Typesetting, Formatting, and Other Scary Shit
Some parts of self-publishing are scarier than others, and sometimes we look at the task ahead of us and wonder if writing the actual book was the easy part, especially when it comes to needing skills that some people go to college just to fully understand. But it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating.
So, what is typesetting? Essentially, it’s page design. Where do your poem titles go, what do they look like? Where do your page numbers go, and what do those look like? How big are the margins, line spacing, and font size?
There are three sections where these things might differ from one another or be more important to pay attention to:
Your first few pages.
The formatting of your title page, copyright page, table of contents, and dedication (and maybe an author’s note, if you’re feeling frisky) are largely up to you, and it might be different from the rest of your book. Largely, from one book to the next, they follow a similar set of guidelines. For in-depth instructions and free copy-paste templates for your copyright page, check out the guides from Scribe Media, DiggyPod, and Reedsy.
Your poems.
The “meat” of your book is the part where you can get a bit more creative, but it’s also where things tend to get more stressful. Trying to understand what you like to look at, what’s easiest to read, and how to make that relate to industry standards is hard. But for starters, decide how big you want your pages to be.
In general, people usually pick a page size by word count (the larger the word count, the larger the page), and tend to try to stick to genre norms. For instance, those weird romance novels are almost always printed on smaller pages. In poetry, though, readers tend to be just as drawn to something unfamiliar and unique as they are something traditional, so if you feel your book needs an extra-large or small size, and you can afford it, go for it! If not, there are usually a few standard book sizes:
5x8. Although some novelists will go below this, it’s very rare that poetry does, and this is even a bit small for poetry.
5.25x8
5.5x8.5
6x9. This one is rare for a paperback book, but some collections have got away with larger pages quite nicely, like Danez Smith’s Don’t Call Us Dead.
Your last few pages.
The last couple pages of your book are likely going to be acknowledgements, an about the author page, and possibly an author’s note. Poetry books often also have an additional “Notes” page where, if you did any afters, used anyone else’s words, or referenced any other media, it would be fully credited for the reader to be able to find. This area of a book tends to take on a formal sort of typesetting.
There’s also a lot to watch out for in typesetting, including (but not limited to):
Using the wrong dash (hyphen, en-dash, em-dash)
Too many different fonts
Bad line spacing. Not having enough or having too much space between your lines can make a book practically unreadable. Line spacing is also known as “leading”
Windows. A “window” is when the last line of a paragraph starts on the following page, leaving a wide white space where the rest of the line should be.
Orphans. Similar to a window, an “orphan” is when a single word at the end of a paragraph moves onto the next line, also leaving a long white space.
Over-emphasis. Italicizing words too much can be a stylistic choice in poetry (especially where entire lines or stanzas are italicized for specific purposes), but it’s often a matter of trusting your reader to know how the sentence is supposed to flow. Over-italicizing can make your writing look juvenile and make the reader feel condescended to.
Improper grammar/punctuation use. In general, using punctuation incorrectly can cause a lot of doubt within your reader. However, in poetry, improper grammar is more acceptable for stylistic reasons/poetic devices. If you do have incorrect grammar in your poetry on purpose, make sure it’s consistent throughout the poem and adds value, or that correct grammar would devalue the poem.
That’s a lot to keep in mind all at once. Our personal recommendation would be to find a typesetting service that works for you (which usually isn’t Microsoft Word or Google Docs) if you feel confident in your skills and abilities, or to hire someone else if you don’t.