SPoaB Guide: A Free Self-Publishing on a Budget Guide

Setting up Your Book: The Basics

When I started into publishing, much of the whole process seemed so complicated and so difficult. One of the reasons I started this blog was because I was having a great deal of difficulty finding helpful websites to walk me through the "how to's" of publishing. I thought I could be a support and help to others on this process and provide clear, practical help in this area where there appeared to be a lack.

Since that time, I have found a number of helpful sites, but they eluded me at first. I still, however, have a desire to provide a simple, clear blog through which authors can easily find the information they need.

One of the big challenges an author faces is how to get a book from their computer to the actual printer. A printer (whether Createspace, Ingram or just about any other) will typically require the interior of your book to be in a high-resolution PDF file.

In addition to this, the file needs to be set out exactly how you would like it to look once it's printed. The font size, the layout of the page, the page size, the page numbers, headings and more all need to be set up just right.
To make it even more complicated, there are pages in a book such as the copyright page, dedications, a table of contents, etc. These pages are supposed to go in a certain order and, as an author, you need to know that order.

While this sounds quite complicated, it can be done simply and professionally in MS Word. You can set up your book and export it to a PDF in a way which is exactly what a printer needs. If you do not have MS Word, it is actually much cheaper to buy the software and set your book up with this software than it is to hire someone to set the book up for you. It's also not a huge amount of work, although it can appear complicated.

On this note, I tried Pressbooks to set up my book. Unfortunately, I found it fairly limited for this kind of thing (getting your book to a PDF), but it is helpful in terms of ebooks. I will be posting a blog on using Pressbooks soon, so keep your eye out!

What I hope to accomplish in this blog is to walk an author through a simple process of setting up your book for print. Since there is so much out there already on how to use MS Word for this, I will not be going into the technical steps of "where to click" in MS Word, but I'll be concentrating on those areas you need to pay attention to in setting up your book.

For information on how to set up the file in MS Word, Createspace has this helpful guide found at https://forums.createspace.com/en/community/docs/DOC-1482

You can also google certain questions and phrases (I'll give suggestions below) for how to work through specific issues.

Here are some things you need to understandUnderstanding Recto vs. Verso

First things first. You need to know the lingo. When you open a book (we're talking English books that move from left to right), the left-hand page is called the Verso page and the right-hand page is called the Recto.

Typically, everything important starts on a Recto page (chapters, table of contents, dedication, maps, etc.). Not much should start on the Verso page. An exception to this rule is the Copyright page. It's typically on the Verso (left hand) page.

You will notice in a typical novel that each chapter will start on the Recto page. You'll notice that in order to keep this consistent, occasionally an extra page will have to be added in and as a result, there will be one empty page in between certain chapters. Keep it to one, not more. You'll never need more than one to cause the next chapter to start on the Recto page.

You'll notice as well that some books are starting chapters on the Verso page. While this appears to be a new trend in some places, I would recommend that you not jump in on this trend. The reason for this is that a critical eye will see your chapter starting on the Verso page and... they will be critical. This could cause some readers to see your book as "unprofessional."