Indie and Proud discussion

(Mods: If this is better suited in another folder, please re-direct it for me.)

I have a question for my fellow indies who use Createspace. I've used it for paperbacks on my other book + my sister's books. It's easy to format, and I really like it... but I have an issue.

My last book was 70k, which rounded off to 305 pages. This book is 80k, with much more dialogue, and it's unbearably long.

For those who use Createspace, what font/size do you use? I really need to make this book shorter page-wise.

Thank you in advance! :)

Originally I published using Bookman Old Style, but that font proved to be much wider than I expected when it was printed, and added an extra five pages to my 70k word book. In the end I printed a few pages off at home on the same size as the CS version to see which looked the best.

In the end I settled for 11 point Book Antiqua: I like the look of it and it's not as ubiquitous as Times New Roman and 12 point fonts look too big to me on the printed page.

I prefer Garamond 10 point but I might be old school.

That brings up a couple questions from me also.

What size book are you using? I know they say the 6x9 is the most popular, but I prefer the 5x8. What is everyone else using?

Also, are you using their templates to format the book or did you just set all the formatting yourself? I used the template and got really frustrated by some of the things I was unable to change. I'm know my way around Word pretty well but the way they have the header/footer size locked on those files was driving me nuts. I eventually got it all to mesh together but now I'm scared to touch it again to upload my updates. Blargh... I think I'm just going to start from scratch next time.

What are everyone elses thoughts?

I went for the 5.5 x 8 size, after grabbing a stack of paperbacks and deciding which one felt the most right. I also abandoned the templates that they provided as they wouldn't behave with some of the macros I'd set up, so just set the margins and such myself.

Garamond is a lovely font but at 10 point would be mean my book would be too thin. I know size isn't everything, but the spine wouldn't fit my name and title on!

Andy wrote: "Originally I published using Bookman Old Style, but that font proved to be much wider than I expected when it was printed, and added an extra five pages to my 70k word book. In the end I printed a ..."

I used 12 point, Book Antiqua in my last book. It was a bit big to me. I wish I'd used 11. I may go back at a later date and change it.

D.R. wrote: "I prefer Garamond 10 point but I might be old school.

That brings up a couple questions from me also.

What size book are you using? I know they say the 6x9 is the most popular, but I prefer the 5..."

I used 5.25x8. I read a lot of Google complaints about the 6x9 and how it didn't look right on the bookshelf with other books. I actually downloaded the basic template that says to put your manuscript here or whatever. It was literally one page, not much of a template. I figured it out from there, though. I've formatted my debut and both of my sister's books, so I just copy my debut's file and delete all the content out and replace it w/the next project.

I usually do 5.2X 8 as well (and seriously, there are a lot of paperbacks in the 6X9 size, especially long ones like Fantasy or historical novels. I usually use size 10 font, and 1.5 spacing because to me it's easier to read, but in all honesty, so many books don't use spacing like that, so if you just did single spacing, it wouldn't really matter. Also, if you need some pointers on formatting to make your books look 'professional' I copied an article from a Writer's Digest magazine that I could send you that explains it really well. I also have a tips list that I made from my own experience. I've published six books now through createspace, and I am happy to say they have looked better each time. It can be annoying at times though, I agree.

Hazel,
I would love it if you could share your tips and the article. I did use 1.5 spacing and thought the proof looked okay but it could always be better! It sucks how much time we end up spending on these seemingly little details that, in reality, mean so much. When I first started writing, I never would have dreamed I'd spend so much time agonizing over fonts and spacing!

I'd also like to see that article you spoke of!!!

@D.R & Libertad, if you message me your email addresses, I'll send it to you. It was made for an older version of Word, but it's still easy to figure out the new equivalent. It's a very good article, anyway, and really helped me. It is ridiculous all we have to do as Indie authors. It's certainly not just about the writing :P

Haha, the writing is the EASY part!! I'll send you a PM. Thanks!

I ended up deciding on Garamond 11pt for The Last Dance of Caitlyn Murphy's print edition. To decide, I made several "mock up"s of the first two pages, and printed them in several different fonts, font sizes, and spacings, then passed them around to several different friends who are avid readers, and got opinions on which one looked the best.

Somewhere along the way, I read advice to not use the 1, 1.5, or 2 spacings in your word processor, but to base your spacing on your font size, and make your spacing no more than 33% bigger than the font. Since I used an 11pt font, I ended up setting the spacing at 15pt, which gave me just enough white space, without making my book too long. I used the 6x9 size, and my 90k novel ended up being about 280 pages, with front and end matter.

Kristine wrote: "I ended up deciding on Garamond 11pt for The Last Dance of Caitlyn Murphy's print edition. To decide, I made several "mock up"s of the first two pages, and printed them in several different fonts, ..."

Kristine, I made the same decision - I went through 4 proofs before I settled on what I thought looked best:).

Bella wrote: "Kristine wrote: "I ended up deciding on Garamond 11pt for The Last Dance of Caitlyn Murphy's print edition. To decide, I made several "mock up"s of the first two pages, and printed them in several ..."

I am quite glad I did it! I was surprised by my feelings about the fonts, once they were in print. I realized that Palatino SCREAMS "YA ROMANCE" to me, where as Times New Roman feels like a literary fiction novel. So surprising.

Sorry, I'm a little "late to the party" on this thread. I see it was started over a month ago, so my input my be useless for the current book. But, it can help for the next one...

Personally, I spend a lot of time looking over font choices for each and every book I write. The book is a full package. Fonts. Cover. Author photo. Everything should be scrutinized and done to he best of your ability. That being said, every story has a tone and a vibe and the font should be reflective of that.

On the book How You Can Get a Job at Walt Disney Studios Without a College Degree the font I used is "Souvenir". It has a youthful, whimsy feel to it, but it's still easy to read. (In fact, it's the font used in the old Choose Your Own Adventure books)

For Schooling Your Boss to Not Suck the font I used is "Garamond" because that has a very business feel.

In Forever Loving You the font is "Segoe Print" because it has a nice handwritten flavor for poetry.

My vampire novels The Gothic Rainbow: Beginning Volume of the Vampire Noctuaries and Annwn's Maelstrom Festival: Concluding Volume of the Vampire Noctuaries use a font I created called "Palatino Roman" which is basically "Palatino" with the smartquotes from "Times New Roman".

The book I'm working on right now uses a different font as well. As I said, fonts must must look correct on the page for the vibe of the book.

I have a blog entry where I talk about my attitude towards fonts and typography here:
http://www.inkshard.com/the-love-of-l...

Hope that helps!

Thank you all for a very helpful discussion. I used the 6x9 format through CreateSpace for my first book (short stories) and didn't even think of a different size until reading this discussion. In my own library, it looks like the 6x9 is traditionally used for nonfiction, while the 5.2x8 (and lots of other sizes) is used for fiction. I'm going with the smaller size for my forthcoming historical fiction . . . Garamond 11 and 1.5 spacing. Now I'm off to download the CS template and revise that "interior".

I used CreateSpace's template to provide the formatting for my first novel, The Offering. I didn't bother messing with the interior formatting, just used their recommended template. My proof copy looks great! I chose the 8"x5.25" book size, which matched the other fiction books on my shelves. I found CreateSpace's cover formats were too generic for what I needed, so I used a different cover artist who specializes in fitting her covers to CreateSpace. Bottomline - I can't argue with CreateSpace's cost!