Formatting Your Book Interior with Word
Posted on May 7, 2007
Filed Under Page Layout, Self-Publishing with Lulu |
Do you set up your document’s style and margin formatting before you type a word? Or, do you use your word processor’s default settings like many of us are guilty of doing? Either way, you’ll have to reformat your manuscript to fit Lulu’s printing specifications.
If you’re publishing a paperback novel, you can copy your standard-sized manuscript into a 6×9 Word template that Lulu provides. Of course, you can make the process easier by changing the margins in the original document. But I was taught the old-school adage of never messing with the original. That way, if you mess up, you still have the original. Do whatever you feel comfortable with.
Since most of the people I’ve seen on and off the forums use Word, I’ll focus on this application first. I strongly suggest that you grab a copy of Aaron Shephard’s “Perfect Pages,” which will give you step-by-step instructions on how to publish your book with Word. So far, it’s the best resource I’ve seen on the market and better than the free tutorials you’ll find online.
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I think that I’m going with Indesign. You were right. It looks much better. I did a test layout and it looked very professional.
InDesign is a worthy investment, if you plan on publishing many books. In contrast, Word can only do so much.