How I Publish a Paperback

After seeing how well Uncommoner turned out in print, I've decided to overhaul my entire paper-and-glue backlist and spruce them up a bit. I plan to refer back to this post whenever I'm working on a paperback, so I may update some things as I go along.

First up, here are a few sites that really came in handy:

And here's the path I took:

1. Copy and paste the single-spaced manuscript with chapter headings into the chosen trim size template: 5.25" by 8"

2. Use a free, commercial-use font: EB Garamond

3. Change line indents from 0.5" to 0.2" and add running headers + page numbers; turn off page borders in design to delete horizontal lines in headers/footers

4. Add section breaks in page layout to eliminate running headers above chapter titles, which should be twice the normal font size to ensure consistent spacing between text and page numbers in the footer

5. Set full justification and check for any weirdness at the ends of pages and chapters; ensure that widow/orphan control is turned off

6. Input the page count in the cover calculator and download the template; use Canva to create a custom project with the cover dimensions in inches; assemble the cover with free, commercial-use art from Pixabay, keeping all text lined up inside the template's white space

7. Save the book and cover as PDFs, and carefully review every page prior to publishing

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