If you want to talk about getting out of your comfort zone, this is one of those days! I am actually (and quite literally) formatting my own book before I upload it to Ingram Spark to be printed. I do have to have my cover made, so that's going to cost me a bit, but there's a lady who claims she can do it for $10, so we'll see if she can. I can always pay her, try it, and if it doesn't work I'm only out $10, right? If it does work you can bet your butt you'll be hearing her name, so that you too, can use her services. I may not even have her teach me how to do it. Paying $10 for a cover is not a bad thing.
So, what I have learned today has been paramount. I first learned that I don't need any other software other than Microsoft Word to format the book from a Word document into a PDF uploadable that fits the template I need for the size book that I need. I think I sort of knew that MS had these features, but I'll be danged if I knew I could do it myself. It's not that easy, but it's doable. It is probably very easy for those wondernuts who have been doing it for years, but this is literally my first time. I feel pretty good about that. I'm not quite yet to the point where I am patting myself on the back, but I am getting pretty close to it.
I saw a guy on LinkedIn talking about doing it, and I watched his little video. He was transferring an eBook to a PDF print document and said the same process could be used to move a Word document to a PDF print document. He could show me how in another video, which he left a link to. I followed his every direction, and I now have myself a PDF ready to upload, but I'm going to go back over it another time before I do to be sure I have EVERYTHING I want in the PDF.
By everything, I mean first the size of the book, which is 5"x8", then the margins, the layout, the spacing, the fonts, and the size font for whatever printed materials you have, which are not all the same. The words "Chapter" and so forth are larger, usually in a different font. If you want a drop-cap for the first word in each chapter you do that, it's done with a little finesse. You have to decide things such as the color of the paper, stock weight, etc. You need to know how many words, pages, etc, so you'll be able to determine the spine and gutter width. It's so much fun, but so much to learn too. I love it.
Once I get that all decided I downloaded my manuscript into the new template, and it went from 216 pages to 338 pages. I now know the size of the gutter and the left and right margins. I also know the print cost. It will cost $6.01 to print my book, and another $4.00 to ship it to me. I'll be able to buy my own books for $10.01 and then sell them for $15 if I want to; that's another story. I will upload them as ebooks and charge $6.00 and make the same profit. That's the way to go, but there are people who like to hold books in their hands. Amazon will sell my book for $18.99. I don't really have too much to say about it. If I had $$$ I could buy my books and sell them myself off a website, but I don't have the $$$ to do that. Besides after shipping, it's just as well that you buy it from Amazon using Prime.
Anyway, back to formatting. It's a new thing for me, but it's a good thing for me. I am now going back over the book one more time to be sure I have the spacing correct and that I have all the things in place. I had to learn how to put in headers and footers that would alternate from page to page; my title on one page and my name on the other. I had to learn how to do the page numbers so that they too would alternate, meaning they would appear on the outside edge of the pages. Did you know, because I did NOT know, that the right side of a book is called the recto while the left side of the book is called the verso? I'm telling you, I had no idea. Did you know you're supposed to have the even-numbered pages on the verso side? Again, I had no idea. These are things you learn as you go.
My first formatting will be 100% done next week. I'm holding off uploading it until I can get the cover done, and that means waiting on the gal to get back from her vacation, but I'm not in a hurry. She can relax and take all the time she needs. I'll wait another month if it means she'll only charge me $10. I may not wait for two, but I'll wait one. I'm already planning the other books, and I'll just go ahead and set them up before I even have to. I can set them up using the same measurements because I know the books will all be about the same size. I'll just have one less thing to do in the end and it may teach me how to write more uniformly in the meantime. I am already finding that I don't write as many paragraphs as I need to for a novel. It's amazing how many indentions I see in the novels I pick up now.
I use John Grisham's books and Erle Stanley Gardner's books as my examples to follow. I figure if they do it, it's good enough for me. They don't use italics for the dialogues and I do. I separated more, so I had to change that. I did find out that you are supposed to separate between thoughts or scenes within the same chapter. That was a new thing for me. The italics thing is a preference thing, and I do prefer it. It was one of the things I didn't like about reading John Grisham books and said to myself I will use them. My readers tell me they appreciate it, so that's cool.
Well, that's it. I just wanted to throw this out there and let you know what I did today. I learned stuff. I love it when I do. If you want to learn stuff you can do what I did, and hit up YouTube for how-do-you videos. I used it 10-15 times today to find out where and how and what and when to do this or that. It was brutal, but I got it done!!
Photo Credit: The Software Pro
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