Author and YouTuber Mandi Lynn considers herself an expert in formatting novels in Microsoft Word. She knows how to add fancy drop caps at the beginning of each chapter and add headers and footers to make the book look professional on the inside.
In the video, she shares her screen with the pages from the novel. She shows how to format a book to work on CreateSpace by Amazon. She used the 5 ½ x 8 ½ template from the website.
Why Books Do Not Start on Page One
Lynn explains why she uses several title pages, including why she leaves one without her name on it so she can autograph that space for fans. She also shares her pages with the other titles she has written and a dedication.
Adding Headers and Footers
Then, Lynn gets right into explaining how to do complicated headers and footers. She does not put page numbers on the chapter title pages. She places page numbers on the even pages and her name on the odd pages.
To set this up, she shows sections. She leaves the opening pages as separate sections, so she does not have to put page numbers and headers on them. Once she gets to the actual novel, which is section seven, she shows viewers how to set up sections instead of page breaks, through the Layout Menu.
Placing Page Numbers
She checks “Different Odd and Even Pages” in the menu bar to make the pages different. She also clicks on “Continue From Previous Section” in the page number menu. She includes a section break before the chapter and within the chapter. Do not link sections to each other.
Lynn sets her header by creating presets. This allows her to change all of them with one click. She chose her font, size, and alignment. She also sets a chapter subheader and begins the chapters half-way down the page.
Adding Drop Caps
Adding drop caps is challenging for people who are unfamiliar with Microsoft Word. Highlight the text. Then in the Insert menu, choose Drop Cap, and Word will insert it and format around it. There are several options that allow you to customize the drop cap. Lynn reminds viewers to make the drop caps consistent throughout the novel.
Fixing Issues with Force Justify
Lynn also explains why she chose to justify her text but explains why Word spreads some words. With Word, you can fix this by hitting enter at the end of lines where the body copy looks wonky.
She also explains widows and orphans from the world of graphic design. A widow or orphan is a word that is left all by itself on a page. To solve it, you can hit enter to put another line on the page. Otherwise, you can highlight a page to change the spacing to remove the orphan or widow.
Lynn explains why she leaves an empty page at the end, so her “About the Author” page can be on the left side. She also uses more sections to keep the page numbering consistent.
Formatting Reminders
To wrap up her how-to video, Lynn reminds viewers of the most important parts of her lesson.
- Never use a page break. Page numbers and headers will become messy.
- Use section breaks. These keep the page numbers, headers, and footers in place, as long as the sections are not linked. Unclick the “Linked Previous” button.
- Keep going through the manuscript. Look for issues like widow and orphans or stretched words from justifying the text of the novel.
- Print the pages. You can find more mistakes if you print them rather than looking at the screen.
Lynn ends by sharing that companies can reject novels that are not correctly formatted. To prevent publishers from rejecting novels, it is vital to fix formatting errors on every page.
Mandi Lynn is a young-adult fantasy author. She has written three fiction books: She’s Not Here, Essence, and Mercy. She also wrote and illustrated a children’s picture book called Mr. Moon’s Big Move. She also has a newsletter and several videos to help writers fight writer’s block.