Adapt Your Print Book for the Digital World: Smart Tips eBook Formatting

Adapt Your Print Book for the Digital World: Smart Tips for eBook Formatting

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself exploring the banks of the Clark Fork River captivated by the scene unfolding at the water’s edge. The vibrant plant life was thriving in that transitional moment between fall and winter, adapting effortlessly with grand flair to these ever evolving seasonal shifts—much like stories, which can take on new forms while still preserving their beauty and essence.

Adaptability is one of the most remarkable qualities of a story—it can shape itself to fit any medium, from a beautifully printed hardcover to the screen of an e-reader. But embracing this adaptability often means rethinking how your book works in its new digital form.

When formatting an ebook, it’s essential to prioritize user experience. While it might feel tempting to replicate your print book exactly, digital reading comes with unique challenges. Wide elements like tables and charts, for example, often don’t translate well to smaller screens. Instead, consider reworking them into simpler, reflowable formats that are easy to read and interact with. This isn’t a compromise—it’s an opportunity to enhance how readers engage with your content.

Start with Essentials Up Front
Your ebook should immediately inform readers where they are with a clear title page and concise copyright details. This ensures a polished, professional impression from the first screen.
Use a Clickable Table of Contents
An interactive ToC is a hallmark of a well-designed ebook. Readers can jump directly to chapters or sections with a tap, making their reading journey seamless and enjoyable.
Rework Wide Content
Tables, charts, and other wide elements don’t always work well on digital screens. Simplify them or break them into smaller, readable chunks. Reflowable text or images are easier for readers to navigate and keep their focus on your content, not struggling with layout issues.
Incorporate Interactive Features
Ebooks offer tools print can’t match. Add features like hyperlinks to external resources, embedded multimedia (such as audio or video), or pop-up definitions for complex terms. These elements can make your ebook more dynamic and valuable.
Refine Chapter Layouts and Enhance Readability
Begin each chapter on a new page and maintain consistent formatting for headings and subheadings. Use adequate spacing and section breaks to keep the narrative flowing. These small adjustments create a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience for your audience.
Leverage the Back Matter
The back matter is an incredible space for adding value and engaging readers:

Acknowledgments: Thank collaborators, editors, family, or supporters. This adds a personal touch.
About the Author: Share your story and include links to your website, social media, or newsletter sign-up.
Call-to-Action: Invite readers to leave a review, check out related books, or explore additional content.
Sneak Peeks and Previews: Offer a teaser for your next book to entice readers to keep following your work.
Interactive Links: Use links to drive traffic to resources, blogs, or even exclusive downloads.

Proofreading Tips for Self-Publishing Authors: How to Perfect Your Manuscript Before Publishing

I recently enjoyed some fall days on a trip to Yellowstone National Park for a workshop called Decoding the Language of Nature. Taught by expert naturalists and animal trackers Jon Young and George Bumann, it was an incredible experience—learning about, watching, and listening to wolves, coyotes, bison, pronghorn, birds, and other wild creatures all participating in a continuous flow of intricate communication. Spending time honing my eyes and ears to begin listening in reminded me of how small details shape the bigger picture—something that’s just as true for books as it is for the natural world.

After returning from this remarkable experience, I’ve been diving back into book design and working with self-publishing authors to help them bring their manuscripts to life. A recent conversation with one of my clients about the importance of proofreading sparked the idea for this blog post. I thought it might be helpful to share some essential tips for authors looking to refine their own work before publishing.

While hiring a professional proofreader is always the ideal choice for a polished final product, some authors prefer to tackle the proofreading process themselves. If that’s you, here are a few crucial tips to help catch those pesky errors and ensure your manuscript is ready for readers.

Take a Break
Setting your manuscript aside for a day or two before you begin proofreading is one of the most effective ways to gain fresh outlook. Coming back to your work with rested eyes allows you to spot issues you might otherwise miss. This step can make all the difference when it comes to catching errors in your own writing.
Print it Out
Reading on paper offers a new perspective. Errors, inconsistencies, and awkward formatting are often easier to catch when you’re looking at a physical page instead of a screen. Printing out your manuscript also allows you to make notes and corrections directly on the paper, which can streamline your editing process.
Use a Checklist
Proofreading without a plan can make it easy to overlook small but significant details. Create a checklist that covers common issues, such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as elements specific to your manuscript, like character name consistency or formatting. This ensures a thorough review and helps produce a more professional final product.
Read Backwards
One helpful trick for catching typos and other small errors is to read your manuscript backwards. By isolating each word, you force yourself to slow down and focus on individual elements, which makes it easier to spot mistakes. This technique helps you catch spelling errors and misplaced words that might be missed when reading normally.
Eliminate Distractions
Proofreading requires your full attention, so be sure to find a quiet space where you can focus. Minimizing distractions—whether it’s turning off notifications, setting aside dedicated time, or finding a quiet environment—will help you catch subtle errors and polish your manuscript effectively.

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Capture Your Reader’s Attention with Stunning Cover Design

Why Invest in Professional Cover Design?

A compelling cover does more than catch the eye; it speaks to the heart of your prospective readers, inviting them into the world you've created. With a blend of artistry and strategy, a well-designed cover can make your book stand out while fitting seamlessly within your genre. It's about creating a visual narrative that resonates with your audience, encouraging them to explore further.

How I Can Assist You

With my expertise, we can navigate the intricacies of cover design together. From understanding your book’s essence and target audience to selecting imagery and typography that amplifies your story I'm here to bring your vision to life and be your guide through the process to ensure your cover is not just beautiful but effective.

Here are some ways that we will collaborate on your book cover:

Personalized Cover Design: Your book's genre, target audience, and core message guide my design strategy. I delve into the specifics, from genre norms to the subtleties that make your book unique, crafting a cover that not only captivates but also communicates.

Technical Expertise: Transitioning from manuscript to print or eBook format is seamless when you work with me. I handle the complexities of file creation and formatting, ensuring your book is ready for platforms like Amazon's KDP and IngramSpark, without the technical headaches.

Collaborative Process: Your vision is paramount. Through regular updates and open communication, I ensure that the design aligns with your expectations, incorporating your feedback and providing revisions to perfect your cover and interior layout.

Showcasing Success

Every project is a story of collaboration and creativity, resulting in covers that not only captivate but also sell. For a glimpse into the transformative power of exceptional cover design, I invite you to explore my portfolio of recent projects and discover how I've worked together with authors to elevate their visions into captivating visual stories.

Ready to Transform Your Cover?

Embarking on your cover design journey is just an email away. Contact me to discuss how we can turn your vision into a visual masterpiece that attracts and delights your target readership.

I would love to be a part of your publishing adventure and look forward to creating something remarkable together!

Discover the Pros and Cons of Digital and Offset Printing

Few things are as exciting as opening the box holding copies of your freshly printed, self published book! After all the months, maybe years, of crafting and developing your story and making careful and intentional choices in its production, it is so satisfying to finally hold the finished book in your hands. In this newsletter we will explore common options for printing and some important differences between them that will empower you to make choices that will help bring your book to life and save you potential disappointment from unexpected results.

Self-publishing authors are faced with many choices during the production process of their book. An important one is the choice between digital or offset printing. While both methods have their pros and cons, the decision ultimately depends on personal preferences and budget. Here's a quick breakdown of each:

Print on Demand (POD) platforms like Ingram Spark and KDP have made self-publishing more accessible than ever before. They offer user-friendly tools and affordable options, allowing authors to publish their work and reach a wide audience through extensive distribution channels. However, it's important to note that POD books can differ significantly in quality compared to books printed traditionally with an offset press. POD relies on digital printing, which is cost-effective for small print quantities but unfortunately lacks reliable consistency in the final product. POD companies also work with multiple printers to get the job done. Each book is printed individually as its own print run and the machine is not calibrated between runs making it impossible to guarantee consistency between printers and runs. Nevertheless, readers will likely never see the book they have purchased side-by-side with the same book that may have been printed elsewhere, so the differences may go unnoticed to them.

Offset printing is ideal for larger print runs and delivers high-quality results. It offers greater consistency and precision in color reproduction throughout the print run. Offset presses also provide options for a wider range of colors and higher quality paper choices. However, with this method there is a large upfront expense, you'll need storage for the printed books, the lead times are longer, and you will need to arrange your own distribution for the book.

In summary, print on demand allows for quick, flexible publishing and easy distribution at a low cost. It's suitable for printing a single copy or a small quantity, and you can even dropship a book anywhere that you like. It will be a fine looking book but, it may not meet your desired level of quality. Offset printing ensures a high-quality product but requires printing a large quantity, storage space, and a higher upfront investment. Additionally, you'll need to manage the distribution process yourself.

Tips on how to prepare your manuscript for the book designer.

Preparing Your Manuscript for the Book Designer

So you've finished writing your book and are ready for the layout and design stage. Before you send it off to your formatter there's a bit of "house cleaning" to do first to ensure that they can clearly see and understand the formatting needs of your book. Remember, the designer is not as familiar with your content as you are, so preparing a clean document to send to them saves time (and cost) and helps eliminate guess work or misunderstanding of how an item is intended to look on the page.

So! roll up your sleeves and get ready to clean up your working document.

Tips for preparing your manuscript
for the book designer.

Send the final and complete manuscript in Microsoft Word. Including all the front matter, the book block and any back matter. If your chapter has titles, include a table of contents, but don’t add the page numbers. This is one of the last things your designer will do after all of the text is set.
Organization and consistency is key. Manuscripts that are complex, especially non-fiction can become messy very quickly and, if not organized properly, can make it difficult for your designer to know how to proceed. So make sure that each element, such as chapter titles, section titles, each level of subheads and bullets, quotes, or other similar content is formatted the same throughout.
Make sure the information hierarchy is clear. For example, with part titles and numbers, chapters titles and numbers, sub-heads, and sub-sections it is important to make sure each of these elements is formatted the same way throughout the manuscript - and each are different from one another. The idea is to make it so the designer can easily spot the distinct parts and format them accurately.
- For example: Format all part titles bold and 24 points, then make all chapter titles bold and 20 pt, so when the designer looks at your Word manuscript, they can easily see that those two items are not the same thing.
- The same would be true for subheads. To indicate which is which, maybe format level one subhead as bold and 14 points, and then perhaps make level two subheads italic and 12 points.
If you’ve used unusual characters, foreign letters or words or other symbols, point these out to the designer.

Format the manuscript simply

Use only one font throughout the manuscript. Times New Roman is just fine. It can be used for everything - the chapter titles, subheads, everything. If a complimentary font is desired, this will be communicated before the project starts and the designer will apply it appropriately in their professional layout software.
Use of bold and italic is perfectly okay. The designer can easily see and retain that formatting.
Tables should be formatted simply with no extra spaces or tabs in the cells
If there is a pull quote or a boxed text feature, indicate this in your manuscript by typing [boxed text starts here] before the text that should be boxed, and [boxed text ends here] after that text.

Things to avoid:

Tabs or multiple spaces to indicate indents.
Double spaces after periods.
Hard returns. These are not "real" paragraphs and usually happen on accident when you press shift + enter to force text to drop to the next line. If these exist in your document its hard to tell if you meant to start a new paragraph or you simply wanted a specific word to be on the next line.
Make sure to hit the enter key once after a paragraph.
Multiple fonts. Please only use one font for your entire manuscript. Your designer and you will discuss fonts before your project begins.
Text boxes or Word art. These are available as formatting tools in Microsoft Word, but will not translate well upon import to professional layout software. If you need something special such as boxed text or other special formatting use the method described above to show your designer where it should be placed and speak with them to communicate your intention.
Microsoft Word is not a great layout tool. As much as you may want to, please don’t try to predesign the pages in book form. This is your designer's job and all your hard work will only have to be stripped out of the manuscript before it can be worked with in professional layout software.

Images:

Do not place images into your Word Document. Instead include the image name and its caption in your manuscript in the area where the image should appear.
- For example: [imagename.jpeg, caption text]
Send the high resolution files (minimum 300dpi) in a zip file to your designer separately.
Name your images with the chapter number and something short that describes what is in the image.
Make sure you have permission to use any photo that you send. Do not send images that you find in a Google search. These will likely not be high enough resolution and you probably won’t have the necessary permissions to use them in your book.
If you need stock photos ask your designer for a trustworthy site to find the image you need. The price can range all the way from free to much more expensive, but generally you can find what you need for only a few dollars.

IngramSpark’s Book Returns Explained

When setting up your title on Ingram Spark, have you found yourself confused about the return options and their associated costs?

First, let's understand what book returns are and why they exist. Ingram Spark has the option to allow booksellers to return books. The book seller buys books to sell and if those books aren't selling, they need to be able to return them.

As a business owner they make calculated risks when determining which books to stock. A new or unknown author is more of a risk than an author with an established repertoire. Booksellers are more likely to take that risk on a new author if they can return those books if they don't sell.

If you, the publisher, choose to allow returns, please note that there are costs associated with that option. Therefore, it is very important to understand each option so you can make the right choice for your situation.

When you opt to allow returns IngramSpark will charge you for the wholesale cost of returns plus any applicable shipping and handling fees.

The three choices for book returns available to you on IngramSpark are:

No or Non-Returnable: IngramSpark will not accept returns from booksellers.

Cost to you: none.
IngramSpark will not accept returns from booksellers.

Yes – Deliver: Your titles will be sold on a returnable basis. If the book is returned it will be shipped back to you. (This return option is only available for books sold in the United States or Canada).

Cost to you: Wholesale cost of the book + $2.00 per book shipping and handling charge (when returning to a US address) or $20.00 per book shipping and handling charge (when returning to a non-US/international address) Be careful with this option as the costs can potentially add up quickly.
Book returns will be deducted from your publisher’s compensation for sales in the month that the return is shipped to the publisher.

Yes – Destroy: Your titles will be sold on a returnable basis. If the book is returned they will be shipped back to IngramSpark and destroyed.

Cost to you: Wholesale cost of the book. No shipping & handling. This is the preferred choice of many authors.
Book returns will be deducted from your publisher’s compensation for sales in the month that the returns are received from the retailer.

The opportunities and risks that these options enable should be weighed out with your goals for your book. Some say that if you are not marketing heavily to bookstores they will be less likely to order a book from a new author and in that case, it may not be worth the financial risk to allow returns. On the other hand the much larger reach that a bookstore will most likely have over yours may be worth lowering their risk to carry your book by allowing returns.

Personalize your book

Make it special! Personalize it.

Did you know that Ingram Spark allows you to create and send personalized copies of your book. It's easy to do, inexpensive at only $1 per book, and is a great way to add a special touch when you want to.

Choosing this option adds one additional page with your personalized content and inserts it as the very first page of your book at the time it’s printed. It will only be added to that specific book and not books that are ordered through other retailers. You can add text and even an image! Simply click “Personalize It!” when placing your order.

Some ideas offered by Ingram Spark include:

One-Off Dedications, such as a special inscription for a friend or give-away winner.
Letters to Readers - think book club members.
or
Commemorate an Occasion, such as an event where you will be speaking or your books will be available for sale.

There are many possibilities and ways to get creative!

6 ways to Elevate Your eBook Design

Want More Tips for Your Self-Publishing Journey?

My newsletter is packed with helpful advice on book formatting, design, and digital publishing. It’s your personal resource for making your book stand out!

What’s Next?

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

5 Proofreading Tips for Self-Publishing Authors

Practical Steps to Help You Polish Your Own Manuscript

Download all 10 Tips

These 5 tips will help you begin to refine your manuscript. But there’s more to consider if you’re committed to a truly polished final draft! To access all 10 of my proofreading tips to help you through the process, you can download the full resource here by signing up for my newsletter.

What’s Next?

Final Thoughts

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

Why Invest in Professional Cover Design?

How I Can Assist You

Here are some ways that we will collaborate on your book cover:

Showcasing Success

Ready to Transform Your Cover?

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

Tips for preparing your manuscript for the book designer.

Format the manuscript simply

Things to avoid:

Images:

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

Make it special! Personalize it.

Help for Independent Presses

Book Design & Production

These 5 tips will help you begin to refine your manuscript.
But there’s more to consider if you’re committed to a truly polished final draft!
To access all 10 of my proofreading tips to help you through the process, you can download the full resource here by signing up for my newsletter.

Tips for preparing your manuscript
for the book designer.