If you're thinking of publishing a book or shorter work created in Microsoft Word on Amazon.com for the Kindle device, careful formatting is essential for a polished product.

US Trade For a 6″x9″ book, start by changing the paper size and the margins to match the dimensions of a US Trade, 6″ x 9″ book (these instructions are applicable to whatever book trim size you choose). Start by double-clicking on the ruler at the top of your document and bring up the document formatting window. Click on the “Margins” tab, then the “Page Setup” button. Click on “Paper Size,” then “Manage Custom Sizes.” Make a new dimension by clicking on the “plus” button, and name it “US Trade.” The paper size is actually going to be 6.25″ x 9.25″ to accommodate for the image bleed that Microsoft Word does not take into consideration.

Image bleed allows images or colors to go to the edge of a page. When you print a book using commercial presses, it is essential to include this extra space beyond the trim line. (For more information, watch our “” tutorial.) Once it’s set to 6.25″ x 9.25″, adjust the margins. For the top and bottom, set it to 0.44 inches and click “OK.” For the left and right, set it to one inch.

You can increase gutter in the middle if you’d like to have a larger space running down where your book is bound. Make your header and footer 0.5″ or 0.44” to match the top and bottom print margins. Check “mirror margins” to set your book up like a printed book spread. Chapters Next, click the “Layout” tab. If you would like your chapters to all start on a right-hand page, set each chapter as a new section break, and set those new sections to start on an odd page. For headers and footers, select the “different odd and even” option if you want to have an author name on one side and the title of the book or chapter name on the other side.

Select “different first page” if you don’t want to have your headers at the beginning of each chapter. Now click “OK” to apply the changes to the whole document.

The page size is now set to U.S. Trade 6″ x 9″ as opposed to the 8.5″ by 11″ you probably started out with. Basic formatting Let’s continue with some basic formatting. Turn on “show all non-printing characters” to help you identify what type of breaks you are using. Assuming you have the text of your book and your chapters defined, you will want to include a title page and a copyright page for the year of publication. Do not hit the enter button several times to create a new page.

Instead, go to “Insert > Break > PageBreak” to define a break in the page. Now, you can design a title page.

Type in your book title and increase the font size. Bring it down to about the middle of your first page. This will print as our right-side title page when you first open your printed book. (For more information on how a printed book is laid out, please watch our “” tutorial.) Now, add your copyright information to be on the backside of that title page.

That will be on page two, so insert another page break. Include the publication year and anything else you would like to list. Copyright information is typically down at the bottom of the page. Visual studio for mac preview 2. Next, insert a “Section break” (we recommend the “next odd page”), then highlight the chapter text. Click on the formatting style in the formatting palette or at the top of your document and select “Heading.” Now this will be defined as a “Chapter Heading.” Go ahead and find where you designated chapter 2 and repeat the same instructions as before: insert a “section break odd page” and mark the chapter text as a “Heading.” Table of Contents and more After your Copyright page, insert a “section break.” Then, go to the “Insert” dropdown, select “Table of Contents,” pick a style, and insert it.