4 Rules for Formatting in Createspace... Without Losing Your Mind

I'm using Createspace as the printer for Tempting the Ringmaster paperbacks (available soon! I'll even sign 'em if you want), and I've learned a couple of things along the way.

1. Buy a cover. I don't care if you're the grand poo-bah of paint. Unless you're a certified genius graphic artist (Jenna Bennett does her own covers... and her books are fan-freaking-tastic too) then you need someone else to do the cover. Hire a designer. Find someone who's just starting out. Get a premade (just google premade cover designs and buy one that doesn't suck). Don't do it yourself. Your paperback is one place where you really want to be a professional.

2. Do your own formatting. Formatting's hard, but it's not impossible. Do it once and you'll be able to do it a hundred times (and you won't have to pay for it a hundred times). More importantly, most of the formatters I reached out to took forever to get back to me ~ and I like having the control. Go control! Again, you want it to look professional, but you can do that by buying a template or using one of the free templates offered by Createspace. Also, get legal fonts. Really legal fonts. Go to font squirrel now. Go. 

3. Get someone else to double check. I sent out all my final preview copies with the Createspace formatting, better to have someone giving me a review come back and be like 'is this the final formatting because there's an entire page covered in cheese' then to send it out to the masses.

4. Put it all together and get a physical proof. Online's great, physical's better. Check it once, check it twice, and only then should you press approve. 

Those are the four rules for formatting in Createspace... without losing your mind. If you want to check out the createspace formatting for Tempting the Ringmaster then here's a sneak peak at the (formatted) first chapter.

Aleah Barley

Small town cop, big top girl ~ Buy Tempting the Ringmaster today!