Formatting Long Documents in Microsoft Word
Some places to check out
- Print Cover Calculator and Templates, KDP
- Cover Templates, Kindle Direct Publishing
- eBook Manuscript Formatting Guide, Kindle Direct Publishing.
- Paperback Manuscript Templates, Kindle Direct Publishing.
- Print Options. Choose trim sizes (book sizes) etc.
- One-page summary of book editing tips.
- Amazon KDP Timelines for changes made to books.
- Edit Paperback Content — You can update your paperback contents or manuscripts through Kdp.Amazon.com. Click on the ellipsis (. . .) next to the paperback and chose “Edit Paperback Content.” You can also edit your ebook contents at any time. However, for both paperback and ebook, Amazon recommends that if the edits are significant, then you should publish it as a new edition of the book.
- Grammarly + Human editor. Before publishing any book, put it through Grammarly (or a similar program) and also have a human editor go through it. If you are printing a paperback, have a human editor also go through a proof copy.
** “Keep with Next”: Keep subheading together with text below it: to Keep subheading together with text below it, select the subheading together with two lines of text below it. From the ribbon, open the paragraph dialog box. Open the “Lines and Page Breaks” tab. Check “Keep with Next.” Keep “Window/Orphan control” checked.
Don’t check “Keep Lines Together.” If you do, it will require that the title be on the same page as the entire paragraph that follows, which is not what you want.
***Create heading styles and add “Keep with next” to them so that all headings automatically move with the next line of text and go to the next page. This prevents a situation where you ever have a heading on one page and text on the other page.
Helps: Video on “Keep with next”
**Textboxes: Kindle doesn’t recommend text boxes and shapes. They recommend using images instead for content you want to highlight like that.
**Use Character styles for formatting a few things within a paragraph.
**How to import or copy styles from one document to another.
** Submit PDF: Always submit PDFs for printing (even when they say a Word document is acceptable).
Choosing book size for print
Page Layout > Size > More Paper Sizes. In the Page Setup Dialog box, enter width and height in inches. E.g. 5.5 x 8.5. Select Apply to “Whole Document.” The most common trim size in Kindle Direct Publishing is 6 x 9 inches. Note that page size is the same thing as trim size. The trim size of your book when it is printed.
** Microsoft changes the Paper six 7×10-inches every time you enter it. When you return, word has changed it to 6.93″ x 9.84″. It doesn’t do the same thing for others. That is because “Word will only create page sizes that the current printer driver will allow. Most drivers are hopeless with custom sizes and will adopt a standard size. Word merely reflects this. The simplest workaround is to use a larger standard size and make up the difference with the margins. Word has no idea what size of paper you actually feed into the printer.” From here. When I encountered this problem I used the 7.5×9.25-inch page size which amounts to about the same area.
Choosing the book size for an eBook: The book size for eBooks like Kindle doesn’t matter because the font size can be changed. Also, the devices are of different sizes, etc. Some experts recommend that one uses the standard 8.5 x 11-inch page size to ensure any included images will be large enough for an iPad. See a source here. I’m wondering if one can use the same size for both print and eBook?
Choosing Margins and Gutter
- Go to Layout > Margins > Custom Margins > Margins tab (within the Page Setup dialog box).
- Then, go to the middle and bottom and set Multiple Pages: Mirror margins; Apply to: Whole Document. Tip. Download a template from the printer (e.g. Kindle Direct Publishing.) and look at their margins and replicated them. When you select Mirror Margins, it changes the margins from Left and Right to Inside and Outside.
- Then go towards the top of the Margins tab and enter the dimensions for the top, bottom, outside, and inside margins. I set the top, bottom, and outside margins at 0.75″ in all my books. Those margins can remain the same regardless of the size of the book. However, as you will see below, the inside margins (gutter) will depend on the size of the book. I put the gutter as 0.2″ and the Inside margin as at 0.55″ in most of the books I’ve written (and will write)–which are between 100 to 500 pages. The gutter is really the same thing as the inside margin. there is no difference. However, for setting up the gutter, it’s customary to put 0.2 as gutter and the remainder (0.55) as the inside margin. The total is 0.75. Sometimes, you can put the entire 0.75 as inside margin and leave the gutter as 0.0. This margin works for books below 500 pages.
- It’s important to determine the number of pages the book will have to determine the gutter (inside margin). Again, the top, bottom, and outside margins can stay the same regardless of the size of the book. However, the inside margins (also called gutter) will depend on the size of the book. The larger the book, the larger the inside margins need to be to make sure that people will still be able to read your text. See this page on how to set margins.
- In the first print of Abandoned treasure redo, I used 0.86 inches for inside, 1 inch on top, and the rest 0.76 inch.
Font type, size, line spacing, and paragraph indents
Create a style for the body text that includes the font type, size, line spacing, and paragraph indents. It’s best to do this before you start writing the book if you can.
- Font type and size: Select the font type and size for the body text before you start writing the book. That will make it easier. For right now, I use only Times New Romans or Georgia both with size 11. You may also use size 10. Do this initially. Note that if you apply a style over another, it removes the old style.
- Line spacing: Keeping the text of your book block single-spaced will produce pages that look dense and cluttered (and will likely induce eye strain). Double-spacing, however, is far too wide for book layout, so something in between is ideal. To apply custom line spacing to your document, Go to the Paragraph dialog box. Under the Spacing section, go to Line Spacing. In the drop-down, choose Multiple, and under “at”, to the right, enter 1:20. This 120% (1.2) of the font size. This allows you to set your line spacing at intervals between single and double. In all my books, I now use 1.20 (or 120%). I used 1.15 in Christian Meditation and found it to be a little tight. Another approach to line spacing can be found on this page.
- Paragraph indents: Create a body text style that includes a 0.25 inch paragraph indent. Go to Paragraph Dialog Box > Indentation > Special > First Line: 0.25; Spacing > Line Spacing: Multiple, At:1.20; Leave Before and After at zero.
- Justify: Justify all the text. Click CTRL A to select the entire document and Justify. Then remove Justify from places that don’t need it.
- Widow/orphan control: Go to the paragraph dialog box > open the Lines and Page Breaks tab > check widow/orphan control. That prevents the widow or orphan problem.
Chapters and Odd Page Section Breaks
** Chapters: Every chapter needs to be a separate section. That’s the only way that you can give different footers/headers to different parts of the book. Go to Page Layout > Section Breaks > Odd Page. This inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next-odd numbered page. This ensures that your chapters are always on the right page. If and only if page one is right facing. Note that sections can have independent headers, footers, and page numbering options. You might have to Link to Previous on the header/footer and set the page numbering to Continue from previous section. When you add an Odd Page break, a blank page may sometimes be inserted to make sure your next page is an odd one. As you are working in MS Word, you probably won’t see this blank page. Don’t freak out. It’s there. If you want to see it, go to print preview and you will see it’s there.
Confirm Section Breaks: Go to View > Draft to check/edit section breaks. Sometimes when you think you have inserted an odd page section break, you’ve mistakenly put Next Page section breaks. Going to View > Draft allows you to edit or confirm this.
** Chapters start on the right: Make sure chapters start on the right page.
**Odd Page Section Break: Use this to make sure chapters always start on the right page even if text moves. The Odd Page command inserts a section break and starts the new section on the next odd-numbered page. If you want document chapters always to begin on an odd page, use the Odd page section break option.
** To make the chapter title start in the middle of the page, create a style or edit an existing one. What you need to change is go to the Paragraph dialog box > Spacing > Before: 2″ (put two inches or any other number of inches you want). Leave After: zero. Note, this only works well if you used section breaks, not when you used page breaks. In formatting a book, rarely use a page break except you are doing so within the chapter not at the end of a chapter.
** Remove Numbering From the First Page of Each Chapter. First, make sure that each chapter starts as a new section. Then go to Layout tab > Page Setup to open the Page Setup dialog box > Layout tab > select Different First Page. Click Ok and that will do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wA1hADg4GM
*** Make the Note section start numbering from one at each chapter, go to References > Footnotes group > Click on the small arrow at the bottom right corner to open the Footnote and Endnote dialog box. In the dialog box. > Numbering: Restart each section; Apply Changes to: Whole Document. ** If you need to change the numbering of footnotes or endnotes from roman numerals to Arabic numerals, then you will do it in this same dialog box. Number format: choose what you want; Start at: choose where it should start, e.g. from 1 or a.
Inserting Images. Make book Title, Name, and Publisher as images of greater than 300dpi. After inserting an image, click on it to select it > Page Layout > Wrap Text > Top and Bottom. After adding text wrap, you will be able to easily drag and position the image. A vertical line will appear that helps you align right, middle, or left.
Add Book Title and Chapter Titles to Header of a Book
You want to add the book title to all the even pages in the book and each book chapter to the odd pages in that specific chapter/section.
- In Word, double click in a header and chose “Different Odd & Even Pages.”
- Then go to an even page and double-click the header and type the title of the book. That applies it to the whole book. That’s because the “Link to Previous” is automatically checked. Confirm that it applies it to the whole book.
- Right-click the header of an odd page in the first section of the book with a section break that has a chapter you want to type. The chapters must be each in a separate section. I use Odd Page Section breaks to keep the chapters on the odd (right) page when printed. If the first title you apply to the odd header applies to all the odd pages in the book, no problem. Click in the header of the next chapter and uncheck “Link to Previous.” Then enter your new title and it will be different from the previous one. Do the same for the rest of the chapters. It’s best to start from the first chapter and do that through the rest of the book, remembering to uncheck “Link to Previous” so that each chapter title on the odd pages do not link to previous as do on the even pages. If you forget and change the text before you uncheck “Link to Previous,” it will mess up the previous chapter title by replacing it with the name of the new chapter.
- On a PC (I’ve not tried it o a Mac), a quick and easy way to add chapter titles to the odd page header is to double click in the odd page header. That opens the Header & Footer tab in Word. Then click on Quick Parts, next Click on Field. The field dialog box opens up. Make sure under categories, All is selected. Under field names, scroll down and click on StyleRef. That opens up the field properties with the styles in your document. Click to choose the style of your chapter headings (which should be based on Heading 1). Each of the chapter headings will be displayed on the odd pages. Then you can format it and add spacing before and after. Of course, you should have separated each chapter into its own section for this to work. Check out this video to see the process.
- **You can select the title (book or chapter) in the header and format it–e.g. centralize it. I also add 12 pt spacing before and after the title by going to the paragraph dialog box.
Table of Contents
- For eBooks like Kindle books, create a clickable Table of Contents so that people can click on each chapter from the Table of Contents and it will take them there. This is done easily in word by making each chapter Title a Heading 1 and then inserting the Table of Content at the beginning of the Book when everything is done.
- Because eBooks don’t usually have page numbers, uncheck “Show Page Numbers” when creating the Table of Contents for eBooks. If you already have a table of contents with page numbers, you can remove page numbers from the table of contents.
- For print books, also create table of contents in Word but leave page numbers since print books have fixed page numbers.
- Hyperlink the title of every chapter back to the Table of Contents. Add hyperlinks to a location within the same document.
- Make chapter titles in the table of contents to be small letters instead of all caps: 1) Highlight the entire table of contents, 2) R. click and chose Font, 3) uncheck All CAPs.
Remove Underline from Hyperlinks in Word
How to Remove the Underline From a Hyperlink in Microsoft Word | Kenneth MD
The working copy of my books are formatted for Kindle. I include hyperlinks that allow one to click a chapter title and be taken to the Table of contents. However, word automatically underlines them. Removing the underlines means that I can easily modify the word document for printing. When that time comes, I simply save another copy of the book and format the Table of Contents to include numbers. Then I save it as a PDF for to upload for the print edition of the book. After that I delete the print PDF and Word document so that I’m left with only the Word document formatted for Kindle. That enables me to have only one Word document that I work with and update. In the future when I want to update my book on, say, Amazon, after several significant corrections have been made (like typos), then I simply work with the Word version formatted for Kindle.
Footnotes, Endnotes, and Removing Footer/Header Separator Lines
Convert all Footnotes to Endnotes. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the text part of a footnote to put your cursor there. Then R. click and choose Footnote to open the Footnote and Endnote dialogue box. Under Location, Footnotes: Bottom of Page should be selected. Below that, click on the button labeled “Convert…” That opens another dialogue box that shows “Convert all Footnotes to Endnotes” as selected. Click Ok. This converts all Footnotes to Endnotes.
Under Format,
-Number Format: 1,2,3…
-Start at: 1
-Numbering: Continuous
Custom mark: Keep that space blank
Under Apply Changes, choose Apply Changes: Whole Document.
In the process of converting footnotes to Endnotes, if the numbering changes to say Roman numerals, to change it back to Arabic numerals (1,2,3…), place your cursor in the text of an Endnote, R.click and choose Footnote to open the Footnote and Endnote dialogue box. Under Format, select Number Format: 1,2,3… and choose apply.
If you had wanted to convert only one Footnote to an Endnote, you could have chosen that option when you R. clicked on the Footnote in the beginning. This Microsoft Video shows how.
** Remove Footer/header separator lines: Remove Footer/header separator lines by going to View > Draft. Then go to References > Show Notes > In the View Footnotes dialog box, choose “view EndNote area” > OK.; Go to the Endnotes drop-down arrow. > Choose Endnote Separator. Click on it drag, select it and Delete. > Go back to the drop-down menu and select Endnote Continuation Separator. Also, select and delete it. That’s it. Go back to view and Print Layout.
** Edit the Endnote Style: Go to the bottom of the endnotes–on an empty space and right-click > Choose Style to go to the Style dialog box. In the style dialog box, choose Styles: EndNote Text. Click Modify to go to the Modify Style dialog box. In there, you can make the changes. Do the same thing for Footer or Header. God to footer or header and right click and choose Style…
Proofing a book
Steps to go through to proof a book before sending it to printing.
Scroll through the entire document and check the following.
- Titles, sub-titles, and points. Go through every title, sub-title, point to make sure that it is phrased in a powerful and compelling way. For example, in my book on How to study the Bible, I had a sub-title that said, “Principles you need to know to help you memorize the bible well”. I came back and changed it to “Principles for effective Bible Memorization.” That is much better and more compelling.
- Check paragraph indents, that they are 0.25 inches.
- When a chapter begins, the first paragraph is not indented.
- Check font and size–11 size Times New Romans or Century.
- Check spacing–Multiple; At 1.20
- Check the titles to make sure they are numbered correctly and appear on the right side of the page.
- Check the sub-titles to make sure that they are not pushed to the bottom of a page so that it is hanging.
- Check the spacers or text separators to make sure that some are not pushed to the bottom or top of the page so that they become useless in making the text spacious.
- Check the Notes to make sure the chapters are well-formatted.
Print a Proof Copy
- Print a few pages of the book on a regular computer at home or office to check the font type, size, spacing, and paragraph indents to make sure you like the way they look. That’s an accurate evaluation of how they will look in your book.
- Print a proof copy from Amazon. You can get up to five copies of your print book and read and check it before it is published. When a print book is published, you can’t make changes without doing a new edition. Note that you can print a proof copy only after you have uploaded the book to Kdp.Amazon.com but before you publish it.
Companies I use for printing.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.
Some Useful Sources
About the Author
