Self publishing & formatting is at the core of the process for the author who wants to get her or his message into the world. There are a number of different programs a self publishing author can use to format their book. Some use difficult "desktop" publishing software and some use much easier and familiar software. For purposes of this article I'm going to describe the basics of formatting for self publishing. My focus will be on formatting the book block or interior of the book.

Step 1. Pattern the trim size of your book off similar books in the same genre. Trim size refers to length and width of the book. So applying this may require you to head to the book store and peruse the section where similar topic books are shelved. Take a measuring stick or tape measure with you. You will likely find that books in the same genre have the same size. Pattern the trim size of your book off these sizes if you want your book stocked at bookstores. If you don't care whether your book is ever on book store shelves then choose any trim size you like(personally I don't care because I'm happy with how my books sell on Amazon).

Step 2. Using MS Word change the paper size to the trim size you choose in step. When doing this I generally keep the margins set to 0.75" all the way around. I will also insert my footer, header and pages numbers. To avoid confusion I generally set the page number at the bottom center of the page. Then, I drop in my manuscript and set the text to justify so it takes up the whole line and the text looks square and straight all the way around. Then of course I will make sure my prose is pristine and as free from error as I can get it. At this point I usually change the font to "Book Antiqua" or "Californian FB" and set the regular font size to 12 pts. I'll then make sure that my chapter headings and sub heads are tagged with appropriate "Heading 1", "Heading 2" or "Heading 3" etc. tags. Once they are, I use the Table of Contents tool to make my TOC. When I am finally done and happy with how the interior looks I will go on to the next step.

Step 3. Convert your MS Word document into a.pdf formatted document. I use BCL easy PDF print driver. It's less than $20 and it allows you to "print" you Word documents directly to.pdf. All book printers will want your book block separate from your cover.pdf. Now you're ready to roll but remember...