Formatting your book?

[Melody]

So I'm under the impression that there are people you can hire to format your book so you don't have to try to play with formatting it to fit Smashwords and Createspace and Amazon..... Am I right? How much does that run?
Also, I want my next book to have fancy chapter font, and a fancy looking title page. I found some fonts that I like but cannot get it spaced right? I want to combine two fonts and my STYLES formatting isn't being cooperative. :/
Anyone know anything about this or who I can go to for help? I use WORD, and I think it is like 03 or something.
thanks!!

[Steven]

On fonts: the so-called "grinders" that turn your mss into an ebook or paper book are limited as to the fonts they can handle and the advice is to not get real fancy.

Createspace itself has a formatting service for its books that starts around $150. I don't know about Smashwords. Kindle, I think, has a program to help you do it yourself - I forget its name but I've heard good things about it.

[Thaddeus]

Not used Createspace, but never had problems formatting (using Word) for Smashwords or Amazon.

If fancy fonts are out, have you considered the cunning (or foolish...) plan of making each chapter heading a picture instead of written text?

[Melody]

Thaddeus wrote: "Not used Createspace, but never had problems formatting (using Word) for Smashwords or Amazon.

If fancy fonts are out, have you considered the cunning (or foolish...) plan of making each chapter h..."

Not even sure how to do that....lol. I don't like to mess with things too much for fear I'm going to mess up the whole story. I also get frustrated easily. I'd rather be writing then trying to insert fonts or fix margins with STYLE and messing it all up, ha ha.

[Sabrina]

Remember that Fonts will only matter for the paperback version through Createspace. Readers can set their own font preference on ereaders. And as Thaddeus mentioned, unless you use images as chapter headings the font will be converted to reader preference. I've not had a whole lot of luck with images in chapter headings. I found that it was perfect on one device, but wonky on another, oversized, a blank box with question mark, etc. In the paperback version you can do whatever you like since it's a PDF submission.

I use Scrivener for formatting. Highly recommend the program since you can format for ePub, Mobi, and Paperback from same document with a few different clicks of a button.

[Max]

Hey Melody,

I know I'm a little late getting to this thread, but if you still want help with future books, I offer formatting services.
Prices start at $75 AUD (I'm in Australia).

Feel free to get in touch via my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/MaxEffectAuth...
or by email, maxhenryauthor@outlook.com

Hope it worked out for you in the end!

[Thomas]

If anyone needs help with formatting for CreateSpace or Kindle, I have a few short how-to titles available on Amazon. There are two titles for formatting a manuscript for CreateSpace using InDesign, one for formatting a book cover spread using InDesign, and one for formatting Kindle-compliant ebooks using Microsoft Word. All of them include step-by-step instructions, as well as screenshots to help you navigate the complex world of book formatting.

As an added bonus, if anyone who orders these books has additional questions about formatting specific elements, you can feel free to contact me. I've been formatting books for the last ten years. Mention this post on Goodreads when contacting me.

Thanks, and happy formatting!

CreateSpace Formatting: http://amnz.to/1DHTX4a
CreateSpace Cover Formatting: http://amzn.to/1xX3m6h
Kindle-compliant Formatting: http://amzn.to/1tMGi5X