Some authors do not have the skill of formatting their own book. Yes they can write and plot stories but the formatting or layout process is different and more technical. If you are like this, you do not have to go through the hassle of renumbering pages chapter by chapter, setting margins, adjusting the resolutions of your images into 300 dpi, generating the Table of Contents automatically and other complicated features of your text editor. The best thing to do is hire the service of a CreateSpace book formatter expert, that is if you are publishing in CreateSpace.
A book formatter can help you on the following:
- * Determine the margins of your book base on its number of pages
- * Fonts to be used on your book. There are appropriate fonts for each type of books.
- * Setting the correct header and footer for pages. Page numbering can be really time and patience consuming
- * Adjust the resolutions of your images. It must be 300 dpi or more.
- * Format tables, charts, poetry
- * Format chapter titles, subtitle, headers, block quotes, etc.
- * Format footnotes or endnotes
- * Generate the table of contents
- * Follow the pdf settings required by your printer
The above are just a few that a book formatter can do for you. There are actually a lot, depending on what type of book you have whether it’s a simple novel, colorful children’s book with lots of illustrations, magazines and other types of reading materials that requires complicated formatting, an expert in layout or formatting is a must.
Aside from its expertise in formatting, one good reason why you should hire a book formatter is that she knows the submission guidelines required by your printer or publisher. If you are into self-publishing in CreateSpace, Lulu or Lightning Source, hire someone who knows the submission requirements of each one.
