{"id":1366,"date":"2016-08-07T21:31:32","date_gmt":"2016-08-07T21:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.diybookformats.com\/?p=1366"},"modified":"2023-05-24T02:20:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T02:20:17","slug":"insider-secrets-professional-book-formatting-ms-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/insider-secrets-professional-book-formatting-ms-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider secrets to professional book formatting in MS Word"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I made this video while helping a friend improve his print formatting; it was already formatted but I added some professional touches, removed all tabs, and talk about how to use styles and paragraph spacing to keep things consistent &#8211; which makes it so much easier to make changes later without needing to go through the whole book again.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5xsoYvZWczs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>How to format a book in Microsoft Word<\/h2>\n<p>Formatting a book in Microsoft Word can be a straightforward process if you follow the right steps. Here&#8217;s a general guide on how to do it:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Setting Up the Document:<\/strong> Start by creating a new Word document. Go to &#8220;Layout&#8221; or &#8220;Page Layout,&#8221; select &#8220;Margins,&#8221; and then &#8220;Custom Margins.&#8221; A common choice is to set a 1-inch margin on all sides.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Page Size and Layout:<\/strong> Go to &#8220;Paper Size,&#8221; and set the width and height according to your book&#8217;s size. For most books, 6&#8243; x 9&#8243; is a standard size. Choose &#8220;Mirror Margins&#8221; under &#8220;Multiple pages&#8221; for facing pages in a book.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Page Numbers:<\/strong> Click on &#8220;Insert&#8221; and then &#8220;Page Numbers&#8221; to add page numbers. For a professional look, you might want to start page numbers on the second page.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Title Page:<\/strong> Create a title page with the book title, subtitle (if any), author name, and publisher logo (if applicable). Center align the text.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Copyright Page:<\/strong> This usually goes on the back of the title page. Include the copyright symbol \u00a9, the year, the author&#8217;s name, and any legal notices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Table of Contents:<\/strong> Insert a table of contents by going to &#8220;References&#8221; and &#8220;Table of Contents.&#8221; Make sure all chapter headings have been styled as &#8220;Heading 1&#8221; to appear in the TOC.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chapter Headings:<\/strong> Use &#8220;Heading 1&#8221; for Chapter Titles. This provides a professional look and helps in creating the table of contents.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Body Text:<\/strong> The body of your text should be &#8220;Normal&#8221; style. A common choice is 12-point Times New Roman or another easy-to-read font.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Line Spacing:<\/strong> For body text, line spacing is typically set to 1.5 lines for easy readability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Indentation:<\/strong> Go to &#8220;Paragraph,&#8221; then &#8220;Indentation.&#8221; Under &#8220;Special,&#8221; choose &#8220;First line&#8221; and set it to 0.3 inches to 0.5 inches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Header and Footer:<\/strong> Under &#8220;Insert,&#8221; select &#8220;Header&#8221; or &#8220;Footer,&#8221; and add any text you want to appear there, such as the book title, author name, or publisher.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Page Breaks:<\/strong> Insert a page break at the end of a chapter to ensure the next chapter begins on a new page.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proofread:<\/strong> Finally, make sure to thoroughly proofread your book for any typos or formatting errors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Remember, these are general guidelines and the specific formatting requirements can change depending on the genre, audience, and where you&#8217;re planning to publish the book. Always check with your publisher or printing service to ensure you meet their specific requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I made this video while helping a friend improve his print formatting; it was already formatted but I added some professional touches, removed all tabs, and talk about how to use styles and paragraph spacing to keep things consistent &#8211; which makes it so much easier to make changes later without needing to go through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-formatting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/11311532.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4qNdl-m2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1366"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2463,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions\/2463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diybookformats.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}