How I format books in Microsoft Word for Amazon KDP

Some tips from an enthusiastic non-expert

Sometimes Substack likes to remind me that I am a writing dinosaur. This happens whenever I see a Note from someone who uses Google Docs to write their books and I remember that Microsoft Word is no longer the apex word processor in the creative writing ecosystem.

I come from a time (insert Old Crone voice) when Microsoft Word was the gold standard, nay, the only option for writing papers and whatnot. Growing up, I did not know a single person who owned a Mac or a laptop. You had a giant desktop computer that everyone in the family used, and it lived on a particle-board corner desk unit somewhere unobtrusive and semi-quiet, like the dining room. You did not own a laptop until you went to college, and that laptop came with the whole MS Student Office suite baked in. Even then you primarily used your laptop for watching Veronica Mars DVDs with your friends, either in your room or in the dorm hall with a headphone splitter if your roommate was studying. Yes, you wrote papers on it, but you didn't take it to class because it was heavy and bulky (slender chromebooks were but a doodle on some Google engineer's whiteboard) and who wanted to lug that thing around when taking notes by hand was still perfectly acceptable, or even enjoyable at times? Do you know how much fun it was, as a boy-crazy, boyfriend-less twenty-year-old, on the rare occasion when an attractive guy in the next row asked if he could look at my notes from a class he missed? He only asked because I was clearly a giant nerd, but passing him my notebook and waiting as he painstakingly copied my chicken-scratch handwriting and asked me to clarify my nonsensical-to-anyone- but-me shorthand was immensely more thrilling than giving him a curt "I'll email them to you."

This is my very longwinded way of saying that I only know how to use Word to format books. If you don't use Word I'm sure there are some other excellent guides out there, and I encourage you to seek them out instead.

Hello, old friend.

Some other disclaimers:

1. I use the desktop version of Microsoft Word 2016 that came with Microsoft Home software pack I bought with my laptop. It was last updated in 2024 (I think). It is not the subscription model that charges annually. I don't know if this makes any difference, but in case it does I wanted to call it out.

2. I've only ever published paperbacks. I doubt there's a meaningful difference for the interior if you choose hardback, but I don't know.

3. I've only used Amazon KDP. I plan to expand to Ingram Spark eventually, but I haven't yet. I'll update this guide when I try it out, or write a new one.

4. My interiors are text only. I don't have any experience adding illustrations, graphs/charts, or specialized text to my books (this includes drop caps). If you need help with those things, other guides may be of more use to you.

5. I am not an expert. My qualifications are that I've done this several times, my interiors have never been rejected by Amazon KDP, and I think they look good. I'm sure there are some formatting skills I haven't learned yet, and someone more experienced will look at this guide and say, "Huh, she's making this a lot harder than it needs to be." If that's you, spill! Don't hold back your tricks! I am all about streamlining tasks. Which leads me to...

6. I'm not going to do it this way forever. My goal in the next few years is to invest in some proper book formatting software so I can speed up this part of the process. But for now, this will do.

If you want to follow along and try this for yourself, you will need:

• A manuscript that is edited to the point where you are happy with it. You will want to use a COPY of that manuscript for formatting. DO NOT USE YOUR ORIGINAL. DO NOT DO IT. I AM SHOUTING BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO BLAME ME IF SOMETHING GOES AWRY WITH YOUR PRECIOUS BOOK DURING THIS PROCESS. I KNOW YOU WORKED VERY, VERY HARD ON IT. It doesn't need to be perfect, but having major edits complete means it will be easier to make changes down the road if you need to do so. Think typos, minor fact checking, etc.

• A workspace where you can concentrate. If you can't block off enough time to do this in one go, that's fine. Better to take it one section at a time than get frustrated and abandon it altogether.

• Nerves of steel. If you've never done this before, it might be a little scary, but we will get through this together.

Right, let’s get to it! First up:

Trim size

This just means the size of the finished book. I like a classic 5.5x8.5, which is called digest size. Trade size (6x9) is another common option. Keep in mind that the smaller your trim size, the higher your page count. This will affect your printing costs. Change your paper size by going to Layout > Page Setup > Paper > and customize the width and height in the boxes.

Now that your page count is through the roof, move on to...

Margins

The way I chose my margin size was by taking a few digest-sized books off my shelf and literally measuring the margins with a ruler. As a general rule, the margin at the top of the page is narrower than the bottom. If you're looking at a printed book you may notice the center margin is wider than the outer margin, but since we're working in MS Word, this isn't an option. I wish it were! This is because - and this is VERY important - Word just sees pages, not book pages. They are different. The orientation of pages printed in a book is very different from a stack of pages stapled together. Word doesn't know whether a page is on the left or right when you open the book, so when we choose left and right margin widths, they must be the same. Err on the side of slightly wide if you're unsure. If you don't, and your book is especially thick, it may be harder for the reader to see the words closest to the spine.

To change the margins, go to Layout > Page Setup (or skip to Margins, if it's in the ribbon) > Margins > and customize the Top, Bottom, Right, and Left fields.

Right now you might be thinking, This looks awful! Why did I let some stranger on the internet talk me into mangling my lovely book? Don't despair, it's going to get better.

Page numbers

We will talk about page numbers in a little more detail when we get to the chapter header section. For now, just add the numbers by going to Insert > Header & Footer (or skip to Page Number, if it's in the ribbon) > and choose where you want your page number to appear. I always go with Plain styling, centered at the bottom.

If you don't want the page number to appear on your first page, remove it by going to Insert Edit Footer > Options > and check the box that says Different First Page. All that does is hide number right when you open the book. Page 2 will still be page 2. I don't love the way it looks with numbers on the other front matter pages, but I can live with it. Some shallow research shows me you can make the book text start on page 1 by dividing the document into sections. I haven't tried it, though.

Font and font size

Hooo boy, people have big opinions about fonts. I've always heard serif fonts are better for print, while sans serif is ideal for e-reading. A cursory scan of my bookshelf shows me all serif fonts. The main thing is to make sure the font you choose is either True Type or Open Type. This designation used to be shown in the font dropdown with a little TTF on the righthand side, but I'm not seeing it now. If youre using a custom font make sure you have the legal rights to do so.

I write all my drafts in Times New Roman in 12 point (1 inch margins all around; that MLA styling was drilled into me), but I switch to Garamond in 11 point for printing. It's never steered me wrong so I plan to stick with it for now.

Change the font by selecting the text you want to change, then go to Home > Font > and choose the font and size of your liking. If you want to make your chapter titles or headings in a different font, play around and experiment until you find something you like. Just make sure it's compatible with KDP first.

Justify and Line spacing

Okay! Now your manuscript is starting to look like a book, which means it's time to get into the nitty gritty. If you use the default settings in Word, your text is all left-aligned, which means there are ugly gaps at the end of each line. To get that clean, page-filling, professional look, we need the text to be justified. Do this by selecting all text and going to Home > Paragraph > and click the Justify button. Easy peasy.

Now, to get that really polished look, we want to fix the line spacing. I don't know the proper workflow way to do this, so we're going to use the search bar. Select your text and start typing "Line and paragraph spacing" until it pops up in the search bar. Hover over the arrow and choose the 1.15 setting. This gives your lines more breathing room than standard single spacing, but a much smaller gap than 1.5 spacing. I LOVE the way this looks. It's a barely perceptible change that makes a huge difference, in my opinion.

Widow/Orphan control and hyphens

These two are pure preference, and may be the kind of thing that doesn't matter to you at all. That's fine! But I wanted to share what I do in case anyone's curious.

Widow/orphan control is the setting that keeps Word from leaving an "unfinished" line at the top of a page. The default setting is On. Some authors choose to turn it off when formatting, to avoid "uneven" bottom margins. This does make for a more professional-looking book, but it also means you're left with short little lines at the top of other pages if you don't add text to make them longer. I leave Widow/orphan control On, because it's easier and it's the kind of thing that (in my opinion!) 99% of readers don't notice or care about. You decide what you like, and go with that. To turn it off, go to Home > Paragraph > Line and Page Breaks > and uncheck the Widow/orphan control box under Pagination.

When it comes to hyphenated line breaks I am a bit more fanatical. If you look at your newly justified text, you will notice that some lines now have the words spaced reeeeallly far apart. You can leave them like that, it will still be readable, but you can also employ hyphens to your advantage to make it a little easier for the reader. (There's probably some official typesetting term for this, I just don't know it.) Unfortunately, there is no shortcut. I do this part manually, and I won't sugarcoat it: it is extremely time consuming. I use this step as another round of editing to make it feel more productive. Like I said, hyphens are just cosmetic, but if you want that easy, well-spaced flow words, you may want to experiment with this.

A word of caution: watch out for autocorrect after you add your hyphens! lf you split "avalanching" "avalanch-ing" Word may decide to be extra helpful and add the "e" back on the end of "avalanch" because it doesn't know this is a book, and it thinks you can't spell (it did it twice while I was writing this sentence). So be vigilant during this step.

Now that the tough stuff is done, it's time to make your book pretty!

Front matter

Simply put, these are all the pages that come before the book actually starts. The order of these pages can vary slightly, but there are some conventions to follow. I highly suggest looking at other published books before settling on your final front matter. It can vary a lot.

Page 1: Full title page OR Bastard title page - The difference between these two is that the full title page has the author name and publisher/imprint company (if applicable). The bastard title page is just the title, no other text. Whichever one you don't use will appear on Page 3. Font size here will depend on the length of your title, and your general aesthetic.

Exception: If you have blurbs from other authors, or an "also by" page where you list your other titles, put these first. Again, I advise looking at other books for this option.

Before we proceed to page 2, we need to talk about page numbering again. As you finish formatting your book, it is vital to remember that, no matter how the pages appear in Word, odd numbered pages will always go on the right, and even numbered pages on the left. That's just how books are printed. Some authors like all their chapters to begin on a righthand page. If that's you, make sure they fall on an odd-numbered page, using page breaks as necessary to make that happen.

Page 2: (which, remember, appears on the "back" of page 1), is for all your copyrightt info, ISBN, etc. Unless you have your own full-fledged publishing house this text will be pretty short. l like to credit my cover designer on this page as well.

Page 3: Full title page OR Bastard title page - whichever you didn't use before.

Page 4: Blank

Page 5: Dedication (if applicable)

Page 6: Blank

Page 7: Epigraph (if applicable). If it's not public domain, make sure you have permission to print this.

Page 8: Blank

That's done! Now we're in the meat of the book, and from here on out the "rules" are pretty flexible.

Chapter titles

Whether you have numbered chapters, proper chapter names, or just character names denoting which POV the chapter is in, the key here is consistency. However wide the gap is between your chapter title and text, it needs to be the exact same width at the start of every single chapter. Whether the chapter title is at the top, or further down the page, it doesn't matter. Apply that same consistency to fonts and font sizes across the board. Be ruthless about this, and don't rush. Inconsistencies are distracting to the reader. They may not be able to put their finger about it, but something will feel off.

Back matter

We're almost finished! Back matter is where you can provide your website/substack info, or tout any other upcoming books you'll be releasing (especially if this one is in a series). If you ask for reviews, make sure you do so in a way that doesn't violate Amazon's Terms of Service. From what I understand they're pretty strict about the language used. You can provide an About the Author page back here, and if you're really ambitious you can add a reader's guide for book club discussions. Don't forget the odd- numbered page rule! You want these to show up on the righthand side, just like most of the front matter.

However you close out your book, the last page needs to be even-numbered, even if it's blank. A book can't be printed with only the "front" of a page. It needs the even number for proper page counting.

Wrap it up

You are almost done, and your book looks amazing!!! There's just two things left to do before uploading it to KDP.

First, embed the fonts. Some people say this isn't necessary, but I always do it as a safeguard. Go to File > Options (it's at the very bottom of the left column) > Save > and under the "Preserve Fidelity When Sharing This Document" heading, check the box beside "Embed fonts in this file" and leave the other boxes alone. I don't know what they do.

Lastly, you need to save your Word doc as a PDF. Go to File > Save as > choose your folder > and in the dropdown below the document title choose PDF.

Congratulations! You now have a fully formatted file! Now, that doesn't mean changes won't be necessary when you look at it in the KDP previewer. Because it shows the pages in a proper book layout, you may catch mistakes you missed when looking at it in Word. That's happened to me many times. lf it does, just make the updates, and save it as a new PDF. Repeat as necessary until your lovely book is printed and in your hands.

I hope this was helpful!