After my book cover and editing, my next biggest roadblock was formatting. On the surface, this might seem like an easy thing to do. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Book formatting is quite unique. Every area of writing from thesis projects to the dreaded high school writing assignment formating and more has a specific level and direction that is desired for this process. Book writing and specifically ebook, paperback, and the hardcover have a different level and expectation for formatting. There are several factors including page number, content, size of the book, and jpeg or .epug, MOBI file, and more.
My first thought was that I could do this myself and I watched several Youtube videos and learned some of the basics. I tried to understand the book size options. And by the way – there are a ton of options.
For fiction – the most common books sizes are 4.25 x 6.87, 5 x 8, 5.25 x 8, 5.5 x 8.5, and 6 x 9.
You might ask – why so many different sizes?
The answer is can be complicated but think about things like word size (font), pictures (if there are any), page number (word count), and popularity. In the end, I chose a 6 x 9 book size. I have a higher word count and am worried about some of the word spacing and indents on each page. 6 x 9 is semi-popular in YA and Fantasy and I hope that it fits.
My book was written in Word. And using Word, I was able to manipulate things to create a 6 x 9 document with good spacing and such. It did not take but a few minutes to learn that the basics that I was able to accomplish didn’t do much to make the project look professional.
Books should look professional. That was when I knew that I needed more help. I reached out to the same group that helped with my Cover. Again, I must give a huge shoutout to MIBLART for all the work and help that they have been through this process. You really need to check them out – https://miblart.com/
They have tons of experience with Covers and Formatting. It took several days but they came back with a finished project that is very exciting. I have a format for by ebook and for my paperback.
I am hoping that this means that I will be ready to publish on Feb 16th as planned.
