Your opinion on formatting? How do you like to read?

[Martyn]

Okay, so I recently got a paper proof of my book, to see how it would look in print. I was generally pleased with it, but there are a few issues that need sorting out.

One thing is how the text is formatted, now I kind of like how I've laid it out, in terms of paragraphs and dialogue, but when I compare to for example, 'Black Dogs' by Ian McEwan (I read all sorts!) it looks very different. I sort of think my way of laying it out is a little easier on the eye, but that the way Ian McEwan formats looks more professional?

I even checked the Kindle version with the 'Look Inside' feature and his work is formatted in the same way on the Kindle. So my question is, how would you prefer to read your novels? With them formatted in the more professional way, or the more spaced out, easier on the eye way?

So you understand what I mean here are the two examples.

My way:-

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I didn't realize people believed such an absurd thing could possible be true!"

"Hah, then you are a fool! The beliefs of others are unfathomable to you, as they are not your beliefs."

"Hmmm, that is true, though I still cannot understand why people believe these things."

The two characters sat in silence looking intently at each other, eventually she sighed and stood up, speaking over her shoulder as she walked away. "Enough, I don't want to talk about these topics at this time."

The McEwan/More professional way:-

[Indent]He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, 'I didn't realize people believed such an absurd thing could possible be true!'
'Hah, then you are a fool! The beliefs of others are unfathomable to you, as they are not your beliefs.'
'Hmmm, that is true, though I still cannot understand why people believe these things.'
[Indent]The two characters sat in silence looking intently at each other, eventually she sighed and stood up, speaking over her shoulder as she walked away, 'Enough, I don't want to talk about these topics at this time.'

So which way do you prefer, for paperback? How about for Kindle ebooks?

Thanks,

Martyn

*The examples are NOT an excerpt, they are just something I made up on the spot to illustrate what I meant!

[Mpauli]

I guess there is no good answer. It depends on the reader and the mood.

On a normal day I like the McEwan way better. It relates more to my reading flow.
But on some occassions I guess I would like your style better, usually when I wanted to have the feeling "to get some reading done". This not-a-wall-of-text style helps with this feeling.

And I guess there are readers, who are repelled by a wall of text and would prefer your way any day.

[Martyn]

Mpauli wrote: "I guess there is no good answer. It depends on the reader and the mood.

On a normal day I like the McEwan way better. It relates more to my reading flow.
But on some occassions I guess I would lik..."

Hmmm, thanks.. Food for thought. I'm still not sure though, I wonder whether the McEwan style is better for paperback but the more casual style suit the Kindle better? Thoughts?

[Sophie]

Martyn wrote: "Hmmm, thanks.. Food for thought. I'm still not sure though, I wonder whether the McEwan style is better for paperback but the more casual style suit the Kindle better? Thoughts?"

From my personal experience I find this to be true. The "McEwan Style" is better for print, and the style you have is more ideal for e-reading.

I prefer to read print and am not enamored of e-books. The one thing I DO like about e-books is the ease of highlighting. I find it much easier to highlight with the kind of formatting you have; the closer the text, the more finicky a touch screen can get. I do also find that I read e-books faster specifically because many of them have similar formatting to yours.

But I also read ebooks on my phone more often than a dedicated e-reader or tablet, and with the much smaller screen, I prefer the McEwan style because I don't feel like I'm furiously tapping to turn pages. The flow of reading on a small screen is really disrupted with the style you have, you get maybe 3-4 sentences per page...it's like the act of reading has hiccups.

The other thing to keep in mind is that most e-readers now have the option to increase or decrease the print size, so even if the writing is more dense, readers have the option of zooming in to a size that suits them.

[Ken]

I prefer the second "professional" way. The previous, spaced out style reads like a YA novel to me and that's a bit of a turn off. It tends to make reading easier, but causes more frequent page flipping and a longer page count.

I guess in a superficial way I liken it to the way some students will artificially bump up their margins to make it seem like they wrote more. I'm not saying that's your goal, just the feel of that style to me personally.

[Martyn]

Thanks all, I'm still quite torn though. I think I might experiment with a hybrid style with paragraph indents and single line spacing between paragraphs. See how that looks. I looked at some of Terry Pratchett's formatting and he seems to use a bit of spacing, but nto going overboard on it. I think the actual story is the most important bit but I'm fairly content with that, i just want to get the presentation right now.

Thanks!

Martyn

[Charles]

I much prefer indented paragraphs with no additional line space between paragraphs, at least for fiction.

One thing I dislike is a Kindle publisher forcing a font face/size on me: I have selected from the available standard fonts faces and sizes, as well as line-spacing options in order to suit my tastes and, more importantly, my aging eyes. I hate when I have to mess with those settings because someone else thought they knew better how I like to read. ;-)

Oh, and I prefer a ragged right margin if you're going to mess with that, so that I avoid lines with huge amounts of word spacing to attempt to justify a line with one or more long words in it. (Again, this is probably more of a factor for people like me who use a font size that is not very small.)

[Martyn]

I usually upload a word file with fairly standard fonts, is there a way a reader can control the line spacing? What you'd saying is you think I should use indent with no spacing so the reader and make it more spaced out if they want it to be?

Do some books force a font/face/size? If so how do they do that (How can I avoid doing it!)

Personally I don't like justified text, I'd prefer a ragged right hand with fairly uniform word spacing too!

[Randy]

I generally prefer the indented version.

I also hate having to fiddle around with the font size when going between books, because they chose different defaults. However, with the PaperWhite, it's very easy to change the size with just a pinch on the screen.

But it would be nice if there were some override setting we could use.

I ran into a book recently where chapter headings like "Chapter six" were just interspersed sentences in the text of the page. Something minor, but it was driving me nuts every time I ran into it. Just jolted me out of the story.

I prefer justified text, but sometimes it can make for a couple of really jarring lines.

[Martyn]

Does anyone have a link to a professional standard? Is it different for US and UK books.

[Nathaniel]

i must prefer spaced out thought I admit, I am a special case. I can track my place better is there is some space between the words.

I believe I can change the spacing on my iPad's Nook app to my liking

[Martyn]

I've actually reformatted the first book to Paragraph indent, I'm hoping it will give readers enough control to get the text looking how they want it.

[Snarktastic Sonja]

I read almost exclusively digital books. I *greatly* prefer the indent version. I can control line spacing through the eReading app. While on a tablet, or specific reader it may not matter, on my smart phone it makes a *huge* difference. Nothing irritates me faster than having a mostly white page. I prefer my words all crammed together . . . I rarely stray beyond minimum margins and spacings, but I could if I so desired.

[Martyn]

Snarktastic Sonja wrote: "I read almost exclusively digital books. I *greatly* prefer the indent version. I can control line spacing through the eReading app. While on a tablet, or specific reader it may not matter, on my s..."

I suppose on small devices the constant page flicking must get annoying, when you have lots of blank lines on pages.

[[deleted user]]

Maybe I'm a fuddy-duddy, I like the old fashioned professional way. I'm not fond of ragged right. I dislike "Block Style" formatting and will sometimes not start reading a book formatted in this style. To me it screams AMATEUR author! Occasionally, there may be context where block style is appropriate, but keep it limited to the context.

[Charles]

Greg wrote: "Maybe I'm a fuddy-duddy, I like the old fashioned professional way. I'm not fond of ragged right. I dislike "Block Style" formatting and will sometimes not start reading a book formatted in this ..."

In paper versions I definitely prefer justified alignment, but when I'm reading on an e-reader with larger fonts, along with the fact that -- at least with Kindle -- there is no hyphenation being done, I find one line with just 2 or 3 words and lots of word space between them to be more distracting than a ragged right margin.

Ideally, though, the e-reader should let me choose, so I can customize it both to my preferences and my situation (am I reading it on my phone or on a 9" tablet or a 19" computer monitor?).