Why You Should Format Your Book Yourself

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You should format your book yourself, or at least learn to check it, because formatting mistakes show up in front of readers. My first hired formatter gave me a table of contents that did not work and text that disappeared in dark mode. Once I learned the tools, formatting turned out to be easy. Here is what went wrong and what I use now.

What went wrong with my first hired formatter?

I was working on my very first book at a thousand words a day. I had it edited twice by two separate editors, and the next step was formatting. I had heard you could take a Word document straight into Amazon and it would be converted to an EPUB. KDP does accept DOCX files and says most convert well, though complex formatting may not, and it advises you to check the result in Kindle Previewer. One of my business coaches had warned me about bullet points and other characters that Word adds without you knowing, so I did not try it.

I started to doubt whether I could do this at all. Then I hired a freelancer from a marketplace based on their reviews. They sent it back in a couple of days. Amazon rejected it. They fixed it and Amazon accepted the second version, and then I opened the file on my Kindle. The table of contents was there but did not click through to the right page. Then I switched my Kindle to dark mode and all my text disappeared. The freelancer had hard-coded the text color. That meant anyone reading at night would see a blank page. I had paid for formatting that I could not use.

What went wrong with Scrivener?

I decided to learn it myself and listened to podcasts, read books and watched videos. Someone said Scrivener was the tool, and I bought the full version without testing it. I regretted that. It showed the table of contents on the side and exported to Kindle format, but at the time it could not make the table of contents in the print version, which was a deal-breaker. Things may have changed since. Lesson: test before you buy.

What file types does KDP accept?

KDP lists Word (DOC and DOCX), Kindle Package Format (KPF), EPUB and MOBI as its recommended formats, and also takes HTML, RTF, plain text and PDF. It says most DOC and DOCX files convert well to ebooks, but files with complex formatting may not, so check the result in Kindle Previewer. A KPF file comes from Kindle Create, KDP’s own free tool, which can build a table of contents page and an interactive table of contents. For an EPUB, KDP recommends validating it with Kindle Previewer before you upload (KDP, accepted file formats). So even if you hire someone, you can run the same checks yourself in a few minutes. That is the real reason to learn this: you are the only person who will notice that the file on a reader’s device does not match what you paid for, and the checks above take only a few minutes.

What tool do I use now?

I searched for alternatives and settled on a program called Jutoh, which I used for years. I talked directly to the developer and he told me what to do, and the Kindle file worked perfectly the first time. The paperback put the chapters in the right order with everything where I wanted it. That was when I saw that self-publishing can be easy if you do it the right way. Today I recommend Atticus, which does the same job and is easier for most authors. It costs a one-time $147 for unlimited books (Atticus).

What does KDP’s Print Previewer catch?

If you also make a paperback, KDP’s Print Previewer checks your upload for errors you need to fix before you can submit. KDP says it scans mainly for margins, cover size and fonts, and it can try to fix some issues by scaling or reflowing text to fit the margins. A wrong cover size stops approval. When it finds errors, fix them in your original program, export a new PDF and upload again (KDP).

How do you check a formatted book?

1. Open the ebook on a Kindle or in Kindle Previewer.
2. Click through the table of contents.
3. Turn on dark mode and check the text is readable.
4. Check the print version’s chapters, page numbers and table of contents.

For the order the pages should go in, from title page to back matter, see the right self-publishing book layout. If you are choosing a typeface for the inside, see what is the best font for a self-published book?.

If you would like help getting your formatting right the first time, I now offer it as a service. My team formats your book, and I check every file before it goes back to you. An EPUB is from $67. With the print PDF as well, it is from $127. You get the files within 3 business days of sending your manuscript. See book formatting. For anything unusual, book a free 25-minute discovery call and ask me.

If you are weighing a tool against paying someone, this post compares what book formatting costs. If you decide to hire, here is how to choose a formatter you can trust.

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