How to Ready a Book for Publishing
Once you have finished writing your manuscript the next order of business is to prepare your manuscript for publishing. By ensuring that your book is properly formatted, you can help speed up the publishing process. Before formatting your book be sure to proofread and edit your final manuscript so that it is polished and perfected. If possible, have another person proofread the manuscript after you have finished your own proofreading. A second pair of eyes can catch what your eyes may have missed.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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1
Complete the "Page Setup" for your book by setting the width and height specifications for the book's trim size. You will also need to set the page margins. To personalize your page setup options, click on "File" and "Page Setup" in your Microsoft Word program. Note that "Standard" book trim sizes are 5.50" x 8.50", 6" x 9", and 8.5" x 11". You can use other trim sizes if you desire. However, doing so is likely to increase the printing costs for your book. Set the page margins to be 1" on all sides.
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2
Set your "Font" or text size for the book to 12 so that it is not too small for your readers to see. To change font size, click on the font size button that is located on the toolbar of Microsoft Word.
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3
Ensure that you have used fonts in your book that are universal, such as "Georgia," "Garamond," and "Palatino." If you use fonts in your book that the publisher does not have access to, those fonts will not print properly in your book.
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4
Set the text alignment for your book to "Justify." This will keep all of your text in a neat and compacted block form. To set your text alignment, click on the "Justify" alignment button that is located on the toolbar of Microsoft Word.
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5
Create a cover image for your book. The image should be at least "300 DPI" and saved as a ".JPG" extension. To determine the size of your image, open the image then click on "File" and "Properties." If your publisher is providing a book cover image you can skip this step.
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6
Convert your Word document into a ".PDF" format if the book publisher does not accept ".DOC" file extensions. You can do this by visiting the "Adobe" website to use the PDF converter. A link has been provided to this site in the "Resources" section of this article. You can also download a free copy of "Office Manager" to convert your Word document into a PDF.
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