You can be a self-publisher with the knowledge and skills I can provide. Yes, and if you still need help that's what I am here for. You can email me direct for support here: info@selfpublisher.net.au

1. Open your book document in your MS Word program.

2. Go to File > Page Setup > Margins, Paper and Layout: to select your Margins, Page size, Header and Footer formats.

This is done as mirror margins under File-page setup- multiple pages click mirror margins. This will also have the text centre in the middle of the book/page.

Page Setup: Choose your preferred size you want your book to be in. A4, A5 is standard for Australia. Children’s books are popular as square 21x21.

No matter what program you use the principles are the same

Margins for your contents file this will depend on the type of binding and the amount of pages you have in your file. 

You will need a margin with enough room to take the spine into consideration.

Spine Margins

Design your file with margins according to the type of binding you are using.  As a general guide allow half a cm (5mm) for each 200 pages for paperback books. This is for the spine only. This is normally called the gutter in your Word program. If you have an older version of word then just add this amount to the left edge then use the mirror margins option.  For booklets, children’s books with a thicker paper and less pages allow approximately 3mm. If your book is a color book with thicker paper then 10mm for every 200 printed pages would look appropriate.

If you want to be more precise use the spine calculator guide.

Outside Edge Margins

Next consider how far away you want the text to be away from the spine. If you are using 15mm on the right side and you want the text to look centered simply make the margins the same left and right then place the spine size in the spine or gutter box.  Notice the Mirror margins are selected next to the multiple pages tab! I like 17mm for left and right in a5 books and 20mm at least for a4 books.

Outside margins are the page edges opposite of the binding, and the top and bottom margins. All text and images to have an outside margin recommended- an outside margin of .5"

See following examples:

Page Recommendations

1. The 1st page of your document is reserved for your Title Page use a nice font! Look at other books to gain ideas.

2. The 2nd page of your document looks nice as your Copyright Page will be on the left, the back of our title page. Download Copyright Page here.

3. The 3rd Page onwards is flexible: You can insert your Introduction or Dedication or Acknowledgements Page here. If you don’t have any you can insert your Table of Contents page here.

4. If you have an Introduction Page (or Dedication Page..Etc), you can insert The Table of Contents page after these pages.

5. It is recommended that you start a new book section on ‘odd’ pages so that the layout of every new section in the book will be formatted on the right hand side of your book.

6. When setting your page numbering: i. Formatting the Header and Footers of the even pages and the Odd pages respectively. Go to View > Header and Footer. ii. If you find this tedious to do, you can format the Header and Footers to sit in the centre of the pages, so you won’t have to worry about the layout for odd and even pages respectively.

To Set up the page numbering so that you have no page numbers on the first few pages or roman numerals on the first few pages followed by standard numbers this is easily done if you know how. To see the guide on How to setup page numbering in Microsoft Word and download the pdf to your computer click the link. Page numbering guide

Chapters: Ensure that the beginning of all your Chapters have a distinct look to set it apart from the Chapter before.

Good Chapter Layout: This breaks the sequence of monotonous text in the book. You can distinctly tell that a new Chapter has begun.

7. Choosing a Text Font: iii. Typical: Times New Roman: 10pt or 12pt justified iv. OR you can choose other fonts. Note that some authors like to use “fun” looking or less serious looking fonts like Comic San MS, or Arial. I prefer normal line spacing at 1. Don’t like to waste paper and add to the cost of my book. You might like 1.5 line spacing or other.

8. Once you have finished your manuscript, convert file as PDF format. We can do this for you free of charge if you are not familiar with pdf drivers.

9. You can use a FREE PDF driver, download it from www.pdf995.com  simply download this software and it saves itself as a ‘print driver’ on your computer.  Press “Print,” and look for the PDF selection, then your document is converted to PDF. Ensure to set the driver to the correct book size (A5 or A4) or it won't work out right. When you go to this site you will see 2 links to download. One of them is called a converter. Make sure you download from the 2 links.
 
Chapter Layout tip: Set page number on the centre of all the pages.

Book Cover Files

1. People do judge books by their covers!

2. Typically to be designed using professional programs such as Adobe in Design so that bleed and crop marks are available for the book printers to use for book trimming purposes. You can set up your cover file in Microsoft Publisher, adobe in design, adobe illustrator or any program as per the instructions below.

Please note that Microsoft Word is not suited for book cover design as there is no room for bleed along with other factors such as the colour limitations.

3. For colour format, please ensure it is saved as CMYK mode.

4. If you have special fonts on your book cover, please ensure that the fonts are “embedded or flattened” before you send your PDF file to the book printer.

5. Have all your fonts embedded into your file when saving into PDF. If you are unsure about this, include your font files when you send your files to the book printers.

6. Have bleed space and crop marks around your image. Bleed is 3mm-5mm around edge.

If you wish for images to bleed to the edge of your book, ensure that they extend at least .125" beyond the final trim size from the top, bottom and outer edges and submit your PDF .25" higher and .125" wider than your selected trim size to accommodate the full bleed area. (Remember that all should be at least .25" away from the trim lines.)

7. If you are inserting scanned images into your book cover, or if you are paying for an illustrator to draw up the cover for you, ensure that your pictures are scanned in high resolution 300 dpi saved as tiff or jpeg files so that they can be inserted on the page.

Any images may be tagged with your choice of Grayscale, CMYK or RGB profiles or left untagged in a generic color space. All images should be sized at 100%, flattened to one layer and placed in your native document at a resolution of 300 DPI. Embed all fonts and images in your PDF file.If you are unable to provide your book cover as the above format we are able to provide these services.

BOOK SPINE CALCULATOR

NUMBER OF LEAVES X .128 (OR THE GSM) + 1.5 (A leave is 2 printed pages)

Example FOR A 510PP BOOKLET

Pages 510PP x 128gsm Silk Matt Paper Stock

255 LEAVES X .128 + 1.5 = SPINE FOR BOOK = 34.14MM  

(FOR 80 GSM:  X .080 + 1.5)

ISBN Application

As the Self Publisher, you will need to apply for an ISBN. For an ISBN to be organized, the following information is required:

� Publishers Name: (your name or your company name)
� Publishers ABN (Optional)
� Postal address:
� Street address:
� Contact Ph:
� Contact Fax:
� Email:
� Have you applied for an ISBN before? (Y/N):
     Book Details
� Book Title:
� Define subject:
� Is the work is part of a series, what is the series title?
� Month and Year of publication: (e.g.: Jan 08)
� Recommended Retail Price (RRP):

For Self Publishers: Note your RRP must allow for 30% - 35% commission to be allocated to the bookstores. This is common contract arrangement with Bookstores if you want to go retail with them.

Your book price will need allow you enough to profit from, after paying a bookstore commission and the cost of printing the book. You can get an estimate for your book by browsing your local bookstore.

CiP Application

Once you have received the ISBN, you can then apply for the “Cataloguing in Publication” or CiP details to be inserted into your Copyright Page.
It is not a legal obligation, but some authors would like to include it in their book.
Log in at: http://www.nla.gov.au/services/cip_form.html It is a FREE service.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is there a legal requirement to include a Cataloguing in Publication (CiP) record in a book?

CiP is a free service offered by the National Library of Australia. There is no legal obligation to include a CiP record in any publication.

How does the Cataloguing in Publication program (CiP) relate to Copyright?

There is no relationship between the CiP program and Copyright.

How can I get a catalogue record for a book that is already published?

CiP data is only available for works that are not yet published. Cataloguing data is included in the Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD) available at: http://www.nla.gov.au/librariesaustralia/index.html. Australia’s Library Network, for all books received by the National Library on Legal Deposit.
Ref: http://www.nla.gov.au/services/faq.html

Read more: Self Publisher Resources

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