"I want to choose the image(s) my designer will use on my book cover. But there are millions of photos and illustrations on the royalty-free stock photography websites! How do I find the right one?" Finding the right image can be a long, drawn-out, frustrating process. Almost as bad as writing the book! Here are … Continue reading Choosing a Cover Image
Category: Working With a Book Formatter
Book Formats
"Which file formats do I need to load my book to vendors and distributors?" In the beginning, you needed a MOBI for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), and an EPUB for all the other vendors and distributors. Very few sites accepted Word documents. Formats have evolved since the early days of self-publishing. Let's look at what … Continue reading Book Formats
Is It Scene Break Time?
"I just got my book files. They look great except... where did all these scene breaks come from? They weren't in the original file." In a manuscript file, a blank line shows up for two reasons: to indicate a change of time or setting in the action of a story, or it could be a … Continue reading Is It Scene Break Time?
Why Do a Print Book?
Why pay extra to have a print book formatted and covered when ebooks sell so much better? It all comes down to a story. 😉 Imagine this... You're sitting at a book-signing with about fifty other authors. The room is buzzing with excitement and energy. Hundreds of readers are strolling the room, laughing and chatting … Continue reading Why Do a Print Book?
Why Does Non-fiction Cost More to Format?
"The non-fiction price is so much more than the fiction price. Isn't a book just a book?" Yes and no. Don't you hate answers like that? Similarities All professionally-formatted print books have some things in common: praise for the author section title page copyright page acknowledgment dedication content broken into chapters about the author section, … Continue reading Why Does Non-fiction Cost More to Format?
How to Preview Your Print Book
"I'm looking at the pdf of my print book and there are these random blank pages in the front and back... why?" In professionally designed print books, certain pages are always placed on the right-hand side of the standard two-page layout: title page, dedication, acknowledgments, the start of the table of contents and the first … Continue reading How to Preview Your Print Book
What Does Your Friendly Formatter Need to Format Your Book?
Nothing to do with books, but... coffee! The must-have items are the manuscript, title page, and copyright page in a Word document and the ebook cover as a jpeg. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Until you look between the covers. Yep, pun intended. 🙂 Grab a book from your shelf and let's go through it … Continue reading What Does Your Friendly Formatter Need to Format Your Book?