Publishing: Formatting the Manuscript

(using Microsoft Word 2007/2010 - with page numbering for 2003/2007/2010)

To make life a whole lot easier when you publish, format the manuscript before you begin writing the story.  I repeat: format the manuscript before you write that first word.  It will save you so much grief later on.  So, if you know ahead of time what size book you want to produce, set it up at the start.  For example, my uncle publishes 6” X 9” hardbacks and paperbacks.  He likes to maximize the number of words per page to keep the final book price as low as possible, so his preferred margin settings are Left: .7”, Right: .5”, Top: .5”, and Bottom: .5”.  He also likes his page numbers on the right side at the bottom of the page.  Finally, he likes the Georgia font . . . well, I as his publisher like the Georgia font.  Yes, of course you can set all this up after you have written the book, but you will need some Advil because when you change the settings after you’ve written the story, all sorts of issues appear that must be dealt with at publishing time – and the issues take a lot more time to fix than setting up the manuscript from the beginning.  So I will attempt to give you an easy start for a pleasant end to getting the book out to the masses.

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Eyeless In Luminary Finished!

It's finished!! Well, at least the hardcover book is out.  I'll have the paperback and Kindle version up by this weekend.  Wow, what an adventure.  Unk turned out another winner, and I'm proud of him!  :-)