Promoting Yorkshire Authors

 

FORMATTING A MANUSCRIPT FROM SCRATCH Using Word 10

Some notes for the meeting of the Children's Author Group on 16th February at 2.30pm by Zoom.

EDITING –You’ve poured months, maybe years of effort into your book. Editing is an essential step. I’ve read my work 35 times, perhaps more before it heads off to the professional – and I still end up groaning at the number of typo’s, grammatical errors I missed. It matters.

READING THROUGH – rewriting - accepting changes.
This part of the process can be ever so frustrating. Tempted to click ‘accept all changes’ and be done with it… WARNING your editor is human… read your work through.

HAPPY WITH THE EDIT? HERE WE GO!
My manuscripts are always written in double space using Times Roman 12.  The editors I’ve used find it easier to work with.

SEE EXAMPLE  - Blevine's Tale

This example shows 'Blevine's Tale' fully formatted ready to go. You'll need WORD 10 to view it properly. Find it through this link (you'll probably find that the document is downloaded into wherever your browser stores your downloaded files).

STEP ONE CREATE A BLANK PAGE.  Go to FILE click on NEW.

At the top of the screen (ribbon) click on LAYOUT.  This changes your options on the ribbon. It now shows – Margin, Orientation Size etc. Click on MARGINS. When the long box appears, go to the bottom and press CUSTOM This box will appear.

 

Below are the sizes I use for formatting my novels.
The first few boxes are for changing the size of the margins. Click on the little arrows to alter sizes as follows: 

TOP 1.54 cm
BOTTOM 1.4 cm
Gutter 0

LEFT 1.7 cm
RIGHT 1.4 cm
Gutter 0
                         
Orientation Press PORTRAIT
Multiple pages Change to MIRROR (this is VITAL)
APPLY TO – change to WHOLE DOCUMENT

NEXT - GO TO TOP OF THE BOX AND CLICK ON - PAPER
Change PAPER SIZE from A4 to INDEX CARD 5 X 8inches (recommended UK size)
I use this size for my children’s books age 7-10 as well as for all my books for the older groups. Picture books are entirely different… There are other sizes available but I do not have the formatting details for those. (margin sizes etc. would have to change)

Move to the bottom of the box -  Change apply to – WHOLE DOCUMENT

NEXT – GO TO TOP OF THE BOX AND CLICK ON - LAYOUT

Section start – NEW PAGE

Headers and Footers…. These can be awkward. It depends whether you want to include wording in the header above a page. Until recently, published books had the title of the book occurring on every even numbered page. Honestly, it’s a pain. I have followed the rule when my children’s novels had chapter titles, but my latest adult novel is header-less… 

So, if you want a header
HEADER 1.2 cm OR 0 if you’re not using one.
FOOTER  0.76 cm (needed for page numbers)
Vertical Alignment – TOP
And finally APPLY TO WHOLE DOCUMENT….
NOW, PRESS OK – The changes will be applied to the blank page.

NEXT – ON THE RIBBON FIND PARAGRAPH AND PRESS THE TINY ARROW TO THE RIGHT OF IT…
Another box appears –
Starting with INDENTS AND SPACING
Alignment – JUSTIFIED
Outline level - BODY OF TEXT
Indentation - leave Left and Right at 0       
 SPECIAL: change to FIRST LINE    By 0.6
Mirror indents – Leave blank
Spacing – before and after leave at 0
Line spacing SINGLE
Next to - don’t add space between paragraphs etc… 

TICK THE BOX! ALMOST THERE!

NEXT – GO TO TOP OF PAGE AND CLICK ON LINE AND PAGE BREAKS
Under pagination TICK widows and orphan control…
Go to the bottom of Page press OK

NEXT - ON THE RIBBON AT TOP CHANGE FONT STYLE AND SIZE
For children’s books – Age 7-10, FONT Times Roman - Size 14
Children’s books – Age 10+, FONT Times Roman – Size 12
ADULT FICTION, FONT Times Roman – Size 11 or 12 (depending how long your book is)

NOW
You need to Copy and Paste your manuscript onto your newly formatted page.
CONGRATULATIONS – THAT’S PART ONE – COMPLETED!

PART 2 - COMING LATER
ADDING IMAGES INTO YOUR TEXT
NUMBERING CONDUNDRUMS
CHAPTER HEADINGS
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL
FRONT AND BACK MATERIAL
ISBN NUMBERS
TROUBLE-SHOOTING

PART 3 - KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING – HOW TO…
Coming later plus ... whatever else we’ve missed!