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Formatting a manuscript
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C. Susan
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Nov 20, 2019 06:39PM
I'm brand new to publishing and there is much to learn. I've created my own publishing company for the purpose of self-publishing my work. My question for today: How do I format my book before uploading it to Ingram Spark? Is there a specific way it should be done? I am using a 13 font and 1.5 spacing since it's a MG book. Do I need to right justify? I hate huge spaces between words to create justification. Does anyone use "ragged right" anymore?
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Here’s the easiest way...if you don’t own a Mac... go you to the store immediately and buy one. I swore that my PC was the bomb.com after having used a Mac for a few years I no longer touch a PC. As a matter of fact they disgust me now. But that isn’t the real reason. The app “Vellum” is Mac only! It is the single most important tool in my writer bag of tools. You can format your book... your way... for less than $300. And they will NEVER make it on the PC.
Vellum!!!! Yes, it made my life so easy. Tried another (unnamed) company for two weeks, trying to make it work. It was a mess. Got Vellum and the whole thing - ebook and paper - were done in a couple of hours. Most of that time was correcting the formatting changes I had made trying to get the other one to work.
About ragged right, I rarely see it. For kids books though, depending on the age, I do see a lot of creative font usage.
I used CreateSpace templates to format my books. They're free to download, but since CreateSpace isn't a thing anymore, you would have to look for the templates through KDP.
Great thing about Vellum is you don't have to worry about formatting issues, other than picking a font and style. And I love the way it generates files that work for both e-books and paperbacks. If you're on a Mac, that's the way to go.
Since I'm married to PC, I contact someone at Fiverr and tell them exactly how I want my book to appear. For a cheap price, I get my manuscript formatted in Mobi, Kindle, or print version.
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Hello C. Susan :) Welcome to the exciting world of publishing!! Many people sing the praises of Vellum. As a non Mac person, I can't say personally how good it is, though consensus rules it a godsend. If, like me, Mac isn't your thing, don't despair. Proper book formatting can be a challenge, but it doesn't need to be an insurmountable one.
Most novels (not all mind you) are justified. You're right in saying this can create unsightly gaps in the text. But, if you use kerning properly, you can avoid most of these as well as those pesky widows and orphans.
Check out The Book Designer for some helpful hints and insights. Joel Friedlander really knows his stuff. Cheers :)
Vellum is the top of the line formatting program but can only be used if you have a MAC, which I don't. (I was going to get one, but then found out they were coming up with a completely updated computer, still without a touch screen, which I love.)Draft2Digital will format a manuscript nicely but they only have limited templates. It's free.
KDP will format the book, but make sure you check it. I had trouble with it due to a MS Word issue, so I've not been using it if I can avoid it.
Fiver is a good place to go, but the work varies depending on who you get.
Reedsy has a couple of people who format books, but they are in the expensive range of $150 and up.
Joel Friedlander has templates that you can use. I haven't tried them yet, so I can't comment on how good or easy they are to use.
Scrivener will format but I've found it clunky and frustrating.
You can use MS Word, but it isn't the best with the letter spacing. I can do the formatting in less than an hour on most books using word. It's readable but not the best.
Upwork has a lot of people who will format you book and most will give you a flat rate per number of pages. Most are from $75 and up.
C. Susan wrote: "I'm brand new to publishing and there is much to learn. I've created my own publishing company for the purpose of self-publishing my work. My question for today: How do I format my book before uplo..."You should be careful with formatting. Ingramsparks is great but $49 for set up and will charge for extra edits. The manual can be downloaded, but you really need to format exactly to what they say and it can be challenging.
KDP on the other hand is free and very straight forward. Download inside manuscript for the book cover size you want. I just type away in good old word...
You can download free PFD converters. The cover can be created with KDP cover download it really is easy.
You can upload your files once done and preview everything, just make sure to order proof copy. Make sure to get your own ISBN number as well, then you can use both Ingramsparks and KDP to publish, just make sure if you choose both only one can distribute internationally.
Hope this helps.
Igram Spark is a bit of a hassle. You can do it yourself or hire out the formatting and conversion to PDF on places like Upwork or Fivver (Reedsy is a bit expensive) It has be in PDF with embedded fonts for the manuscript. The cover needs to have a certain color format or they can't guarantee the colors. With that said, I used one of Joel Friedlander's templates to format my book. Make sure you check the gutters and the headings as I had to change a couple of settings to get them to come out the way they should be (he has MS Word and Mac templates but if you have a MAC...pay for Vellum and save yourself the hassle.) Then save it as a PDF. To embed the fonts, you need to Print it with the MS Word to PDF (found in the print section of Adobe), saving it to where you can find it. For Ingram's e-book, you need an e-pub file.
Make sure you check your proofs when they are available and read the things about low quality, etc. If you know how to increase the dpi, let me know because I have no idea of how to do that. Ingram does have a nice booklet with all the things you need to know about using them. Be prepared to spend the day the first time to get it right. A good supply of your favorite booze for afterward might keep you from destroying your computer.
I'm probably not going to bother after this and just use KDP and Draft2Digital (they do B&N and a few others) for paperbacks and ebooks and forgoing the hardcover. I'm also going to check out the new Walmart program...hey they are a big vender and who knows, it might help. I like Ingram as they have the best distribution, but they are a pain to get it right when uploading your manuscript and cover.
Hope that all helped
