These guidelines will help if you are preparing your manuscript using Microsoft Word or similar software, prior to  conversion to eBook.

This information applies to manuscripts that are mostly text, to be converted into standard (Mobi and ePUB) eBook formats, rather than specialist fixed-layout formats (usually used for picture books and books with complex layouts).

We work with our clients to help prepare documents for conversion, so if you are having difficulty implementing any of these suggestions, please get in touch, we can help.

The most important piece of advice we can offer is to keep it simple. Always bear in mind that the book will be read on a variety of different devices; mobile phones, Kindles, Nooks, PC’s, laptops, tablets etc. This means that the page sizes, font size etc will all be variable, so the original document must be clean and simple.

Time-savers

Do NOT include any of the following:

• Page numbers
• Headers and Footers
• Borders, background colours or background images
• Fancy drop-caps at the start of each chapter
• Different colour text
• Multi-column layouts – just use a single column
• Text Boxes – do not use text boxes to position text
• References to specific eBook retailers such as Amazon or Apple
• Advertising – although you can of course, mention other titles, or your website or Facebook page.

Page layout

• The page size is not relevant – A4 or letter is fine.
• You do not need to consider margins, just use the standard settings.

Manuscript formatting:

• Separate chapters with a page break (Ctrl + Enter/Return) – do not use multiple paragraph returns to move to the next page.
• Separate paragraphs with a single paragraph break – do not use double paragraph breaks.
• Separate sub-sections or sections within a Chapter with a centred break – usually  * * *   – do not use a double paragraph break.
• Do not use tabs or multiple spaces – if you want to indent a paragraph use the Word Quick Styles options. (See below for more information about Quick Styles)

Fonts and text styling

Support for different fonts and styles is limited in many eReader devices, so again, keep things simple. Using Word’s inbuilt Quick Styles tool is a great way to save time and maintain consistent styles across your document – check out this video from Microsoft for an introduction to Quick Styles.

• Main Body Text
  • Use a standard font like Times New Roman, Georgia or Arial for the body font.
  • 10, 11 or 12pt is ideal for the main body text.
  • Use black text.
  • Single line spacing is fine, but avoid line spacing that is greater than 1.5
  • You do not need to consider leading or kerning – these are not relevant for eBooks.
  • IDEALLY use the ‘Normal’ Quick Style in Word for the main body text, and manage the appearance of your body text through the Quick Styles options.
  • If you need to make certain words or sentences stand out try to only use basic formatting such as bold, italic, and ALL CAPS.
• Chapter and Sub-Headings
  • Use the Heading styles available in the Quick Style list. Heading 1 for Chapter titles, Heading 2 for sub-titles or section headings, etc.
  • If you want to use a fancy or unusual font for your Chapter titles, that is fine. Usually we can display these as images to maintain a consistent style.

Images

You can include images but please be aware of the following:

• Colour images are fine but some eReader devices cannot display colour and will display images in greyscale instead. If you have diagrams that rely on colour, make sure that they still make sense if they are shown as greyscale.
• Insert your images into your manuscript but, if you can, also supply them as separate files (JPG, PNG, PDF, TIFF, GIF formats are fine)
• Do not float images to the left or right of text, but keep them on their own line instead (see below)

Links

• You can add links to websites and email addresses within your manuscript – although these will only work automatically on eReader devices which have an Internet connection.
• To link from one place in the manuscript to another, use Word’s bookmarks and hyperlinks tools. See this Microsoft tutorial for more details.
• If you are linking to or referencing another part of your manuscript, avoid using page numbers. For example, rather than writing “For more information on lawn mowers see page 120” use “For more information see the section on lawn mowers”

Adding a Table of Contents

If your book is a fiction title we will add a simple, linked Table of Contents (ToC).

If your title is non-fiction, the ToC can be a very useful tool for a) navigating the book and b) displaying a snapshot of the scope of the book. Again, we will add a ToC, although if you want to ensure that the ToC displays all the relevant chapter and section headings it is straightforward to use Word’s inbuilt ToC generator – especially if you have used Quick Style headings. See the Microsoft Tutorial here.

Do not include page numbers on your ToC as these will be irrelevant on the eBook version.

Finally, PLEASE do the following:

• Run a spell check and grammar check before you consider the document complete, make any corrections and then run the checks again. It is better that you find any mistakes rather than the first person to review your eBook on Amazon…
• Ensure that someone competent, other than you, has read the entire document before you sign it off. If you can afford to, it is advisable to engage an editor or proof-reader to go through your complete manuscript. (Unfortunately, we do not have the time to read through every book we work on, so it really is your responsibility to find and fix any typos before you submit the file for eBook conversion.)

The Pineville Heist is a fun story about a high school student that witnesses a murder, ends up with bag of stolen bank money and is then hunted down inside his school.

Author Lee Chambers listed the title with Amazon’s Kindle Select program with a couple of free promo days in early April, and within a day The Pineville Heist was ranked #3 for all books positioned next to the Hunger Games. This lead to a massive escalating downloads up to 1100 an hour! For two days it was the #1 ranked Thriller and the #1 YA Mystery. Pretty impressive considering the book’s ranking the night before was 188,423. Over 27,000 people downloaded the book to their kindle, eReader or iPad in April. While most of those are free downloads, The Pineville Heist sold more in 8 hours than the previous 8 months on all sales channels: COMBINED. Total sales for April was 1607 books sold.

Plans are now underway to make the movie version with Twilight star Booboo Stewart (Seth Clearwater)  to star.  “The book is a great way to develop a loyal fan base for the film. I really enjoyed reading it”,  said Booboo.

Log onto http://www.pinevilleheist.com/ for more information

Evocative snippets of 1920-1960s Britain and Canada shine through this personal story, as one of the least known dramas of the Second World War is brought to life. Three small children are plucked from their home in Scotland, and placed indiscriminately in the home of an abusive American foster carer, by The American Committee for the Evacuation of British Children.

Through the eyes of Helen, a spirited, tormented child, we witness her bewilderment as she tries to protect herself, and her younger siblings, from the danger within their temporary home. Eventually, the authorities intervene, and the children return to Scotland.

Catapulted back after five years, to the strangeness of a home she doesn’t remember, Helen struggles to cope with more secrets, lies and abandonment.  Fear of desertion follows her into adulthood, and causes this feisty young woman, to make decisions that will significantly affect her life.

Not until she confronts her fear, and turns a spotlight on the negative emotions that control her destiny, can she step out of her past and into her present. Her own woman at last.

“I did find The Past was Always Present, very interesting and well written, and also very disturbing. Helen’s was one of the nastiest evacuee experiences I have come across, and my heart bleeds for those poor children.

It’s Helen’s triumph that she managed to make a good adult life for herself. And I greatly admire her for so lucidly recording what happened to her as an evacuee and when she came home again. It’s a book that needed to be written, and deserves to be read.”
- Jessica Mann, author ‘Out Of Harm’s Way, The Wartime Evacuation of Children from Britain’.

eBook Partnership services:  conversion and distribution.

eBook Partnership services : Conversion and distribution

See more about Paul’s next writing project here: www.padavies.co.uk

eBook Partnership services : Conversion and distribution

eBook Partnership services: Distribution