Templates for Using MS Word to Format for Print

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm going to share some news and give you a coupon! How awesome are coupons? If you're an Indie author and you've been struggling to make your book look more professional through self-publishing platforms like CreateSpace, you're in for a treat.

Not long ago, I did a post about MS Word vs Adobe InDesign. I went through a few of the good and bad things for using each. Now, you have some additional options for making your book look awesome with MS Word. I know I'm not far off when I say, many of us just can't afford programs like Adobe InDesign and most of us wouldn't know how to use it even if we could. With InDesign, you can create books that look like this:

Now, I'm not saying you'll ever be able to do that with MS Word. I just don't know if it's possible. What I am saying is that you can have an awesome printed book for little to no cost. Keep reading.

I'm a regular subscriber to The Book Designer blog. His name is Joel Friedlander and he does a lot for those of us in the self-publishing world. If you don't already subscribe, I suggest you do so ASAP. It's a wonderful resource for Indie authors. Okay, moving on.

What's the big news? I'm getting to that!

Joel has partnered up with Tracy Atkins, author of Aeternum Ray and partner over at Dyslexiana, to bring you MS Word templates you can use to make your book look awesome in print. Yeah, I know, it was a little difficult for me to believe as well; but take a look at this post where Joel announces the launch. Those look pretty awesome, huh?

If you hop on over to their website BookDesignTemplates.com, you'll even get to download a free copy of their Book Design Templates Roadmap. It walks you through how to use the templates you buy. If you want to skip all the hubbub, you can go right on in and look at some of the templates available by clicking here.

Prices start at $37 each. But, after you buy one, you can use it time and again.

What's all this about a coupon?

Well, Joel is offering a coupon code for 41% off any template you buy. Holy moly, right? That makes each template's price start at just $15.17!! You can read all about it in his post here.

Without further ado, I give you the code: book41

You can follow Joel on Twitter, too. He's @JFBookman

Happy shopping!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

MS Word vs Adobe InDesign

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Wednesday is called "hump day"... no, get your mind out of the gutter...! because it's the middle of the week and, if you make it through today, there are only two days until the weekend. Here's wishing you well on your Wednesday! I've heard a ton of talk lately about how MS Word is comparable to InDesign for laying out print books. Well, it's not. While it's great for laying out and formatting digital books, nothing compares to the power of Adobe InDesign for laying out a print book.

Grab your pencils and notebooks because you're gonna want to take notes today!

MS Word is a powerful machine for writing. It's great for term papers or formatting a book for upload to the various digital sellers on the web. It spell checks, indents according to your settings, and is easy to place images in. It also converts to html or rtf rather easily by simply choosing save as and making your selection. But there's one thing MS Word doesn't have that leaves it the squalling, hungry infant when compared to Adobe InDesign: Master Pages.

Master Pages are the end-all be-all of the print world. With a master page, you can tell InDesign what every page of your book should look like and where those individual pages should appear. You can pop in a page number and it will appear in the same place on every single page of your book. Adding artwork is easy; you simply place it on the master page and, voila!, it's on every page you have that master on.

I'm going to use The Bird as an example here because I used two sets of master pages to design it: A and B. Master page A was the common page where text, running headers, and page numbers would appear. B was the opening chapter pages. Time for some screen shots!

This is Adobe InDesign CS5. If you click on the image, you'll see I've identified the marks around the page. This is the opening of chapter two in The Bird.

This is Master Page A. It's the common page and you can see it has running headers, a text box, some nice flourishes at the bottom, and page numbers. It will automatically number each page according to where it falls in the book.

This is Master Page B. It's the chapter openings page. There's a left-hand and a right-hand, just like Master Page A. When I have a place where a chapter starts, I click the corresponding page, drag it, and drop it on the page it should appear on. Like magic, it's all there.

This tells me I'm looking at Master Page A. It's the tiny box in the top right-hand corner of the screen shots above.


When I'm done, I export it to a PDF and upload it to CreateSpace. Master Pages are the bomb. Period. MS Word can't touch this feature. Even with predefined formatting specs.

All the elements of a master page are locked so you don't accidentally move them around. But there's even a way around this! You ctrl+shift+click on any element and it will become editable. How damned cool is that?

In addition, if I wanted to use this exact layout on every book I produce, I can save it as a template that will re-load with all master pages intact. Comes in handy when formatting a series and you want each book to be identical on the inside!

I hope you learned a little bit today and, if you layout your own print books, are now considering an investment. No, I get no kickbacks from Adobe. I don't do that on this blog. I recommend tools I know you'll love if you give them half a chance.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What's a Display?

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today we'll talk about display fonts and answer some questions like: When to use a display font? How to identify a display font? Examples of display fonts. So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Display is defined as: Making a prominent exhibition of a thing where it can be noticed. Example of a display font:

This letterform is from the font family known as Capitular Floral. Pretty, huh?

When should you use a display font?
Much like a script font, a display font is for just that - display. They're not meant to be used in blocks of text but they make nice drop caps and decorative elements used at the start of a chapter. So stick to using them as decoration rather than text.

How to identify a display font?
If your letters do weird things when you're trying to type them out, it's probably a display font. They're usually very decorative and hard to read when combined in sets of more than one or two. Not all of them have a box around them or have really gritty details like the one above.

Some examples:

As you can see, they don't read very well when combined. Never ever use them for book design unless you're adding a single decorative letter to the beginning of something.

This concludes my font week. I hope you all learned a little bit and had some fun along the way!

What's your favorite display font?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What is a Script?

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today we'll talk about script fonts. Some questions I'll answer are: When to use them? How long have they been around? How do I identify a script typeface? So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

A script typeface is defined as: Handwriting as distinct from print. An example:

This letter is from the font family known as Edwardian Script. It's been around since 1994. A relatively new font in comparison, eh?

When should you use a script font?
When you want something to look like it was hand written. I've seen them used in titles but rarely more than one or two words. They're commonly used as a drop-cap at the opening of a chapter to give it some flair.

How long have they been around?
For as long as we've been writing things by hand with quill and ink! Everyone has a script font in them waiting to escape.

How do I identify a script font?
If it looks like a normal person's handwriting or calligraphy, it's a script. Easy peasy.

Some popular script fonts are:

Some of these I had to make bigger so you could read them at a glance. They're hard to read when used in a large block of text. Don't use script fonts when formatting your book for print unless they're used as a decorative element.

What's your favorite script font?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What about Sans Serif?

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking more fonts! I know, I know, crazy stuff. But the topic for today is sans serif fonts. Why do we use them? Where did they come from? What are some common ones? So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

A sans serif font is defined as: A style of type without serifs.

The type you're reading now is sans serif. It's called Arial. Designers worldwide just drew in a collective gasp. Yes, I know Arial is the knockoff Helvetica. Sorry, I like it. So, for a larger example:

This letter is from a typeface called HelveNuThin. It's the one I use for my name on the cover of my novels. Notice there are no protrusions of any kind on the letterform. This is an excellent example of a sans serif font.

Why do we use them?
They're easier to write and have become more widely used with the invention of the computer. Now, here's a tidbit of trivia for you! Arial was designed by Microsoft when the designer of Helvetica wanted a payment for every copy of windows that was distributed. They hired someone to come up with a font similar so they wouldn't have to pay. Hell hath no fury like the design world when one uses Arial. By the way, that stop sign near your house? Helvetica is the font used. Anyway, I digress!

Where did they come from?
The first sans serif typeface was Caslon in 1745 but they didn't become as popular as they are today until the invention of the computer.

What are some common ones?

And I hope this answers questions you may have had about serif typefaces. Tomorrow, we'll talk script typefaces and I'll give some examples of those, too!! For printed book design, Caslon is a popular choice.

What's your favorite sans serif font?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Formatting Your Manuscript for Print

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Since it's so close to Friday and Valentine's Day, I thought I'd give you all a little something to look forward to! Let's first discuss that all important thing I like to call formatting a print book then we'll get into the awesome rafflecopter prizes I have up for the winning. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

When you format your manuscript for print, there are a lot of things you need to take into account. Just slapping some text into your book works, but it won't wow your readers and make them want to pick up your book for keeping.

In my book, The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, I go into how to format your manuscript in MS Word. Why? Because it's a standard item on most computers. I give you the bare bones on how you can produce a legible document for print. Best of all, I made it just $2.99 on Amazon and Smashwords. But what about getting creative?

If I went into designing a book for print in InDesign, many of you would be scratching your heads. I tried to keep it simple and easy to understand. But there's a lot to be said for either hiring someone who knows InDesign to format your book or buying the program and learning how to do it yourself.

Here are a couple of examples of things that can be done using a program like InDesign to format:

 Chapter 1 Page 1 of The Bird

Chapter 1 Page 6 & 7 of Yassa













I've applied stylized formatting to the Copyright page and the front matter as well. The interior of The Bird is full bleed so the page you see there will be trimmed .125" all the way around. It'll be beautiful and give my book that little something extra.

A good book designer will know odd pages are always on the right, even pages are always on the left, and front matter gets no numbers (unless roman numerals are used - often for a forward or introduction). Ask these questions of your designer before you hire them!

I talk about all these things and SO much more in my book. I designed the print edition small so you can carry it with you or keep it on your desk and it not take up a ton of space. My first printed edition of Yassa is in a larger typeface for those who would like to read without their glasses. I've gotten a ton of thanks for that. In the Mystic series, every book looks the same. The interior is simple because the subject matter is serious. Above all else, it's consistent.

This all leads me to my point: Think long and hard about your print books. If necessary, talk to a graphic designer or reader and ask them what the most alluring covers and interiors entail. Take copious notes and implement them when designing your book.

Now, on to the giveaway! In keeping with the ideas presented in The Indie Author's Guide, I'm giving one lucky winner either a digital identity package OR a book cover design OR a book formatted for print. Another lucky winner will get an advance printed, signed copy of The Bird, a huge Mystic~Bronya cover poster, three postcards featuring Mystic and Yassa, and a Mystic bookmark.

Without further ado, here's the entry form:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
GOOD LUCK!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo