In this post, we’ll explore getting your novel into the beginning stages of mass distribution by leveraging CreateSpace as your starting platform. This allows us to use CreateSpace’s pre-formatted templates to make compiling your final draft into a publishable format a breeze. Then in future posts, we’ll use this final draft to create the eBook itself.

Prerequisites

Before you can move on to this step in the publishing process, please ensure that:

Your novel is in Final Draft (publishing draft), and in a format you can manipulate such as Microsoft Word. We will compile the novel into one publishable file in this post.
You have a CreateSpace account set up with all the yucky tax, royalty, and ISBN items completed that we talked about in the last post.

Styling the Book

Think of your book as a big paper doll to dress up: you’ll need to start with the undergarments of your novel: the page quality, colour, and trim.

Log into your CreateSpace account.
From the Member Dashboard (My Account –> Member Dashboard), open your book project.
Click on the “Interior” link under the “Setup” tab.

Here’s where you will choose how the interior of your book is presented to the reader:

Choose your interior options

Interior Type – This is the colour of the text and graphics inside your book. Unless you have coloured graphics or images, choose Black & White. It will keep your manufacturing costs down.

Paper Colour – The colour of the paper that will make up the interior of the book. I would highly recommend Cream, as 99% of published novels use cream-coloured paper. Black text on white paper, although cheaper to manufacture, is extremely hard on the eyes when reading. Cream-coloured paper helps offset the strain. And your readers will thank you!

Trim Size – the dimensions of the physical book. Trim size is tricky, so I’ll try to condense it into one thought: If your book is between 85,000 and 150,000 words, start with 5×8. For longer books, choose a larger trim, shorter books choose a smaller trim. 5×8 is pretty standard.

Once you’ve chosen all that, underneath your trim size will be links to Word templates formatted for the trim you’ve chosen. This will make the next step so much easier. Download the formatted template for the next section.
Trim size and template

Compiling the Front Matter

The front matter of the book consists of all the pages we flip through before we get to the meat of the story itself – the copyright page, the table of contents, etc. This is why we’re starting with CreateSpace: their predefined templates are awesome! If you’ve downloaded the formatted template, the document is already laid out with headers, footers, and section breaks as needed to compile the front matter and the body of your book.

So, open up that formatted template from CreateSpace, and let’s get to work! Count on spending a good 3-4 hours just converting your novel into the CreateSpace template. You will use this document as the platform when you create the eBook later on in the publishing process. Start piecing together the book as follows:

The first 3 pages

Note: There are many other features to the opening pages of a book. For a full listing and explanation, check out Barbara Doyen’s Anatomy of a book. I’m using the simplified version, which is also outlined in the CreateSpace template.

The front matter is not numbered with the rest of the book; you can either omit page numbers altogether or use roman numerals. Once you decide which numbering system to use, lay out the front matter as follows:

Page i: The Title Page
- Title first, then author name, unless you’re a New York Times Bestseller.
- Do not include email or web addresses on this page.
- You can include a publisher, if applicable.

Page ii: Copyright Page
- Is always the back page of the Title Page.
- Never more than one page long.
- Copyright line.
- “All rights reserved” and disclaimer line.
- Trade Paperback ISBN (if applicable).
- eBook ISBN.
- Any other ISBN’s you may have received.
- Any mentions, such as editor, photographer, cover art designer, interior art designer, etc.
- It’s ok to put web addresses here.

Page iii: Dedication page
- Include a dedication page, even if you’re dedicating the book to your cat.
- Mildly witty is okay, and common.
- Keep it to maximum 50 words.

Page iv: Acknowledgements (Optional, leave a blank page if omitted)
- Thank anyone who has been instrumental in your book whom you have NOT included in the copyright page. For example, if your second grade teacher first piqued your interest in writing, this is an excellent place for that tidbit of information.
- Acknowledgements are little stories in themselves. Make them at least 100 words, but no longer than 300.

Page v: Contents
- Table of Contents / Chapter listing – If your contents page is several pages long, ensure that the next odd-numbered page is where. Chapter 1 / Prologue begins. First chapter of the book must ALWAYS start on an odd-numbered page. Subsequent chapters can start on any page.
- Ensure it starts on an odd-numbered page.

The Book Itself (Body)

The CreateSpace template will come complete with proper headers and footers, so follow the template and compile the chapters of the final book. Only ten chapters are included in the template, so if you have more than ten chapters, create a “Next Page” section break between each new chapter. This will keep the headers and footers in proper sync.

Adding a “Next Page” Section Break

If using the template properly, including a section break should bring down the alternating Headers, and allow you to add more chapters in the proper format.

Add each of your chapters until the body is compiled. When creating chapters, keep in mind the rules:

Sample chapter

Chapters should be easily distinguishable from normal text; either with an icon, or large and bold font.
Chapter headings should take up at least 1/3 of the page or more.
Chapter Pages do not have the book title or author name in the header. The Header must be blank.
Text should be Justified (text aligns to both the left and right columns).
Spot check the right margins for any anomalies, such as ellipses (…) running into the next line or breaking incorrectly.
Fonts to stick to: Garamond 11 pt, Palatino 11 pt, and similar fonts. Line spacing at 1.15 will get you close to a standard interior layout for your book.
After the end of every chapter, insert a section break. The CreateSpace template should organize the headers and footer for you. If not, copy the first 3 pages of a previous chapter and paste it to create the header/footer layout.

Ending Matter

The ending matter of the book will be appendices, the author bio, and any references you may want to cite. For most fiction, an author bio will do nicely. If you have a great deal of information you would like to help the reader understand, such as people and places, you can add them in an appendix.

Appendix (optional)
- Start on an odd-numbered page
- Headers on all appendices should simply state ‘Appendix’; no author or book name
- Continue the page numbering from the Body of the book into the Appendix

Author Bio (recommended)
- Start on an odd-numbered page
- Have a short little blurb and a picture showcasing yourself and all your awesomeness!

Finishing Up

At this stage, you’ll want to make sure you embed the fonts you used in your novel, even if they are out-of-the-box fonts. Remember, this final compilation is going to be used to create the eBook going forward. Not all sites and services will have all the fonts you need for the eBook. Including them in your final distribution will help you move into the digital phase of publishing.

To embed the fonts, go to File –> Options. In the Save category, select the options to embed fonts as highlighted below.

Embedding fonts in Microsoft Word

Note: In my case, my chapter titles are in a non-standard font (AR Christy), which can be a large font. I have chosen to include only the characters used in that font to keep the file size to a minimum.

In the Next Post . . .

Phew! That was a marathon in itself. Once you’ve compiled the interior of the book into your template, it’s time to package all this literary genius into a file to send off to your next steps.