As a long time deaf viewer, I do miss when your videos were manually captioned as they were more accessible. I do hope you'll bring those back again soon.
@@RikkiPReadsI can relate. I am a long time viewer too. While I am not totally dead, but I do have a hearing aid since one ear of mine is totally shot. People who have hearing have no idea how much they take it for granted. I mean that little device in my ear has really made a difference in my life.
Not a Garamond font fan myself but I do see the point of view on that. I've finished my book, right now I'm just going back to revise some Peaces and double space them as well.
Wait… what?! I just had my manuscript formatted, but I’d love to learn how to do this myself, and even possible improve what I just had done. ☺️ this is very exciting!
Keep in mind that this is for self-publishing books, meaning it's different from manuscript formatting! The former skips the manuscript part 'cause you're not sending this to a publisher, so it needs to be book-ready out the gate! The formatting for each is very different! lol.
Like, literally. Right when your struggling with your book, guess who swoops down and saves the day with one of her amazing vids!! Thanks for the video Abbie!! Your the best
This is the kind of thing I love to talk about when discussing the technical aspects of self-publishing. I've seen so many self-published books that, like you stated, really look amateurish and, well, look like "self-published books." I self-published an anthology through KDP (Amazon) in 2019, in which I put together the interior layout, chose the fonts, edited the stories - everything but the final cover. My goal was to have a finished book that, if you were to pick it up off the shelf at a bookstore, you wouldn't think twice about why it was in the store - you wouldn't wonder how in the world did THIS thing get in here? I've seen a lot of self-published books, some of which look just fine. But I've seen many more that have, like you said, terrible design mistakes. I did a ton of research about layout and basic novel page design when I was putting together my anthology. One of the first things I thought about was line spacing, or leading (pronounced as "ledding"), as it used to be called in traditional typesetting. I didn't realize how much there was to consider with just a page full of text: font, leading, type size, line length (you don't want the text to go too far to the outside edges of the page or too close into the gutter), where do you put page numbers, what should the headers look like, etc. Then, once I got the stories in layout, I had to do a lot of finessing to fix widows, short lines at the beginnings of pages, spacing concerns, etc.. I've since found ways to do this that streamlined the process. My background is as an editor (started out as a proofreader way back when), so that was also important for putting the book together. The anthology began as a project for our writers group, and when I started soliciting stories, I told everyone that the stories would be vetted and edited, that it wasn't just a group project that would be published using any and everything that was submitted. As I mentioned, I wanted the book to look and be the best it could be. I'm not a designer, but the research I did resulted in a nice final product. If I was doing a book that required lots of interior graphics and photos, I'd probably want to utilize a professional designer. I saw one self-published nonfiction book where the type size was so large that it looked like a children's book. This same book included black and white photos, but because the paper was not the better, slicker paper, many of the photos looked muddy. That, plus, none of the photos looked like they had been adjusted to look good - they looked like they were simply imported to the page without any adjustment for lighting, contrast, etc. I saw another self-published book that on the foreword page, it was spelled "Forward." I saw one book that had a photo on the cover that was only maybe two inches tall and the photo was the full width of the cover - the image had been "stretched" to the width of the cover only horizontally, but not proportionately, using both width and height. Also, far too many of the self-published books I've seen have a buttload of typos in them. I don't mean maybe four or five in an entire book - I've counted fifteen errors just in the foreword of one book. They weren't all spelling errors, some were bad punctuation, extra word spaces, things that the general reader wouldn't catch. But that's the thing - if you're reading a book and you notice multiple errors on just one page, that can put you off from reading the rest of the book. Bad amateur book covers are a whole other topic.
hello sir! Can you please tell us if it's profitable to self-publish on KDP-amazon? or If you have any other site suggestions pease feel free, I'm open for suggestions!
@@zakia-bin-salah It is possible to earn a decent amount of money from your book on KDP, but it depends on multiple factors: how good the finished product looks, what kind of marketing you do and how much, and of course, is your novel well written and a compelling story? I guess it's just the same as for traditionally published books, except when you're self-publishing, everything is done by mostly one person. Regarding your second comment, I am only familiar with KDP and have not published with any other online company.
This was literally so helpful. I had most of my book in Times, save for flash-back scenes that were in a different font- I kept enjoying those scenes more during re-reading and now I know why. Thanks a ton Abbie!
Graphic designer here. I have to disagree with you on point #3. I much prefer left aligned text over justified. While justified looks neater at first glace, having an uneven right edge actually helps the eye keep track on where you and it also doesn't sacrifice the even spacing between words. Of course, this is up to preference, but I think justified is sticking around as much based on tradition as anything else. In newspapers and magazine, left aligned is becoming more and more common, and I think books might follow too.
Same. I use align left since justify always looks more wonky than the "wonky" align left 😂, uneven spacings make me cringe, and because I use spaces for paragraphs (I know you aren't supposed to do that), justify means my paragraphs aren't aligned 😂😂😂
I haven't seen a physical newspaper in ages...seems that columns wouldn't be very column-y without justification ...or do you mean online magazines and news sources? Because yeeessss, the eye tracks much better generally with a ragged right, and the effect is more marked with online content. Hyphenation does the trick for justified text with a lot of rivers in it, but it sure would be easier to leave everything flush left.
@@Ykibmh If I'm editing fiction, I suggest Ragged Right, but for non-fiction, Double Justified is more appropriate. Other differences are indents and space between paragraphs. Fiction: indent and no space; Non-fiction: no indent and space between (about 3-12 points).
I never did any formatting when I self published my first book. The publishers did it for me and now seeing the examples that you have given I must say , huge difference, when I queried it with them they said that's how their formatting works. Now I know better and will defiantly apply this to my future books.
Thank you for making this master class because I'm like jumping out of my chair right now with excitement! 🎉 I've been trying so hard to figure out formatting, and you are the best guide I'd want through it! You are so easy to understand, and your videos have helped me through so many other pitfalls as a writer!
For some reason I really don’t like it when people put little images or shapes in lines of text. I think if you’re going to put something there it should take up half or a whole page. If it matters enough to put in your book it deserves to shine. Besides everyone loves a bit of artwork to look at, that’s why we had maps and other pictures at the beginning of books. I miss seeing that. I only see it with authors who mainly published in the 70’s and 80’s
This is a perfect timing to understand this. I still have time to serialise every chapter from the last draft to the final product. Can't wait! And yeah it will be a better video I know. ❤
Thanks, Abbie- Your instructional video posts have had such a positive effect on my writer's journey, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have never thought beyond the nitty-gritty of editing my manuscript, but this video has opened my eyes to a wider gamut when bringing down the curtain. You are amazing, and you have inspired me to Rock 🙏🙏🙏🙏
I cannot thank you enough for explaining justifying text, I never really knew what to look up to learn so thanks for this. Also as someone who always writes in times new Roman, thanks for telling me not to do that :)
If you do by-hand hyphenation, then what do you do the instant you have to do an edit anywhere in your manuscript? every hyphenation you did after that edit you have to find, delete, and rehyphenate. It seems as if there should be a good, automated solution out there.
@@WolfWriterL.P it was more of a rhetorical question -- no one should do by-hand hyphenation. LaTeX doesn't have these problems, and it's how I actually write my books. it's automatic hyphenation is way better than both automatic in Word and by-hand.
My pet peeve is when the author justifies GREAT, but they don't indent the next paragraph so it is difficult for me to figure out where the next paragraph starts. I don't notice it ibn the first two or three pages but afterward then I do and I find my eyes wobbling back and forth as I figure out the formatting.
Thank you for this Abbie. I joined your Masterclass for book formatting and more. This will help me immensely as I never knew all what was entailed. I love that I can go back to it over and over to help me. As currently I use Arial Font and Size 12. I just use the standard MS Word margins and indents. But once I am ready to set up the formatting your class will help a lot. So thank you for doing this.
As a dyslexic person, hyphenation is really annoying. I have to read it out to my parents or anyone in the room to workout what it says. I’d prefer larger gaps to hyphenation.
Thank you for the tip on proper justification... I didn't even know what that was! I went to my book (I'm finalizing the formatting), I switched it over, and now I can't UNSEE the huge difference it makes!
as a student journalist and writer i can confirm that times new roman is used specifically to keep more words on the page, which is why i never use it when i'm writing for myself 💀
I like TNR while I'm writing, for the font shape (specifically, the serifs). I just zoom in a bit and voilá. Side note: journalistic skills are very handy for developing the knack for titles, hooks, and crisp writing, don't you think?
Good food for thought. Another good tip is to always use styles. Set up a style set for each appearance you need and change layout with a couple of mouse clicks. I'm not sure if Word supports loadable style sets, so that may not be a viable thing for all users.
Thank you Abbie, sharing and learning from your experiences is fantastic, you always have an insight and I think this topic is an important element for a first time (self or otherwise) publisher of any genre. Keep writing :-)
Thank you. Super helpful. What I struggle with is probably the easiest for others. Page numbering and section breaks. Always gets me huffing and puffing!
I was told a long long time ago that Times New Roman is what I should use. While listening to you I changed my whole thing into Baskerville and I am amazed. When looking at them seperately I didn't think that looks so different but seeing it transform it is such a huge difference!
I remember when I was little we were reading The BFG by Roald Dahl in class and I was annoyed at how the new chapters started on the same page that old chapters ended on. But then I read Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly that used the same thing and I loved how seamlessly you could just flow into the next chapter (especially since there were a lot of cliffhangers). And it saves paper, so i love it even more! 😂
This makes me happy I saw this video before I returned to writing. This has really good advice. It also inspired me to get an account at Microsoft word. It also inspires me to write a book, even if it just sits on a self at the store collecting dust, because I would still like to see something of mine in print, but I never once gave any though to fonts. That makes me look at things totally different. Now I wonder how many books I turned down not due to a boring story, but simply due to the font? It also answered my question about spacing. This video also makes me wish I could show Abbie one of my stories some day. I am so glad I saw this video!
Hi Abbie, Great tips hope I need your class soon. Have tried writing my first book 5 times in the last 12 months starting 5 different stories. My first attempt was a mystery romance and a little too ambitious so I decided to go for plain romance but kept hitting a brick wall after a chapter or two I finally found a method that works and am almost halfway through my extreem rough draft of my 5th attempt. All thanks to some of your tips on another of your vids. Hopefully I can publish my first book before I turn 41. It's my goal for my 40th year. Hope to go back to the other books I started and finsh them as well.
I've only been reading eBooks for years. So my favourite books are formatted the way I want them. My printed books are usually 20+yo. All in Times New Roman and no spacing.
Your Persuation Skills is definitely high level. Even though I can't afford the book right now. One day I will purchased it when my book got published. Thanks
Yes, I've always noticed hyphenation and HATED it. Hyphenation does NOt make for an effortless reading experience. I irritates the hell out of me. And.........................I don't use it when I format a book. And I'm not the only one to feel this way, so using hyphenation is not a universally accepted solution.
When you mentioned the line spacing, I think it's worth noting that by default Word adds more spaces between paragraphs, and books do not have that. There should be no difference between the amount of space between lines within a paragraph and between the last line of one paragraph & the first line of the next. I also thought font size was important to mention when you discuss which font to use. It's a question that often comes up from new authors in writer groups. Additionally, I am not convinced that manually adding hyphens is a good idea, because if you happen to change anything in the manuscript you will need to go over it all over again to change the position of the hyphens and remove those which are now appearing in the middle of the lines. Plus, having too many hyphens on a page is actually distracting to a reader. And adding hyphens manually also means you wouldn't be able to use the same file for the ebook, as readers can change the font size of the text and even the justification on their e-reader devices, so again the hyphens will shift in place and appear in awkward positions.
This course is just for paperbacks and hardcovers -- but I have an in depth free tutorial on how to use Vellum for formatting ebooks: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-phus9fRekR4.html
Justifying and hyphenating make it harder for me to read books because of my dyslexia. Is there a way to keep my book professional but still accessible for readers with dyslexia?
Just what I was going to say! I find reading hyphenated words really fustrating. I think finding the middle-ground between readers with and without dyslexia must be a tricky balance. I don't think I really appreciated the thought that went into formatting before, but I will now!
I'm going through the Masterclass and Abbie explains how to make these more readable. I understand now why taking the time to format properly is so important!
Thank you so much, Abbie! This is the one superimportant topic nobody ever cares to talk about! Also, can you make one about book trim sizes? I'm so confused which one to use for my book! As always, love your videos (and your voice)! 😁
That thing with the spacing, thank you for mentioning that! I think it's such a literal PAIN in the eyes when there are wide spaces between lines (or the opposite, almost no spaces). I've seen hobby authors hit the space bar twice after every sentence, it was horrible to read, it felt slow and lost me after 3 lines. I think I did mention it to one person doing it (in a nice way of course) but they just said they actually liked it that way. I mean, okay, I guess, but most people will probably.. not like it. The thing with the justification, I had to go back to my documents and check and honestly, I didn't even notice that "janky justification" on my texts. Also no one really mentioned it to me for the chapters I uploaded. I will try and change that about my texts. Seeing it in the video next to the other way made me realize it really does look awful. To think I never paid attention to that in all those years, oof. As for fonts, I write in google docs and never really changed the standard chosen font. I checked which it is and it's on Arial, which I think is an okay fond? I agree that Times New Roman is awful, I remember wayyyyy back in school, when our computer science teacher would always tell us off for using that one. But what I hate more and have absolutely seen it and not just once, is when people use some kind of calligraphy fond. Even if it's just for some few lines. It's just awful to read. Or Comic Sans.. yuck! It's called COMIC sans for a reason, because it's for comics, not novels.
If I were to guess, I'd say that people probably publish their books in Times New Roman because that's a font they're told that you're supposed to use for your manuscript when you're trying to get it traditionally published. How books are formatted for print is a whole different thing though.
Totally get how formatting can f- mess up a book. I had tried several times to read The Grapes of Wrath. Supposedly one of John Steinbeck’s best works (by one of my favorite authors). Yet I tried several times & just couldn’t get into it. But it was a cheap paperback, with as many words crammed on each page as possible - something that didn’t occur to me until I was gifted a hardback version, & finally broke down & decided to try again. And I flew thru it! Then I looked at the difference in the pages, and it was shocking. Also, whiter paper in the hardback helped I think - much easier to read than the dirty yellowish paperback’s paper. So, I’m a believer.
I've been looking for something like this, but in spanish, for like yeaaaars. Thankfully RU-vid has good CC and I can actually read english. You're really amazing!!
For headers, I use display fonts. I aim for thematic ones that fit the subject matter. For Ciem-related content, I use Bebas Centipede. For Anarteq, I use Extrano-Arano for English text and Kisiska for everything that's going to be written in Inukitut. For Sodality, I use 60sekuntia. For Extirpon, I use Tequila Heights. For Cherinob, I use Living Hell. And for Swappernetters, I use Orbitron. What would you suggest with regards to using these fonts for headers? (I wouldn't use them for main story text. That'd be preposterous!)
Question: When accessing the formatting masterclass, will access to it be available for a limited time or do we have access to it forever? XD Just thought I'd ask in case!
Thanks Abbie as always. I will have to play around with it some more. I currently use Arial 11pt 1.15 spacing. I copied and pasted all four fonts for comparison, modified to 1.25. Spacing. I compared to the original. I get the scary feeling of possibly trashing the entire story. 😊
I need to format my books all over again. Thanks, Abbie, for the eye-opening lesson. One thing I'd advise everyone to avoid. Dictate for Word. For its ease of use, it creates weeks of manuscript inspection to correct all the words it misspells for you. Terrible.
Huh I didn't realize that some people don't notice hyphenated line breaks. I always ALWAYS notice. I read a lot and hyphenated line breaks can make me disinterested in a book. After a second or third hyphen on a page I start counting them which in my ADHD brain means I am counting not reading, then I lose my place and have to start the page over again. Same with en and em dashes. They totally pull me out of reading the words as I start wondering why the author or editor used a dash instead of a comma or semicolon, then I am wondering about the punctuation choices not reading. And in my ADHD brain it means I lose my reading place then have to start the page over again. If that continues to happen during personal reading time, then my brain is going to get frustrated reading that particular book, it becomes not worth the effort to read page after page two or three times due to built-in distractions. I'll put that book down and never think about it again, I won't recommend the book to people, I won't even be able to review the book-it will simply disappear from my memory and consciousness. *poof* gone forever.
I just bought Atticus last month to rebrand my book Series with new formatting with the new covers I'm getting so this would have been so helpful to have before then. Like you I've made a lot of mistakes but I bought Atticus cuz word didn't allow me to do custom scene break images or chapter heading images (that I knew of) or easy converting to epub so I can't wait for your masterclass
Also, Times New Roman, isn't freely available for commercial use either. As far as I know, neither is Garamond. Every author should check font licensing, before printing a font in a book for sale.
I tried formating in the suggested fonts and I didn't try printing, but can't stand these fonts on the computer, so I left myself a note on the first page of the novel to reformat when printing. When editing, I love Ariel because it is so easy to read on the computer screen.
In my book I am having trouble making the antagonist compelling, since it is the source of my protagonist's trauma that drives the plot I was thinking about making them a queer-coded villain, like in an old renaissance era Disney movie, making the antagonist feminine, flamboyant and campy male character. To balance it out, my anti heroine protagonist, who is a butch tomboy, is explicitly queer, even though the book features a heterosexual romance with a male love interest. I am someone who identifies as pansexual, so I made my main protagonist pansexual as well Because my protagonist is not meant to be a good person, and grows more corrupted and antagonistic themselves near the end of the book, my antagonist has to be a pure evil villain, since thsy must be far worse than the protagonist
hey not an author but a reader remember to make the text not too small i understand that some people can read small text but as a person with dyslexia spacing and medium/large sized text would be amazing to see more in books
I've been thinking about this lately, and I plan to publish both standard and large print editions of my novels right off the bat. Large font helps those with dyslexia like yourself, those with vision problems, migraines, and I'm sure other issues.
You rock with relevant info! I use InDesign and like it better than word, I feel like this would still help me? Is it easily translatable across software differences? I should also thank you for turning me on to using scrivener as well, Love it!
This is Sarah Q. I have a question. I’m writing a murder mystery and my protagonist wants to investigate her own mother’s murder that happened 9 years ago. The reason she is investigating 9 yrs later and not when it happened is all developed. Her desire is to find the killer, her fear is that the killer is out there hunting her, but I can’t figure out the misbelief???
Loved the video, very informative! Pertaining to your course, I write poetry and was wondering if you would be able to create a course with the same contents mentioned in this course/video, but instead for poetry format/books? Appreciate your time!
