Editing and Formatting Your Novel for Kindle

EDITING and FORMAT for your KINDLE copy

Here are some things I did when setting up my books for Kindle. You can also just create your paperbacks first in Create Space then transfer them across, which is easier, but this is how I prepared my first novels for KDP Publishing.

It's not absolutely necessary but it's great if you can use US grammar and spelling or the US readers will destroy you. 😉 US READERS ACCOUNT FOR PROBABLY 99.5% OF SALES. This was annoying for me at first, ENGlish came from ENGland, their spelling is the original. But don't kid yourself. The US readers like US English and that's fine too. Just a warning. Your choice of course.



Edit for Grammar and Spelling, read, re-read…re-read…re-read…  If you have friends who are willing to read your book and mark errors they come across - do it!

Remove Header and Footer

Remove Unnecessary Info at Start of Book, so kindle readers don't get blank pages, copyright, etc

Change to Size 14 Font (I liked the font Garamond and it seems to be quite commonly used.)

Chapter Headings Size 16 Font

Title Size 28 - 36 Font

Set Custom Margins to 0 all around (Yep! No margins should work fine.)

Set Paper Size to Custom, Width 13.69, Height 20.09 (ignore when it complains about margins)

Insert Image (maps or pictures) reduce if necessary so they fit on kindle when the kindle reader is turned sideways, so about 2/3 of a page

Insert Page Breaks Between Sections and Chapters. Ensure your chapters are still centred.

Check Items Such as Title etc, Only Fill the First 2/3 of Page. This is so if the kindle is turned sideways your title, or map or picture stays on the one page.

Insert Bookmarks for Start, Table of Contents, Etc

Save Document with new name ('formatted' maybe) and as docx

Once it was necessary to add a Request for a Review at the End of the Book but I think Kindle does this for you now.

Add 'about author' and 'other books' at the end if you wish.

You can design Cover using www.picmonkey.com or some other on-line program if you wish.

Remember, the size of the picture will be tiny on Kindle, so use big text and make it very clear. Or get someone to design eye catching covers for you.







Get Dan O'Sullivan's Trilogy on Amazon

Book 1 - The Fallen
Book 2 - The Guardians
Book 3 - Child of a Guardian and of the Free






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