Feel free to adjust them according to your needs.

I do all of my writing in Microsoft Word. It is my favorite program and I would be lost without it. Writing in Word has made it easy to transfer all of my manuscripts accordingly. We’ll start with Createspace and Kindle because there is enough information to fill an entire website on the topic!

Createspace is the Amazon company you can use to publish your books in paperback. Though some may argue that paperback books are becoming extinct, I argue that by saying though I use the Kindle on my phone for most of my reading, I will never grow tired of the paper and ink smell of a freshly printed novel. The convenience of ereaders may have boosted ebook sales and I am very grateful for them, but I will always own a copy of my favorite books on paperback because I am addicted to the touch of the page beneath my fingers.

Back on topic-

For Createspace, if you are using Word the formatting is fairly simply but takes a bit of time to get the hang of it. I print all of my books in 5.25×8 size. They’re more manageable this way, and I just like how they appear. Createspace gives you a variety of sizes, so if you select a different size, make sure to adjust your margins accordingly. This is the way it has worked best for me.

 • Format the entire book to 12 point Garamond. There are other font options available and they are listed on Createspace if you prefer a different one, but this one is great for legibility and formats well.
• Because we are using the 5.25×8 size book, make sure to set your margins to reflect this. You can go into the margins setting in Word and if it isn’t available, create a Custom Margins setting. That way you will be able to see exactly what your book is going to look like.
• Under pages in the margins section, set the margins to “Mirror Margins”. That way the inside of your book will be set with the right distance from the seam.
• Under the margins section, set the measurements accordingly:

o 0.5 top margin
o 0.5 bottom margin
o 0.75 inside margin
o 0.38 outside margin
o 0.0 gutter
o header and footer set to 0.5

o Under the paragraph section (right click to bring it up), set it accordingly:

• inside and outside indentation at 0.06
• first line indent by 0.25
• spacing before and after at 0.0
• single spaced
• justified alignment (set before working on centering anything)

o Be sure to set your Layout for different odd and even AND different first page

• I have found that setting my headers at Palantino Linotype 9 pt works very well. If you use this font, put a paragraph space below (just hit Enter) so that there is enough space between the header and the lines in your book.
• I also put a blank page after the dedication page. Do it before you set the headers so that they are formatted properly.

o The header should appear as follows:
 Author’s name on even page
 Title of the book on the odd page
( I find that because of the margin settings, I usually need to put 5 spaces before both the Author’s name and the Title of the book to center them properly. You can double check this by looking at a page where you have a chapter heading that has been centered and making sure everything lines up correctly.)

o Leave the Title page at 12 pt Garamond
o Put all Chapter headings in Palantino Linotype 12 pt
o Place page numbers at the bottom center of each page (some people prefer the top left. Look at other books in your genre to see what your readers are used to.)
 Put page numbers in New Times Roman 10 pt
o If you have breaks within your chapters, use this: *** as spacers. Sometimes Createspace will erase the breaks by accident. Using the *** as a spacer ensures that the formatting transfers correctly. Keep these spacers at Garamond 12 pt.
o Center all chapter headings, title page, dedication page, and spacers AFTER doing the justified alignment. (I have done this too many times the other way around- centering everything perfectly, and then realizing I haven’t justified it yet. Learn from my reoccurring mistakes…)

• The most important key to Createspace is to double check ALL spacing because the justification can throw it off. This especially occurs in the dialogue. If you’re not careful, it’ll space three words all the way across the page. This is an eyesore if you miss it. Just scan through your manuscript to make sure this doesn’t happen. Delete any empty pages you find.
• A quick note- I grew up in the era of tabbing- hitting the tab at the beginning of every paragraph. Don’t do this! I learned the hard way that this is wrong! Instead, set your paragraph setting to First Line Indent of .25. This is very easy to change by pressing Control H to pull up the Find and Replace option. Then enter “^t” (remove the quote marks) in the Find field. Leave the Replace field blank. After it has removed all the tabs, you can then set the paragraph setting to First Line Indent of .25

• I set my pages accordingly:

o Title Page
o Copyright Page
o Dedication Page
o Blank Page
o Page One of Book

• For Createspace, the Copyright page should be:

Copyright © 2013 by NAME OF AUTHOR
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN (Createspace will fill this in)
Cover Design by COVER DESIGNER HERE
PUT YOUR WEBSITE HERE

Save your manuscript (I usually call this one BOOKTITLE for Createspace. You are now ready to load your book to Createspace! If you have an Amazon account, you can link your Createspace account to it. Otherwise, create a new account.
Again, adjust the formatting as you would like. This is how I usually set it up:

• New Title
• Guided (It takes you step by step which I find to be easier)
• Add the description and yourself as the author
• ISBN- You have choices here. Choose the one you are most comfortable with. I always use the Free Createspace ISBN and it’s worked well for me. (And it’s free- so who can argue with that?)
• Choose the interior you would like. I always choose Black & White
• Choose your book size. If you formatted it using my guidelines above, choose 5.25×8.
• You can then upload the book file that you just saved from the above guidelines.
• You now have the option to build the cover online (which is what I do). If someone has designed your cover for you or you did it yourself (props to you!), then you can build the cover online and launch the cover creator to upload your cover. Here’s what I do:

o Choose your design. If you did the full front cover, choose the design called ‘The Spruce’ (what I use). Otherwise, choose the one that best fits your format. If you need just a temporary cover, feel free to create one here and you can upload a new cover later (keeping in mind that anyone who orders the book under the old cover will get it…)
o Choose your Theme. I use ‘New Dawn’, but choose the one you like best.
o Enter your title
o Follow the rest of the tabs and then select ‘Create Cover’

• The rest of the guidelines through Createspace are self-explanatory- setting your price (I’ll write another blog about price here shortly). You have the option to set the DRM (Digital Rights Management) or not. I never do. There are some restrictions your book falls into if you do, and I feel like if someone is going to the extremes to steal my book, they can go ahead and have it. I haven’t had any problems with this. Read up on this and decide what you feel the most comfortable with in regards to your book.
• When you have submitted your book for publishing, all you have to do is wait! Amazon will notify you when the proof copy is ready to approve. You’ll have the choice to approve it either digitally or order a copy to see how the formatting and cover have turned out.

Amazon will then give you the option to send your manuscript to Kindle. Push the button and you will be notified when it is available on the KDP website. Go to the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) website and set your prices. When you approve the setup, Amazon will automatically load both the paperback book and the kindle book to the Amazon website. Congratulations, you are published!

• Good luck with everything. It takes a bit of practice, but the guildelines are there if you have questions or get stuck. Also, please email me if you have any questions. My email address is chereelalsop at hotmail.com
• I would love to hear about your successes in publishing! (And any questions or concerns). Let me know if there are any holes in these guidelines that need to be filled.
• You are on your way to being a self-published author!