Hey guys, this question is for all of you. I am not at all versed in the ways of formatting for a book. I haven't gotten to that stage yet. However, the HW Poetry project is getting ready to start the formatting process. Katie and I (the lucky duck running this) know very little about formatting. Katie probably knows more than me, but she has said in the past that this will be an area we need help in. So, can anyone give insight? What program to format with/in, specifics, helpful tips?

What kind of format do you need the final file in?

I'm pretty handy with formatting in Word and Publisher. I know a few tricks to get the beast to obey. So I can make pretty PDFs. One word: text boxes! (Okay, that was two words, but one item...) They are a life saver and can allow you to do a lot of fancy layering.

I'm going to learn how to edit in HTML soon, though, as I believe that's what I'll have to do for Kindle books.

Umm.... I don't know enough to know what the final file should be in. *sheepish*

If you're going to sell the book, the final result should be PDF or ePub. I don't know much about creating ePubs (I do know HTML is involved and plan on learning, so call back in a few years ), but for a PDF you'd want to make it in Publisher, if you have it, or Word, and then save it.

eru

*nods * Thanks, Eruheran.

I just came across a helpful blog series on how to format for ebooks
Part One - Take pride in your eBook formatting
Part Two - Don't use a wordprocessor
Part Three - Nine, go to website, sorry, takes too long to put all this in a post and just realized I have to go.

Cool. I will need to read up on these as I get closer to needing them.

Ooh! *bookmarks excitedly*

eru

Since I've now taken over the roll of formatting the HW Poetry book, as well as started formatting my own novella Red Rain for publication, I suppose I should tell y'all what I've been doing.

If you're doing an ebook - READ SMASHWORDS STYLE GUIDE.

It's that important. Take the time to read it through once, then follow their instructions for setting font styles. It's an absolute cinch if you follow their directions. It did not take me long at all to format my source file into an ebook-ready design with Word.

Of course, I haven't tried to upload it yet, but I'll be doing that within the next two weeks...