How to format a poetry book
Tips for formatting your poetry book in Microsoft Word
So you’ve finished writing your collection, got feedback, did a few rounds of editing… what’s next? Formatting. This last step of the publishing process can be daunting if you’re not sure what to do, but there’s lots of resources available to help you along the way, including Amazon KDP, which has a variety of free guides to help you in the process. It’s important that you format your document correctly before uploading the files to your publishing site so your book looks exactly how you want it to! After all, you’ve put so much time and thought into your book, you should be happy with the final result! Here are a few tips to get you started.
Ensure that all of your titles are set as headings in the document rather than normal text to keep everything organized.
Sometimes, the spacing of your text can change in the uploading process of publishing your book. To avoid odd spacing issues, it’s best to set all of your poem titles as headings in your document rather than leaving it as normal text. To do this, choose a heading 'style' under the 'home' tab, and use that for your titles or chapter numbers.
Include front and back matter in your document.
Everything you want in the published book needs to be in the document you upload. Here are a few things you may want to add to your document!
Front matter includes: title page, dedication page, copyright page.
Back matter can include: "about the author" page, “also written" page where you can list any of your other published works, and acknowledgements.
Use page breaks to start a new page.
This is another example of where spacing can get a little offset during the uploading process. To avoid that, you should use page breaks instead of hitting enter until a new page starts in your document. To do this, click the 'page break' option under the 'insert' tab, which will start a new page for you.
Add a header or footer with the author name and book title.
Another thing you should include in your book is a header or footer with your name and the title of your book. Not only does this look professional, but it ensures that your name or book title is credited when people share an image of it on social media! To do this, go to the ‘insert’ tab and select either the ‘header’ or ‘footer’ option, whichever you’d prefer, and the style you’d like for it.
similarly, don’t forget those page numbers!
Have an eye-catching cover that fits the theme of the book.
While we say not to judge a book by its cover, the cover is still the first impression of a book and it often does determine whether or not someone picks up the book. So, it’s important to have an eye-catching cover, and one that fits the theme of your collection in some way. You can hire a cover designer for this (there are many on Twitter, Fiverr, Reedsy, and other freelance sites) or create one yourself using a site like Canva or Amazon KDP which has a list of tips and guidelines for each format (ebook, paperback, hardcover).
Format your book for each method of publishing you want.
This is one of the tricky steps, but there are guides like this one to help you! The guidelines for each format are different (ebook, paperback, hardcover) when it comes to the proper trim size and bleed, margins, text boxes, image resolution, etc. When formatting, you’ll need to create a different file for each type you wish to publish in, and upload them each individually. If you’re not a fan of the technical side of things, you can also hire a book designer/formatter to do this step for you! They’ll format your manuscript for each file type and send them back for you to upload to your publishing site.
Who wants a freebie? By clicking the button below, you can access this free resource I created to assist you in writing and publishing your poetry collection. The download includes a poetry planning worksheet, a self-publishing guide and FAQ’s, and a book launch checklist!
happy writing!