On

You’ve written your book, and perhaps you dream of holding a printed copy in your hands. The good news is that publishing it digitally online is a straightforward process. This article will help you for tricky parts.


Choose the paper size

Choose the best size that suits your book genre and content. Common industry sizes include:

 

Choose the paper size for Digital Book like PDF, ePub and Print-on-Demand

  • 5.5" x 8.5" : A portable size, excellent for fiction, memoirs, and general non-fiction.
  • 7" x 10" : Provides ample space for textbooks, art books, manuals, or illustrated works.
  • 6" x 9" : The most popular trade paperback size, ideal for non-fiction, business books, and longer fiction.
  • 5" x 8" : A compact, traditional size often used for literary fiction, short novels, or poetry.

 

Be careful :  Platforms like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Amazon KDP, and Draft2Digital may update their recommended sizes. Check their current guidelines and choose a common size that meets both their specifications and your needs. 

 

Choose the paper margin for Digital Book like PDF, ePub and Print-on-Demand

 

Before you do anything else, set a paper size, and apply for whole document. We recommend these initial page settings: 

 

  • Top Margin: 0.75"
  • Bottom Margin: 0.75"
  • Left Margin: 0.75"
  • Right Margin: 0.75"


  • Orientation: Portrait
  • Gutter: 0.75"
  • Gutter Position: Mirror


Important Note on Gutters: Set the gutter to 0" for eBooks intended for online use only. For print-ready files, a gutter is essential to accommodate the book's spine. Here is a clear example of Margin and Gutter. The space between text and --------- is margin, and between the ---------- and vertical line is gutter. Gutter position must be mirror as printed books are published on both sides of paper. 

 

Difference between Margin and Gutter



Complete Your Manuscript

Final Steps Before Publishing is to finish writing and proofreading your entire book. You can fix grammar and spelling mistake in next version, but not the story or any information. So, be extremely careful. 


Insert Page Numbers

Now insert the page number. If your document is 200 pages, then page number will be from Page 1 to Page 200. If you see page number starts from 1 again after every section, then fix it.