When typing your manuscript, forget everything you learned in typing class. Computers have come a long way from the typewriter, and the rules for professional page layout are different. Here are just some basic layout rules.  

Choosing font styles for your book is very important for both the appearance and for transferring files for printing. The most common fonts used for books are the Oldstyle fonts, as they are easily readable for large body copy.  Among the most common are Times Roman, Goudy, Garamond, and Baskerville. Remember to choose a contrasting  font for your headings. A sans serif font such as Arial is a common choice. A sans serif font is one without the "hooks" at the ends of each letter. These "hooks" help to guide the eye from one letter to another making the text easily readable. This is why sans serif fonts such as Arial should never be used for the main body of the text. Children's books are commonly set in a slab serif font, because of their clean straight lines.  Some common Slab serif fonts are New Century Schoolbook, Classic SSK, and Clarendon.  

In regard to printing, it is important to ensure that all fonts being used are resident in your Windows font folder. This includes both bold and italicized versions of each font. Simply using the bold or italicize commands on the toolbar may not necessarily ensure the font is available. For example, Microsoft Word will manufacture its own version of a font if it is not already installed on your computer. If this is done, the bold font will appear to be two images side by side when printed on a high quality digital press. The italicized versions may not print at all. The simple solution to font problems is to avoid unusual fonts such as Wing Dings and Symbol, and stay with more common book fonts such as Garamond and Times New Roman. Fonts are also selected to add or reduce the number of pages in a book. For example, Bookman Old Style is a wide font which should be used to bulk up the book with more pages. Changing the font from Times New Roman to Bookman Old Style could increase the page count an average of 20 - 30%.

Information such as copyright, ISBN, CIP, and Library of Congress should be placed on the page directly after the title page (commonly known as the copyright page). Our professionals will check to make sure the information on this page is correctly laid out before your book goes into print. To obtain information on copyright, ISBN, and CIP,  click here. 

The title page and chapter headings should always be placed on a right hand page. It may be necessary to leave a left hand page blank in order to start a chapter as a right hand page. Inserting a section break at the end of each chapter will automatically force the following chapter to begin in the proper right hand position. When numbering the pages in your book, you should also keep in mind that right hand pages are always odd number pages while left hand pages are even numbers. It is also common to number the pages preceding the first chapter with roman numerals.

If you have any questions regarding page layout, please call us toll free at 1-866-944-2999.