Formatting is the difference between a document and a book. These are the elements a professional interior includes.
Page setup
- Trim size chosen for the genre. Novels and poetry are usually smaller; academic and illustrated books are often larger.
- Margins with a wider inside (gutter) margin so text is not lost in the binding.
Typography
- A readable body typeface at a comfortable size, with generous line spacing.
- Consistent styles for headings, sub-headings, quotations and captions.
- Attention to widows and orphans (stray lines at the top or bottom of a page) and awkward line breaks.
Structure
- Front matter: half-title, title page, copyright page, dedication, contents, preface.
- Main text: chapters starting on a new page, often on a right-hand page.
- Back matter: acknowledgements, appendices, notes, index, about the author.
Running heads and page numbers
- Running heads carry the book title or chapter name.
- Page numbers are normally omitted on title pages and chapter openers.
- Front matter is often numbered separately in Roman numerals.
Special content
Poetry needs careful line breaks. Bilingual books need consistent handling of two scripts. Tables, figures and footnotes need typesetting depth; see typesetting.
eBook formatting
eBooks reflow to the reader’s screen, so they are formatted differently from print. They are structured with headings and a linked contents list.
See book formatting and interior design.