Format the interior of your book

 Have a uniform format

Make it look like you care!

The important thing about the interior of your book is that it is uniform. I am always amazed at the people who come to church and sell their book. They get away with charging 10.99 or something like that for a book that has different fonts in the same paragraph, headings that are all over the place and often they do not have a great deal to be spoken of on the editing side.

Learn how to use the headings

In order to sort the book you are going to create out you need to understand how to use headings. In  programs like Open Office the headings are what you use to create the Contents Page so they need to be uniform across your whole book.

Keep every single heading of the same kind the same 

Every title of every chapter has to appear formatted in the same way and at the same point on the page.  Every other heading needs to be the same as other headings like it.

Chapter headings go on the right half way down the page

The place for your chapter heading is always on the right of the page and about half way down. Put it on the left or somewhere else if you like, but that is always the best place for a chapter heading.

The format of your chapter heading must never change

Don't, whatever you do, change the chapter format at any point in your book. If you do insist on having some on the left they need to look the same as the ones you have on the right. If you just carry on with the chapter heading wherever it falls every chapter heading still needs the same font, the same font size and the same format.

Subheadings and minor headings and any other kind of heading need to look like each other. They too should have the same font, the same font size and the same format.

The Front Bit of the Book

I am assuming you are new to self publishing, or think you need to know more, but did you know the front bit of your book will often be a dead give away it is not published by a professional publisher?

Books do seem to vary a bit on what goes at the front, but some things have to be there. 

How to lay out your book:

For now:

Font and size of letters

Use Times New Roman and 1.5 spacing and don't put the page number on any page which begins a chapter.

Important about page numbers

The way your pages are numbered can be a dead give away that a book is not professionally published. Never ever number the first page, the isbn and copyright page, the book title page or any other page unless with i, ii, iii, and so on until you get to Chapter one, page two.

Never ever put a page number on a chapter page that is a new page for a chapter on any chapter in your book. Carry on numbering on the back page of the Chapter heading page.

Your first page

The first page is what you see when you first open the book. It needs to be on the right hand side. ALL it should have is the title of the book and possibly your name - although some publishers also put their publishing mark at the bottom. If you use numbers before chapter one, use roman numerals.

The back of the first page and beyond

Page 2 is on the left hand side of the book and it contains the copyright notices and isbn numbers.

Page 3 can have your dedication and acknowledgements. You can also include a little bit about YOU -but not too much, just maybe a short paragraph and it can spill over onto page 4 which should otherwise be blank so that your contents page starts at page 5.

You may also include and Introduction if it is appropriate. Do not, as yet, number your pages with 1, 2,3, 4 use Roman numerals.

Chapter One

THIS IS THE POINT TO CREATE A NEW FILE FOR CHAPTER ONE. It is a good idea to have seperate files then you can easily edit just a single file if needed rather than scrolling through the whole book. However, I personally find it easier not to and to keep the whole thing in one file. The main aim is to keep the way each chapter looks consistent with the way all the other chapters look.

Chapter 1 needs to start on an odd page. That is, page 1, on the right hand side of the book.

You place the chapter heading about half-way down the page.

Headers

Where not to put a header

No page with a chapter heading half way down the page should have any kind of header. Your next header goes on the back of the chapter heading page.

Where to put headers and what they should look like

You need a header on all pages that are not a chapter heading page.

The right hand side of the book needs to be the book title and the left hand side needs to be the chapter title.

Page numbers

It is personal preference whether you put the page numbers at the top or bottom of the page.They should all be in the same position throughout the book.

To be sure everything looks the same

To be sure you get the same chapter heading placement for each chapter use the rulers in your word processing program and also copy and paste and change it from your first chapter heading page. A chapter heading which does not line up with all the other chapter headings is a give away that you are an amateur.

TI cannot emphasise this enough: Chapter headings need to happen in the same place and in the same way, same font, same heading size and always on the right hand side for every chapter.

Subheadings 

Your subheadings need to be in the same size and the same font.

Text 

Text should be justified.

You need to keep everything the same space from everything else throughout the book.Make sure your text is even.

Don't allow 'rivers of white' (more about this later.)

Watch out for situations where your sub headings land at the end of a page and are separate from relevant content.

The space between each line of writing

In self-publishing programs it is best to stick to 10 or 12 point for letter size and I use 1.5 spacing because I feel I am writing to people who are going to be stressed. I believe, however that single spacing is ok. (You use the double spacing for your college essay and if you submit the book to a publisher.)