How to Format Your Manuscript to Ebook for Beta Readers

This week we’re talking about formatting. More specifically, how to make your manuscript easy to read and how to go straight onto a mobile device or Kindle. I recently did this for our lovely beta readers with The Visionary, and while this isn’t necessary, it does make the manuscript easy to access and is a lot nicer on the eyes than a regular document. For this particular project I will be using only free software. (Note: this does not replace professional formatting and I would not recommend using this method for ebook publishing).

1. Make a copy of the document: Your manuscript needs to be in a particular format for literary agents and publishing companies, so to avoid having to reformat your manuscript over and over, make a specific copy for beta readers. Under the 'file' tab, scroll down to make a copy and once it's opened, rename the new document with Beta Copy and your book title.

2. Change your font size, style: Highlight your entire Document and adjust font to size 12 Times New Roman (this is also what most agencies and publishing companies require as well). While your text is still highlighted, ensure your document is single spaced and 1” margins.

3. Ensure each chapter ends with a page break: No matter where you choose to end your chapter on a page, it needs a page break before inserting a new chapter heading. Do not space to the next page. This also applies to manuscript formatting.

4. Make sure your chapters have a special heading: You’ll want to highlight your chapter headings and title and use the correct text style so that on the document outline, you can click between chapters easily without having to scroll. I use 'Title' for the manuscript title and 'Heading 1' for chapter headings. If you have a specific chapter embellishments you want to add, insert them now. Manuscript format requires two spaces above and below the chapter heading, you can play around with what looks good for your document. (Note: I’ve found when making a PDF file, it compresses into one large document, making the headings useless. But this works well with EPUB documents).

5. Adjust your paper size: most books tend to fall between 5x8” and 6x9”, and while Google Docs doesn’t have those specific dimensions, I’ve found the A5 to be the most similar.

6. Add a cover (optional): I made a quick image on Canva, which is free to use with an account (though some specific images you may have to pay for). Canva already has book cover templates and an option to create your own. This adds a nice touch to your ebook that you can save as a PNG file or PDF and upload it directly to the first page of your document. If you have adobe you can format a PDF to have the image as its cover, but since I didn’t have that, I only have my cover on the first page.

7. Review your contents and choose your file type: Scroll through your document and make sure it is to your liking, ebooks have less words on the page so your page count should be much higher in this format than your manuscript. Once you are ready, export your document in either PDF or EPUB under the 'file' tab and then 'download'. Some of my readers had a preference on their file type and both work being sent via email or directly to a kindle. To email to a kindle, the users you are sending your file to must already have your email listed under “accepted emails” and they will need to provide you with their kindle’s specific email. Once sent, it should go straight to their library!

Congratulations! You have an ebook perfect for beta readers. Like I said earlier, this does not replace a professional format. For publishing, you’ll want to hire a professional, or download a software like Vellum (I hope to have a professional formatting tutorial using this software in the upcoming months). Beta readers do not always require an ebook format and some prefer to leave notes on a manuscript format but this provides an alternative option that looks and feels more like a real book. Let us know if you used this tutorial! Until next time, Write-on!