Smashwords formatting

veinglory

volitare nequeo
Self-Ban
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
28,750
Reaction score
2,933
Location
right here
Website
www.veinglory.com
Hi all.

I published a short prequel on Smashwords tonight and modelled it pretty closely on the model example they give. It took three attempts to iron out stray tabs and spaces.

Does anyone have suggestions about the best formatting for a Smashwords ebook? My next effort will be much longer and not free so I want to get it right.

I have cover art and the text has been edited. I am just a bit hesitant to go with their suggestions to left justify and use the absolute minimum of formatting..... (alas, poor drop caps).
 
Last edited:

Carradee

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
304
Reaction score
14
Location
Somewheresville
Website
mistiwolanski.com
I'm having some trouble with that, myself, even following their advice. I'll let you know what ends up working. (I'm on old MS Office 2004 for Mac, though.)
 

veinglory

volitare nequeo
Self-Ban
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
28,750
Reaction score
2,933
Location
right here
Website
www.veinglory.com
My first mistake was trying to use Word2010, no go. The I just nuked all the formatting and it turned out okay I guess.

I am having trouble giving up the desire to control exactly how the page looks.
 

kurzon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
338
Reaction score
39
Toss me an email and I'll send you one of my Smashwords formatted Word docs as a sample. I only have three styles in the document, one for headings, one for centred things (like scene breaks) and one for the body of the text. Very minimal formatting on all. Nothing set but font, point size, indentation and justification option, plus before and after spacing for the headings. And the headings are merely a little larger, small caps and bolded.

And I would definitely go with their suggestions. Remember some people are going to be reading these things on phone screens. And not necessarily iPhones. And all my ebook _reading_ experiences have involved strong impatience with any unnecessary formatting. Your readers will choose their own font, their text colour, the justification themselves. You could format as if it was going to be read on the iPad (ie. somewhere formatting might be appreciated), but phones apparently form a high percentage for e-readers and formatting which works for an iPad is going to look dreadful on a 2x2 inch screen.

Most of the Smashwords recommendations are very solid (though I didn't nuke and start from 'normal' because I know enough about my styles to be sure I didn't have anything 'bad' in there). I also recommend killing off all your curly quotes. Works fine for most things, but doesn't work for their plain text version. But then, plain text can't handle my surname either...
 
Last edited:

K. Taylor

Bah Humbug
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
3,755
Reaction score
1,693
Location
California
Website
carlakrae.blogspot.com
Yeah, my files are very plain - no tabs, TNR 12 point except for 14 point title, 1" margins, only titles are centered, and 1.5 spacing. Make sure you have a line entered between text and a page break so it doesn't run together in certain formats. I always make it in the Premium catalog without a problem and have never had a reader complain about formatting.
 

veinglory

volitare nequeo
Self-Ban
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
28,750
Reaction score
2,933
Location
right here
Website
www.veinglory.com
My html, pdf, java and epub look good. The txt and rtf look terrible so I turned those options off. Funny thing is when I look at any of the free books there txt and rtfs looks terrible too? Is this a common problem?
 

kurzon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
338
Reaction score
39
Smashwords' meatgrinder is aimed primarily toward the mobi and epub result, I think. I would format quite differently for a pure text document (double-returns for paragraphs, for a start).
 

PASeasholtz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
51
Reaction score
2
Location
Minnesota
Website
www.paseasholtz.com
After following the Smashwords style guide, I add a few more tricks to get some better results. I add 3 spaces at the end of each line I am trying to get some spacing around (chapter headings, front material, etc.) and I add two spaces at the end of each paragraph. I also use page breaks between sections, but I can't remember if that is part of the style guide or not. I really only check the epub and mobi outputs though, as I really don't care how the text or html outputs turn out.
 

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
8,265
Reaction score
2,550
Location
NZ
Website
www.justgoodfiction.com
My html, pdf, java and epub look good. The txt and rtf look terrible so I turned those options off. Funny thing is when I look at any of the free books there txt and rtfs looks terrible too? Is this a common problem?
I think it is. As much as the style guide says that following it will get all formats passable, i really don't think their meatgrinder engine caters to rtf or txt. Though, the sample books they link to in the style guide (both of which i had real trouble downloading) are in rtf format. :Shrug:
 

veinglory

volitare nequeo
Self-Ban
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
28,750
Reaction score
2,933
Location
right here
Website
www.veinglory.com
So your text and rtf looked good? Do you have a link? Becaiuse I followed the guide to and my txt lacked paragraphs breaks and my .rtf had format markers like the pilcrow showing.