HOW TO IMPROVe YOUR MANUSCRIPT

How to improve your manuscript for your book or ebook. It is important as it will avoid costly revisions and make the formatting process much more straightforward. The reader will also be much happier with a professional finished book free from mistakes in a familiar format. Here are a few tips:

Improve your manuscript – Ebooks

If you plan to produce a standard Kindle or ePub ebook, good formatting is vital. Why? Text reflows within the ebook depending on text size determined by the user. Incorrect formatting/punctuation and random spacing may not be discernible on your manuscript, but may wreak havoc once in ebook format.

Whether you submit your manuscript to one of the free converters or get a professional to do it, you’ll save yourself time and money by getting your manuscript right in the first place.

Bear in mind that your ebook will be read on a wide range of devices including Kindles, mobiles, desktop computers, tablets etc. All of them will display your content quite differently. In most cases, the user can control fonts and font sizes and view landscape or portrait.

These guidelines are not only useful in making the transfer process simpler, they encourage good working practice and accuracy. If the reader comes across mistakes while reading, it is irritating for them, and makes you look unprofessional.

So keep it simple

I’m basing this on Microsoft Word which appears to be the most widely used word processor, but it doesn’t really matter which software you create your manuscript in. They all have a similar structure and Dynamic Styling system.

Do NOT include any of the following:

Page Numbers. The eReader will create its own page numbers. (eg. If the user increases font size, there will be more pages).
Background images or colours.
Borders.
Coloured text. Can use to some extent but bear in mind that it will appear grey on lots of devices.
Drop cap initials at the start of chapters. These won’t sit properly within the text in many cases.
Headers and footers.
Smileys or mathematical symbols. These can be included but aren’t straightforward.
Text boxes.

Page Layout

The size of page doesn’t matter, A4 or US Letter. Use standard setting. Margins are not important.

Text Setting

The best method is to use Word’s Quick Styles to set up a style to make sure everything is consistent throughout your manuscript. Use NORMAL for main text. The default alignment is ‘justified’ (not ragged on the right). Use 1.5 line feed.

The range of fonts on eReaders is limited, so stick to the basics like Times New Roman, Georgia and Arial. 11 or 12pt is fine. Black text. If you need emphasis, stick to Bold, Italic and ALL CAPS. Other fonts can be used, but you have to own a copy of the font and it has to be added to the finished file by a professional.

Chapter Headings

For chapter headings and sub-headings, use ‘Heading 1’, ‘Heading 2’ etc. These styles can be found in the Quick Style list.

Hyperlinks

You can add links to email addresses and websites but bear in mind that some eReaders don’t connect to the internet.

To link within the document, use Word’s bookmarks and hyperlink tools. Never use page numbers for linking as these are not fixed. Instead of ‘Go to Page 21, Caring for Pets’, replace with something like ‘Go to Caring for Pets’ section and hyperlink to heading.

Tables, Graphics and Photos

These can be tricky and you should get professional advice. Tables created in Word can look terrible on small eReaders as the columns break up.Sometimes a jpeg graphic can work better. Similarly, complex graphics won’t show up on phone screens and smaller devices. Colour can be a problem too as several eReaders such as the popular Kindle Paperwhite will only show them in greyscale.

General Formatting

Divide chapters by using a page break (Ctrl + Enter/Return). Never use multiple paragraph returns or spaces to go to next page.
Separate paragraphs with a single paragraph break only.
Chapter starts and new sections generally have no indent. If you want this, set it up as a new style. New sections would have an extra line space before. Or use centred * * *.
For paragraph indents, never use tabs or spaces. Use the Word Quick Style option.
Similarly for bullet points, set up as a Style rather than adding manually. I see many manuscripts that have a mixture of the two.

Common Typographical Errors

There should be one space at the end of a sentence, not two. This is a practice left over from typewriter days.
This is a hyphen. (-) It is used for hyphenated words only. If you want a pause mid-sentence you need to use an en rule –. (Alt -)
Dialogue. New line each time. Look at a few novels to see how it works.
Extra spaces everywhere. If for instance you add a space before a full stop, there is a chance the full stop will appear at the start of a new line!
Use smart quotes throughout, not inch marks.

Stay consistent. If you use Quick Style and you want to change something, you can change dynamically. In other words, if you change the font size, it will change throughout the manuscript.

Improve your manuscript – Print Books

Styling a book for print is much more flexible and very complex styling can be incorporated if required. Don’t know where to start? Look through your bookcase and find a book with formatting you like, and follow it.

If you’re thinking of producing a book and thinking of print as well as in ebook format, bear in mind that the same files can be used for both with only a few changes. This can be very cost-effective and can only increase potential readership, but also give you more credibility as a writer.

The print book cover and any graphics would need to be a higher resolution (quality) than the ebook. It would also need a spine and back cover. The spine width would depend on the number of pages and paper type. For KDP print-on-demand you can determine the spine width by creating a cover template. You just fill in your book size, page count and whether you want white or cream paper.

Other issues to consider:

Pages are in spreads (two pages together) in a printed book whereas ebooks usually have one page at a time.
Ebooks can have hyperlinks, interactivity and navigation systems.
Ebooks can be sent electronically by email and easy to store with a long shelf-life.
Printed books can be very expensive to publish especially with colour images and diagrams. PDF ebooks on the other hand can be printed out but the print-outs are not really practical for storage. They also can consume lots of ink especially on pages with overall colour backgrounds.
A printed book will require an ISBN number. These have to be purchased in bulk. KDP and Lulu print-on-demand offer a free one.
Do you have a publisher for print? If not you may consider having your book printed yourself. If this is impractical there are several print-on-demand publishing systems where books are only printed as they are purchased. I always recommend Amazon’s KDP as it is the market leader.

VERY IMPORTANT

Get it checked. Use a spellcheck and grammar check first, but don’t rely on this, it can create mistakes. Then get a professional to copyedit and proofread. This might seem an expensive option, but if you are serious about your book, it’s worth it. A book with mistakes in is no fun to read. Editing after the book has been produced will be time-consuming and costly. If you really can’t afford a proofreader, get someone else to check it through for you. Don’t whatever you do, try to check it yourself.

Any Questions?

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phone me on 020 8462 0969 or mobile 07773 218 349

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