First up I am using Word 2007 so if you are using an earlier
or later edition the location of the tool categories may differ.
Now many people think that you need a specialised writing
program to format an eBook correctly, however with a little effort and know how
you can prepare your book using Microsoft Word.
So let’s get started.
First things first open a fresh word document. First of all we
want to check several things before we get started. So you want to want to
click the main Word button and in the lower right hand corner of the drop menu
select word options. This will open a popup menu which holds commands for the
whole word document. Here we need to check the proofing so click proofing along
the left hand side of the menu. Here I only select, flag repeated words, check
spelling as you type, use contextual spelling, and mark grammar errors as you
type. Then you want to click on autocorrect options, which you will find in the
top right hand corner. This will open another popup menu where you need to edit
several things.
Under the autocorrect tab you can select all and under the autoformat
tab and under replace you can select all and remember to select styles under preserve.
Here is where it gets a bit different under the autoformat as you type tab
deselect all because this can cause problems when you upload your file, however
I leave straight quotes with smart quotes selected as I prefer the look.
Next you want to go to click advanced on the left hand side
of the word options menu. Here you want to make sure that under editing
options, keep track of formatting is selected and mark formatting inconsistencies
bellow it. Then in case you decide to copy and paste work into the document
from another make sure under the cut, copy, and paste section you select match destination
formatting for all.
Now if you are like me and are using a lot of vocabulary
from various languages fictional or not you may want to set up additional
dictionaries to help the document cope with spell checking. How you do this is
head back to the proofing section and under when correcting spelling in
Microsoft Office programs click on custom dictionaries. This will open a popup
menu, here you simply need to click new on the right hand side then it will ask
you to save the new dictionary so give it a name and click save.
Next you want to fill it with words and you can do it one of
two ways, you can select the dictionary and click edit word list, which will
open a popup menu in which to enter the new words or if you select the
dictionary of choice and click change default then all you need do is start a
spell check and when a word is called up you simple click the add to dictionary
button.
After this we head over to the page layout tab and the page setup
section, to open a popup menu click the small icon in the lower right hand
corner of the section.
For eBooks there is no standardized margin size so using the
default setup is fine, which typically should be a margin size of 2.54 cm all
around, found under the margins tab, and the paper size can remain as the letter,
found under the paper tab under paper size.
Next you want to set some text styles as it is the easiest
way to ensure that the formatting of your text will remain constant throughout
your document. So head to the home tab and the styles section then right
clicking on the style called Normal and in the drop menu select modify. Once
you do this it will open a popup menu.
In this menu you can edit the font style and size and its
alignment. Now I typically use Times New Roman for the main text as most books
use this font because it is neat, easy to read and it looks professional. A
good font size is also 11 pts. Now that is done go to the lower left hand
corner and click format and in the drop menu select paragraph.
Here under the indents and spacing tab make sure that the indentation
is set to 0 cm for the right and left and under special select first line and
give it an indent of 0.5 cm. Then under spacing make sure that before and after
is set to 0 pts and select single line spacing. Now your Normal text is
formatted.
Next up is your headings style. So select the style called
Heading 1, for headings it is good to choose a new font, personally I like
Garamond as it blends well with Times New Roman but looks a bit more formal, a
good size to set your headings at is 14 pts, and centered alignment of course.
Now you want to go into paragraph again and set it the same as your Normal
style with the exception of removing the first line indent.
If you are like me two text styles may not be enough so you
might want to create your own. To do this you need to click the lower right
hand icon under the styles section this will open a popup menu. Here you click
the lower left hand icon which has the yellow star and A in it. This will open
another popup where you are free to name your new format and format it as you
see fit.
As examples I will show you some of my custom styles.
Centered I use for the Title Page and for the Other Titles Page. Glossary, Copyright, and Table of Contents are pretty much self explanatory.
Now you are ready to write within your document. As you
write you want to set out your work neatly, I will use two line spaces before
the title of a chapter and another two below the title and remember that after
each chapter you want to insert a page break.
You can do this one of two ways, you can go to the insert
tab and under the pages section click page break, or under the page layout tab
you can go to the page setup section and click breaks and under the drop menu
click page. Also remember that each
chapter heading you want to apply the Heading 1 style and the body of the text
you want to assign the Normal style.
Once you have written the bulk of your book it’s time to lay
it out nicely. So first thing you will want to do is create a Title Page. Here
you want to have the Title of your book, the author’s name, who has published
it, and where it has been published. Now select the text and apply the Centered
style to it, you may also like to select the title alone and increase the size
of its font for emphasis.
Next comes the Copyright Page. Here you want to list your
right to the copyright and who ever created the cover art. It is also good to
put a disclosure in if it is fiction.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any
resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Now the copyright law may differ from country to country to
make sure you know whether or not you are covered under the law of your country
and included the rights listed in your copyright act. You may need to apply and
pay a small fee for copyright protection.
Then comes your ISBN, now some places where you can upload
your book will supply you with an ISBN while others require you to have your
own. There are several ways you can acquire an ISBN, you can purchase one or if
your country permits it you can contact your National Library for free ones, if
they provide that service. But if so you must adhere to their terms and
conditions.
And to close it is good to add something like this: All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publishers, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published. And of course assign Copy Right style
to the text.
Onto the Contents Page, now I always like to have a table of
contents in my books because as a reader the titles of chapters often help me
decided whether or not it sounds like a good book. You can set out the table of
contents in anyway which ever best suits your book. Note that here it is fine
to use tab if you wish to list the chapter number and the name. Laying out the
contents page is not the tricky part however.
Firstly what you want to do is go through your document and
highlight one by one the chapter titles or any title you want to have a link to
in your table of contents. Once highlighted go to the insert tab and under the links
section click on bookmark, this will open a popup menu and here you can create
your bookmark. Now I typically use shorthand to label my bookmarks, P for
prologue, G for glossary, and then simply Ch1, Ch2, etc. Simply enter in your
desired name and click Add on the right hand side.
Once this is done head back to your table of contents and
highlight the words you wish to hyperlink. Then you go back to the insert tab
and under the links section click hyperlink, a popup menu will open. What you
want to do is click on place in this document on the left hand side. Then
simply scroll down until you find the right bookmark and press okay.
Now you want to check all your links are working, so go
through the table clicking on the linked words, then go back to the bookmark
popup menu and select a bookmark and click go to, do this for the whole list.
Once done you need to select hidden bookmarks in the bottom left hand corner of
the menu and some bookmarks beginning with the label _Hlt will show up. In order
to keep your file clean select them one by one and click delete.
One last thing to do to keep your contents page looking
good, select the whole of your table of
contents and head to the home tab and the styles section and click the small
icon in the lower right corner, you’ll see the popup menu you saw when creating
new styles. Now you want to scroll down to Hyperlink and then click the icon
with the pencil and the A, this will open another popup where you want to
scroll down and select Hyperlink (Hide Until Used), now click modify and like
other styles you can set it however you want. Because I already have a style, Table
of Contents, in the style based on section I scroll down and select (underlying
properties). Now that is done you can see that your table of contents is
uniform.
You may however want to put certain sections in italics and
give them a special indent of 0.5 cm, which you can do independently using the
regular tools under the home tab.
At the end of the document you may want to put a Glossary
Page especially if you are using a lot of uncommon terms or foreign words. Here
you will use the Glossary style and then for added emphasis make each entry
bold. You may also want to add supplementary information such as a page about
the author, a preview of your next book, or a page which lists your previous
titles.
Here you would use a similar process as in the Contents Page
except your hyperlink is a direct web url. Remember to check the links and
clear out any hidden bookmarks afterwards.
And that’s you done! Now all you have to do is convert it to
an .epub and you can find out how to do that here.
More Tutorials
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