Some e-book authors stumble when it comes to page design. That’s understandable considering most authors are not graphic designers. But the inside of an e-book must be as pleasing as the cover. A badly-formatted book reflects negatively on the author even if the author didn’t design it. Here are some common e-book mistakes and how to avoid them.

Lack of proofreading and editing

This isn’t actually a design issue, but it’s worth mentioning. No amount of design prowess can erase the damage done by misspelled words and poorly edited copy. Reading an e-book full of grammar mistakes is an annoying task. Make sure your e-book is free of grammatical and spelling errors. When possible, hire a professional proofreader and editor.

Fonts

Have you ever tried to read an e-book written using a script font? Script fonts are thin and resemble cursive handwriting. It should only be used in small doses, and trying to read pages of it is a painful experience. E-books allow you to explore different font choices, but the point of an e-book is to communicate information. Therefore, any font you choose should be legible. While some people do print e-books, most people read them onscreen.

Times New Roman is a reliable e-book font. If you want to use a different font, be sure it’s one that’s easy to read for long periods of time. As a rule, serif fonts are used for body copy. Serif fonts are recognizable because they have serifs on the ends of the letters. Design rules are made to be broken, but only if breaking the rules will produce more pleasing results.

Font sizes

Some e-book authors go to extremes. They either make the body copy to large or too small. Chunks of large copy can cause a page to look unprofessional, and slow down comprehension. Unless your e-book is specifically a large-print book, then the copy shouldn’t be huge. Small copy is also difficult to read. If a person has to squint to read your copy, then your text is too small. Not only can that hurt a person’s eyes, but it also makes your publication look unprofessional. Remember that your e-book is probably being read on a computer monitor.

E-book fonts should usually be between 12 and 14 points. These two sizes allow for comfortable reading without having to adjust the page display. However, subheading and headlines should be slightly larger, usually between 16 and 18 points.

Spacing and alignment

Bad line spacing also slows reading comprehension. In fact, anything wider than double-spaced is a stretch. Single-spacing often works quite well for e-books. As for alignment, left-justified often looks the best. It’s easier for the human eye to follow left-justified text with nice sized-margins.

Some authors use tricks such as large fonts, wide spacing, and large margins to make their e-books appear to have more pages. That tactic should be avoided. You want your readers to find your e-book pleasing and informative. After all, happy readers will come back for more.

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