How to prepare your manuscript for book formatting

Whether you format the book yourself or hire someone, a clean Word file makes everything faster and cuts down on surprises. This checklist takes about an hour for a typical novel.

1. Finish editing first

Formatting is the last step. Changing text after layout can shift every page that follows and means redoing page references, the table of contents and proofs. Finish edits and proofreading before you format.

2. Accept changes and remove comments

In Word, open the Review tab, accept or reject all tracked changes, turn Track Changes off, and delete every comment. Leftover markup can end up in the book.

3. Use styles, not manual formatting

• Chapter titles: apply Heading 1 to every chapter title, and nothing else. This is what builds the table of contents.
• Body text: use the Normal style with a first-line indent. Don't indent with the Tab key or spaces.
• No blank lines between paragraphs in fiction, and no runs of Enter to push text to a new page. Insert a page break (Insert > Page Break) at the end of each chapter instead.
• One space after each period.

4. Mark scene breaks consistently

Pick one marker, such as a line with three asterisks, and use it for every scene break. A formatter can turn it into a centered ornament in print and a visible break in the ebook. A blank line alone is easy to lose.

5. Keep italics, fix the rest

Use real italics for emphasis and titles, not underlines. Search for straight quotes, double hyphens and three periods in a row. You can fix these with Find and Replace, or leave them to your formatter, who should convert them to curly quotes, dashes and ellipses.

6. Put front and back matter in order

A typical order for a novel: half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, table of contents (optional in fiction), then the story. After the story: acknowledgments, about the author, and “also by”. Write the copyright page yourself, and add your ISBN to it if you have one.

7. Know your word count and trim size

Word shows the word count in the status bar. Decide your trim size before formatting, because it sets the page count, the spine width and the cover size. See our KDP trim size and margin guide.

8. Save a copy as .docx

Send or work from a .docx file. If you write in Google Docs, use File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx). Keep your original untouched.

FAQ

Should I format my manuscript in standard manuscript format before book formatting?

Standard manuscript format (double spacing, 12 pt font) is for submitting to agents and editors. For book formatting, what matters most is clean styles: Heading 1 for chapter titles, indents set by a style, and page breaks between chapters.

Do I need to remove tracked changes?

Yes. Accept or reject every change, turn Track Changes off and delete comments, or leftover markup can end up in the book.