Book Formatting for Electronic & Printed Books
Creation of e-Books
Creation of e-Books
General Info
e-Book Conversion is a rather misleading term. That is what you will get from many inexpensive services online that deal with e-Books. When you just dump a document through a converter, the software does a lot of guesswork — often incorrectly — and the generic result is what arrives at the other end of the process.
However, if after sampling my own work you feel you are in the market for a good looking book, then you have come to the right place! I don’t do conversions en masse. Every book deserves to look as good as possible.
Please download previews of my published e-Books from my author site as samples of e-Book formatting. http://www.joroderick.com
What I do
I recreate your document to resemble a beautifully laid out printed book, just in an electronic format! That doesn’t happen without some personal attention. Who wants to read endless, unbroken, dull text or an e-Book that hasn’t been properly formatted? Your e-Book needs to have proper internal and invisible breaks to aid with formatting, easy loading, and quick page turns in your favourite e-Reader.
Electronic books are no different to printed books, and the better looking your book is, the more your reader will enjoy it. That translates into future sales, and happy readers suggest good e-Books to their friends. I produce both an ePub and a Mobi electronic format that you can use and distribute to most e-Book stores.
What I do not do
I do not rewrite your book. I merely take what you have sent me, and format it for electronic publication. There is no editing fee built into this service. This means your manuscript must be a final draft. Send it to your editor first. I also offer an editing service if you require it.
If I spot any errors while working on your e-Book, I shall contact you and await your final instruction. I do not make decisions on your behalf.
The print format is a different service, and not included with electronic formatting unless prearranged.
My Fees
There is a minimum fee of $65 for any e-Book regardless of word count. For text only books, calculate a final price by multiplying your word count by $0.0025. If the word count price calculated is larger than the minimum fee of $65, then that is the price for formatting after rounding to the nearest dollar.
For books with images, annotations, footnotes, inserts, and similar formatting, please contact me to discuss your book. Below are some examples of special formatting not covered in text only books.
Terms & Conditions
- Make sure that there is a proper table of content if it is to be included;
- Any formatting such as bold, italics, underline (not recommended because of the confusion with clickable hyperlinks), or changes of font type and size, will be included in the final version. Please ensure that these are placed in the document as intended by client. Adding, or altering, these elements after the work is underway, will incur an additional cost;
- Any manuscripts formatted with Tabs will be rejected. In all likelihood, the document will not display properly on a different machine, and the resulting mess is indecipherable. Please remove these and use proper indentations, margins, or tables where needed;
- Do not use line breaks in the middle of sentences. There is a chance that they will be missed, and make their way into the final document;
- Indicate where breaks and formatting should be, such as styling of the beginning or end of sections;
- All media such as images, tables, or notes must be clearly labelled and in the correct order;
- Small changes such as typos can be fixed after formatting, but complex changes will be charged additionally;
- I only accept books in western languages. I have no experience with other languages. The scope for error is just too great;
- After consultation, formatting work will only commence after a payment of at least 50% of the total fee has been made. The final work will only be released to the client upon approval of the draft and full payment. This will indicate that the client has signed off on the project and is happy with the final product.
Page Content
Layout For Print
Print Layout
General Info
It’s important not to confuse a Print Layout with proper Typesetting. There are many people offering the service of Formatting, but most are only doing a basic Layout for Print. Typesetting is a project that can take several days. You do the maths. How many hours are you actually paying for?
So what is the point of a Print Layout on this site? Well, for authors on a strict budget, they can at least get a proper Layout for Print without being ripped off, and a little extra attention for the novels.
What I do
I will ensure that your final Print Layout will include the following:
- Properly styled Headers (such alternating Author/Book on pages);
- Properly numbered pages as per publishing convention with Roman Numerals, Normal Digits, and none on the first pages;
- Properly style Paragraphs and pages. Please discuss preferences in style with me before I start the Print Layout. Once the styling is done, it is very time consuming to go and change it all again;
- Front Matter (and Back Matter) of the book will all be on the correct side of the book (Title Page on the right page for example) as per publishing conventions. Chapters can be set to start on a new page (always on the right or simply the top of a new page) or to follow on the same page after a suitable white space;
- A finished PDF Print Layout, ready for print such as for CreateSpace. For other printers please contact me first to discuss before placing the order.
What I do not do
I do not rewrite your book. I merely take what you have sent me, and format it into a Print Layout. This means your manuscript must be a final draft. Send it to your editor first. I also offer an editing service if you require it.
If I spot any errors while working on your Print Layout, I shall contact you and await your final instruction. I do not make decisions on your behalf. Please note that since I will not be looking at each page as with proper Typesetting, any errors in the manuscript will remain in the final version.
Notes:
- You must provide any custom fonts that are to be used in the book. You must also ensure that you have the rights to use these fonts. If unspecified, I make use of fonts released as freeware.
My Fees
A minimum fee of $25 is applicable to any sized manuscript. For text based formatting, please allow for $0.35 per page, calculated at 250 words per page. If the price calculated on the total page count is larger than the minimum fee, then after rounding to the nearest dollar, that is the price for the Print Layout.
For example, a manuscript containing 100 pages would cost $35 (100 pages x $0.35). Final prices will be established upon consultation.
Terms & Conditions
- Make sure that there is a proper table of content if it is to be included;
- Any formatting such as bold, italics, underline (not recommended because of the confusion with clickable hyperlinks), or changes of font type and size, will be included in the final version. Please ensure that these are placed in the document as intended by client. Adding, or altering, these elements after the work is underway, will incur an additional cost;
- Any manuscripts formatted with Tabs will be rejected. In all likelihood, the document will not display properly on a different machine, and the resulting mess is indecipherable. Please remove these and use proper indentations, margins, or tables where needed;
- Do not use line breaks in the middle of sentences. There is a chance that they will be missed, and make their way into the final document;
- If upon consultation I do the Print Layout for your book, and it contains any media such as images, tables, or notes, they must be clearly labelled and in the correct order;
- Unlike formatting for electronic books, even small changes such as typos will alter the formatting and pagination of the Print Layout. It can set off a domino effect that can mean reformatting an entire section. Complex changes will be charged additionally;
- A print size for the final book must be established before commencing the Print Layout. Changing the size will cause repagination of the entire book, and undo my work. Changes like these will incur additional charges;
- Children’s or photography books are not available under this service;
- You may not tell people that I Typeset your book because the reality is that I have done a Layout for Print;
- I only accept books in western languages. I have no experience with other languages. The scope for error is just too great;
- After consultation, formatting on the Print Layout will only commence after a payment of at least 50% of the total fee has been made. The final work will only be released to the client upon approval of the draft and full payment. This will indicate that the client has signed off on the project and is happy with the final product.
Page Content
Typeset For Print
Typesetting for Print
General Info
It’s not hard to convert a document into a PDF for printing. Anyone can do it, but Typesetting for Print is more than a mere conversion. Without getting too technical, there are many details that must be done by hand in order to produce a pleasing printed book.
It takes skill and an eye for spotting horrible ‘rivers’, orphans, widows, and even a word that repeats vertically by pure chance. The words ‘the’ or ‘a’ are very common and are culprits of this. By shifting the spacing in the Typesetting, I can knock a word or two down into the next line to throw off the ‘column’ effect through proper Typesetting.
A properly Typesetting book should not contain a single first word of a sentence at the bottom of the page, and neither should the next page have a single last word at the top. Paragraphs need to be more than just automatically justified. All this takes time and expertise. Paragraphs should not end with a single word on a line, especially a very short one.
What I do
I will ensure that your finished Typesetting for Print will include the following:
- Have properly styled Headers (such alternating Author/Book on pages).
- Properly numbered pages as per Traditional Typesetting convention with Roman Numerals, Normal Digits, and none on the first pages.
- Properly styled Paragraphs and Pages. Please discuss preferences in style with me before I start formatting. Once the styling is done, it is very time consuming to go and change it all again.
- Manual Hyphenation to help the flow and Typesetting of each page. Excessive hyphenation is the result of automation (many people use it and it shows). To have no hyphenation just looks unprofessional and leads to large blank space in word spacing.
- Either a Drop Cap or different first few words at the start of Chapters or Sections if desired.
- Front Matter (and Back Matter) of the book will all be on the correct side of the book (Title Page on the right page for example) as per Typesetting conventions. Chapters can be set to start on a new page (always on the right or simply the top of a new page) or to follow on the same page after a suitable white space.
- Provide you with a finished PDF ready for print such as for CreateSpace. For other printers please contact me first to discuss before placing the order.
What I do not do
I do not rewrite your book. I merely take what you have sent me, and do the Typesetting for print. This means your manuscript must be a final draft. Send it to your editor first. I also offer an editing service if you require it.
If I spot any errors while working on the Typesetting, I shall contact you and await your final instruction. I do not make decisions on your behalf.
Notes:
- You must provide any custom fonts that are to be used in the book. You must also ensure that you have the rights to use these fonts. If unspecified, I make use of fonts released as freeware.
My Fees
For text based Typesetting, please allow for $1-2 per page (approximately 250-300 words) for books of 50 (fifty) pages or less. A better rate is available with longer books. For children’s books or photography formats, final prices will be established upon consultation.
Terms & Conditions
- Make sure that there is a proper table of content if it is to be included;
- Any formatting such as bold, italics, underline (not recommended because of the confusion with clickable hyperlinks), or changes of font type and size, will be included in the final version. Please ensure that these are placed in the document as intended by client. Adding, or altering, these elements after the work is underway, will incur an additional cost;
- Any manuscripts formatted with Tabs will be rejected. In all likelihood, the document will not display properly on a different machine, and the resulting mess is indecipherable. Please remove these and use proper indentations, margins, or tables where needed;
- Do not use line breaks in the middle of sentences. There is a chance that they will be missed, and make their way into the final document;
- Indicate where breaks and formatting should be, such as styling of the beginning or end of sections;
- All media such as images, tables, or notes must be clearly labelled and in the correct order;
- Unlike formatting for electronic books, even small changes such as typos will alter the Typesetting and pagination of the book. It can set off a domino effect that can mean reformatting an entire section. Complex changes will be charged additionally;
- A print size for the final book must be established before commencing Typesetting. Changing the size will cause repagination of the entire book, and undo all the manual formatting such as hyphenation and spacing. Changes like these will incur additional charges;
- I only accept books in western languages. I have no experience with other languages. The scope for error is just too great;
- After consultation, Typesetting work will only commence after a payment of at least 50% of the total fee has been made. The final work will only be released to the client upon approval of the draft and full payment. This will indicate that the client has signed off on the project and is happy with the final product.
Page Content
Page Content