Formatting for Createspace – Interior

I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, Indie authors, most of you are doing this wrong. 

I’ve produced a number of editions of my own books in the past, with substandard results. These flaws annoyed me enough that I made a point of looking closely at a dozen or so books, noting all the little details in traditionally published books that made them more professional looking than their Createspace equivalents. 

Armed with new insight and higher expectations, I paid formatting services who despite offering ‘professional formatting’ didn’t hit the mark either. 

A combination of lack of budget, annoyance and sheer bloody mindedness made me decide to learn to do it right for myself. 

Do you need to change your approach? 

Ask yourself these questions about your Createspace paperback:

• Did you simply paste or type the manuscript into the template for your chosen sized book, convert to Pdf and publish?

If you did, you need to watch the video. 

• Did you include page numbers placed on the right for a right page and make it odd numbered, and left for a left page and make it even numbered?
• Did you make sure that each new  chapter begins on a right page?
• Did you set the widow/orphan option?
• Did you properly format your headers?
• Are your page numbers, odd/even on right and left page respectively? 
• Are your margins set wider to the inside of a right page and wider to the outside of a left page?
• Have you used section breaks to ensure that there are page numbers on your story pages but not on the from or rear matter?
• Are your chapter headings lowered and formatted properly?

If you haven’t answered yes to all of these, your Createspace looks amateurish and needs fixed. 

Here are a couple of screenshots from one of my books:

 
  
At the bottom of this post, I’ve included a link to an instructional video by an Indie-Writer/Publisher named India Drummond. 

It is simply the most comprehensive guide to producing a quality paperback via the Createspace platform, indiscernible from trad publishing houses and superior to most produced by LuLu and Other distributors, provided you apply the process properly. 

Hopefully you’ll find the information useful. Will follow up with an article on cover formatting. 

http://youtu.be/7FzvtxK686c