1. Inside the book.
I use MS Word to create the inside of the book. I set my page size first. I need to add on three milimetres in each direction, known as bleed, which will be lost when the book is trimmed. For a book six inches wide by nine inches tall, which is Amazon's default size, I therefore set the paper size as 15.24cm wide by 22.86cm high.
Then I set the margins. The crucial thing is to allow extra because of the binding; if I don't, then words will be inclined to disappear into the fold of the book which is tiresome for readers. I have actually known books which were physically hard to read because I had to keep pressing the book more widely open than it wanted to go so as to be able to read the text. I set the margins at four centimetres on the left, and three centimetres on the right, top and bottom.
I am then careful to select mirror margins, which I do where it offers me the option for multiple pages. The setting is on the same page where you set the margins so that on odd numbered pages the four centimetre margin is on the left but on even numbered pages, it is on the right. Look at a paperback to see why this step is necessary.
Once I have a few pages of text assembled, I add in page numbering. I like it in the middle at the foot of each page, but there are plenty of options. I omit the page number on the title page. Books often omit them until the beginning of the text but I don't know how to do that. Never mind.
I use Calibri for my font. For the book title on page one I use 24 point; chapter titles I use 16 point and text I use 12 point. You could get away with 11 point if you want; it will reduce the number of pages in the book but it makes it harder for us oldies to read.
I like fully justified text as the norm, with occasional use of central justification for titles and sub-titles. I indent the first line of each paragraph.
As regards pictures, I select square formatting, so that the text flows round them nicely. I tend to keep them to the left or right of the page
I copied the design of my opening pages with information about publisher, website URL etc. from other books.
It's good to have the ISBN number printed inside the book as well as on the back cover. I bought ten ISBNs from the Nielsen store for £169 because I want to publish my books under my imprint Silver Lining Books. If you want to save expense, Amazon offer a free ISBN. I have never used this service.
I work hard to get rid of all typos. I find a useful tip is to use the FIND function and look for instances of double space. If I find any, I replace them with single space.
The spelling checker is all very well, but if you typed 'king' when you meant 'kind', it will not highlight your error. I find there is no shortcut; I read through the entire text carefully several times before I am satisfied.
When everything is ready, edited and proof read, I use the SAVE AS function to turn the docx file into a Pdf file. This is what will be used to create the book on Kindle Direct Publishing on my Bookshelf.
2. Creating the Cover.
A. I tend to use the Cover Creator that Amazon provides. I sometimes use one of their images, and at other times I use my own. Chris Pitts asked an artistic friend to create a jpg image file for his book The Caring Game (see above).
B. I have also created a few of my own book covers as a pdf file. I follow a similar process to create the cover as I do for the inside. The paper size is now twelve inches wide rather than six, plus extra for the width of the spine, plus the extra millimteres for the bleed process. For the spine width, use Amazon's spine width tool. I find the process hard, to be frank, and don't feel ready to offer advice as I am still learning. One important point is to make sure all lettering is at least 9mm from the edge, because of the trimming that takes place. Tricky. I select the bleed setting for pdf only on the first of the three pages on the KDP website.
Have fun! Do ask for help.
David Pennant
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