How To Easily Format an E-book for Amazon/KDP
So, you’re wanting to self-publish your own e-book, eh? That’s great! One of the things that scared me off because it seemed SO boring was researching how to properly format my stories before uploading my manuscript to KDP.
Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert, but after doing my own research and viewing numerous previewer screens, this is the way that I’ve decided to do it. And I think it works well and the finished product looks pretty damn good.
Let’s get to it!
Your Title/Synopsis Page
One of the most important pages of your book! This is the very first page that readers will see after your book cover. Unlike a traditional printed book where the synopsis is on the back cover, e-books don’t have any covers, so I put the synopsis right at the beginning. It gives people that little story teaser that they love, and gets them curious to read further!
I publish all of my stuff in Times New Roman font. I think it looks the most professional and is almost always the typography used in traditionally printed books, so it is what will feel most familiar to your readers.
- Title: Centered, Bold, Size 16pt
- Subtitle (if applicable): Centered, Size 14pt
- I hit ENTER three times to leave a decent gap here
- Author Name: Centered, Size 12pt
- I hit enter once
- Synopsis: Left aligned (or Justified, if you prefer), Size 12pt, First Line Indent of 0.3.
- Insert a Page Break after the synopsis
For my synopses, I like to do a small quote from my story which I italicize, and then I write a blurb of 1–2 short paragraphs. This can give details about the story, about the series if there are multiple parts, etc.
Your finished page should look something like this:
Your Copyright Page
It’s important to let people know that they are not allowed to copy or use your work, even if it seems as though it should be obvious. It will also make your e-book look more professional. This is also an opportunity to credit others who may have contributed to your finished product (such as a cover artist).
- Centered, Size 12pt
- © Copyright, YEAR, Author Name, All Rights Reserved
- Hit Enter
- Cover Design by Name/Screen Name
- Insert a Page Break
Your finished page will look like this:
Table Of Contents
This is an important page if you want to enable your readers’ to easily navigate through your book. I include links here to the Table Of Contents, each chapter, a page with links to more of my stories, an About The Author page, as well as a Support page (which is a thank you for reading/links to similar titles page).
- Centered, Bold, Size 14pt
I have a Chromebook and in Google Docs, there is a Table of Contents button under the Insert tab. This allows me to add either a numbered ToC, or a ToC with blue links, and I choose the latter.
Your Table of Contents should end up looking similar to this:
You do not necessarily have to add all of these pages or structure your ToC exactly like this, but you should include one in your e-book.
Your Actual Content
Now we get to the good stuff — the actual story part of your book! I generally organize my stories into chapters, and I use a generic chapter heading for each part.
- Centered, Bold, Size 14pt
- Leave a Size 10pt space after the chapter title
Then I add the actual content of that chapter.
- Size 12pt, First Line Indentation of 0.3 (same as our synopsis)
- Single spaced, or a line spacing of 1.15
- Include a 10pt space after each paragraph
- Left or Justified alignment, depending what you prefer
Here are two examples of how your chapter may look with the chapter title, depending on if you choose left alignment or justified alignment.
Take a look at this picture below as an example:
Although there is nothing wrong with the above photo, you can see that the lack of formatting results in one large, chunky piece of text. The alignment is justified, which is used by traditional publishers and recommended, but there is no indentation to indicate a new paragraph, and the paragraph is so long that it takes up most of the page.
Breaking this up into a couple of smaller sections will lead to easier readability for your e-book, even though this formatting would look fine in the printed version of your book. Smaller sections of text can also be flattering in other digital works, such as blogs (and Medium articles!).
KDP has a wonderful online previewer than you can utilize after you upload your manuscript. It sometimes takes several minutes to load, but it is well worth the wait! The fresh view of your book can also help you catch missed words, or grammar or punctuation mistakes.
Extra (Optional) Pages
You’ve done it! You’ve fully formatted the bulk of your e-book, hoorah! Here I wanted to briefly mention the additional pages that I personally include at the end of my short stories.
Personally, I like to add a page that highlights other pieces I’ve written, and includes direct links to their pages on Amazon. This allows reader to immediately go and access more of my content if they enjoyed the story they’ve just read.
I also include a Support page where I thank my readers for their love and support, but again this is completely optional. Feel free to include (or leave out) any pages that you feel work for you and your audience. You may also consider adding more pages to the beginning of your book for credits or dedications if you feel these are necessary and/or applicable.
You now know the basics of how to format your e-book so that it will look clean and professional on any device!
In Summary
Don’t overthink it. Keep your formatting clean and simple and you are sure to have a fantastic looking e-book for your readers!
