Hello all! Below are the notes Nicole Grane shared this past Thursday about how to format a Word document for a Create Space book.
NICOLE GRANE’S NOTES ON FORMATTING BOOKS: If you have
questions, please contact Nicole Grane at
N.Grane@hotmail.com.
Also, a special thanks to Nicole for sharing what she learned!
Formatting a Word
document for Create Space:
1.
Select the proper page size
a.
Highlight the full document so you can size it.
b.
On the site, select ‘page layout,’ then ‘size,’
then ‘more paper sizes.’ Choose 6x9 and click ‘Okay.’
2.
Formatting the text
a.
In the Word document, highlight the chapter text
only (not the scene breaks or chapter headings).
b.
Single-space the chapters.
i.
To do this, go to the ‘Home’ tab and click the
‘paragraph’ section (arrow at the right hand corner). In the box: spacing—line spacing=single.
Click ‘okay.’
ii.
While you’re doing this, also fix the
indentation: In the ‘Special’ box,
change indentation from ‘hanging’ to ‘first line’ and the ‘By’ to 0.25”
3.
Justify the text
a.
Highlight the chapter text (not the chapter
headings or clip art)
b.
In the ‘Home’ tab, click the justification
button (looks like a square with horizontal lines in it that reach to both
sides of the square) or hit control-J.
4.
Headers
a.
Under the ‘Insert’ tab, click ‘Header’ and then
‘Edit Header'
b.
Type the author’s name on the left of the header
( left page) and the book title on the right (right page)…odd and even
c.
Under the ‘Header and Footer Tools’ click
‘Different first page’ to remove words from the header on the first page. Be
sure not to have any return marks in this area.
5.
Gutter
a.
Go to ‘Page Layout’ and click on ‘Margins,’ then
‘Custom margins.’
b.
In the boxes: top =0.5, left = 0.5, gutter =
0.5, bottom = 0.5, right = 0.5 and gutter position is ‘left.’
6.
Page breaks
a.
After the title page be sure to have a page
break (under ‘page layout’, click ‘breaks’ and then ‘page’)
b.
After that use section breaks before the story
(also under ‘page layout’ and ‘breaks’)
c.
Place section breaks on odd pages after each
chapter
7.
Review story for arrow marks
a.
To do this, click on the paragraph sign on the
‘Home’ tab. A paragraph sign will pop up
everywhere there is a return in your document.
b.
Back space to delete unnecessary returns.
8.
Table of Contents
a.
Under the ‘Home’ tab, highlight the heading
(chapter headings)
b.
Click Heading 1
c.
Do this for all the headings to be included
d.
Go to where the table is to be placed in the
book
e.
Under the ‘References ‘ tab click ‘Table of
Contents’ and ‘Table 1.’
f.
Always update the table after any changes are
made.
9.
Drop Caps
a.
Click anywhere on the paragraph you want drop
caps to be
b.
Click ‘insert drop cap’ and choose the second
option.
10.
Remove comment area on PDF
a.
Under the ‘Review’ tab, go to the ‘tracking’
area.
b.
Click ‘Show Markup’ and then uncheck ‘comments.’
This will get rid of the comment area on your final PDF.
11.
Page numbers
a.
Under the ‘Insert’ tab go to the Header and
Footer area.
b.
Click ‘Page Number.’
c.
To format page numbers:
i.
Starting pages should have Roman Numerals
1.
For Roman numerals, select (i,iii,iii) and
‘start at i.’ Click ‘Okay.’
2.
Do the same for each of the pages before the
actual story starts. You will need to click on each page and follow the same
steps, but click start at ii, start at iii, etc.
ii.
Story pages should be numerals 1,2,3 etc. Start
at 1.
1.
Select (1,2,3) and ‘start at 1.’
2.
Check mark ‘different first page’ and ‘different
odd/even.’
d.
No numbers should show up on chapter headings.
e.
For pages you don’t want numbered, be sure to
check mark ‘Different first page’ or don’t click on that page at all.
f.
If you need to insert a page in the story, add a
page break before the section break. Touch nothing else.
12.
Embed fonts
a.
Under the ‘File’ tab, click ‘Options’ and then
‘Save.’
b.
Check ‘embed fonts’ at the bottom of the page
and click ‘Okay.’
13.
And lastly:
a.
Save the document and then save a second copy of
the file as a PDF to upload onto Create Space
b.
Check the PDF to make sure there isn’t a comment
box showing before you upload it.
