How NOT to Format an eBook - Common eBook Formatting Mistakes

How NOT to Format an eBook - Common eBook Formatting Mistakes // If you're a self-published author, odds are you've looked into formatting your book yourself to help save costs. But then once you dove into the world of book formatting, you might realize things are a little more complicated than you anticipated. In this video, I hope to simplify things when it comes to formatting your ebook. We'll be going over how ebooks work, what it means to have a reflowable ebook, and some formatting mistakes you may make when it comes to preparing your ebook.

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Mandi Lynn published her first novel when she was seventeen. The author of multiple books, Mandi spends her days continuing to write and creating YouTube videos to help other writers achieve their dreams of seeing their books published. Mandi is the owner of Stone Ridge Books, a company that works to help authors bring their books to life through cover design and digital book marketing. She is also the creator of The Book Launch Planner, a planner designed to help authors publish and market their books. When she’s not creating, you can find Mandi exploring her backyard or getting lost in the woods.

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DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links. By purchasing a linked product or service, Mandi Lynn will receive a small commission at no additional fee to you.

[ihorolkhovskyi]

Just a small comment about custom fonts.
Epub format allows you to embed fonts (TTF, usually) into a file and I'm using custom fonts for a chapter names, etc. But not for a "main text". So, I'd not fear fonts embedding, but definitely not overdo it.
Also it's very useful to know some basics of HTML/CSS as Epub basically is specially crafted "web-site" with limited features of CSS formatting. You can explore the internals with software like Sigil.
P.S.: I'm using Jutoh, but it's a bit "by programmer for programmer".

[AAJaeon]

I used Atticus to format my ebook and print book. I loved the way everything turned out. Atticus has a great number of fonts and they recently added more fonts which is super cool! Thank you for this video, Mandi! After adding complex chapter headers in my ebook, I definitely see the problem it has. The whole reflowable ebook thing really makes it hard to add any fancy chapter headers or images. I'll probably avoid adding any chapter headers in my ebook in the future to save myself the headache.

[RalphThompson-yx]

Hi Mandi, thank you for making this! I recently got my book's formatting done through a company called "Writers Of The West" they're based out of Houston, Texas and did a pretty good job and not too expensive too. But I will keep this advice in mind for the future too!

[luisbarrera]

What about the old format to create the ebook? The one u used called Caliber from ur old video? Is that one not good anymore?

[fabbriart]

I use InDesign for my ebooks. I find that saving as a pdf which includes hyperlinks on the contents and other pages gives you more flexibilityin design and image control. PDF is definitely the best final format you should save your ebook in. I have followed apple computers since the very first computer introduction which I beleive was the APPLE 1, so nearly 40 yeats plus of software experience, in particular with Adobe. all media readers can open pdf's, no exception. I would never sacrifice creativity/design for plain e.reading, doesn't work for me. Illustrative work and photos are important and always will be.
😃

[rinleeds]

can you use kotobee for physical printed books? can you use adobe indesign for physical books?

[ebouchoc]

Mandi - I need some help. I've followed your recommendation as well as KDPs requirements for bleed and trim.
My book is 11x8.25 and I've set it up to specs and still (my second author proof) has white edges outside my images. My question is, do I need to increase my page size of the bleed size? Plus KDP is requiring a PDF to be uploaded. Am I running into PDF issues?
HELP!!!

[miamicelebrations]

I could not get in the the formatting course website, it's forbiden, LOL, thanks anyway

[shoomapadoo]

I use adobe indesign. It’s the absolute best and my idea of customization of an ebook is to let people who design playback programs care about their products. So what I need to know is who’s the best.

[shoomapadoo]

Doesn’t KDP format the ebook for a price?

[shoomapadoo]

I’m hoping that you get to the skinny very quickly.