How I format my ebooks
The tools I use for writing have changed, depending really on what’s practical at the time. As of right now, I’m using Google Docs for web and mobile, and finalizing everything on Microsoft Word. (I even caved and pay P250 a month for fully functional Word.)
Whatever I use though, I make it a point to write in such a way that my manuscript itself is already ebook-friendly. Not that difficult to do, since I write straightforward text with no fancy extras. Here are a few of my settings from the draft stage on:
– Single column text (absolutely no text boxes anywhere)
– Justified
– Indented paragraphs, one carriage return/”Enter” to start next paragraph
– Single spaced, no space between paragraphs
– One font throughout, if I can help it. Usually Georgia or Palatino Linotype.
– Chapter headings to the left, and styled as Heading 1 (anything I want to appear on a table of contents page is Heading 1)
– No footnotes, strikethroughs, subscript, superscript, special characters, inserted objects. (If I can help it.)
Formatting rules of course vary per book, but I try to stick to these even as I write, so it’s less of a headache later on when I’m actually publishing it.
