Book Formatting Service

Are you looking for someone to format your book to make it ready for print?

Would you like to work with someone who’s a writer herself and knows just how much your book baby means to you?

Do you have no idea where to start, how to use a formatting program or what “widow” and “orphan” mean in the book formatting world?

 

I’ve got you. Hi! I’m Stef. I started self-publishing my novels in 2022 and there was a lot I had to teach myself to get my stories ready for the wide world of books.

One of the most tantalising things was to learn how to correctly format a book. Believe it or not—there are unspoken industry rules which, if disregarded, can make your print version look unprofessional and in the worst case scenario, hard to read.

My a-levels in communication & media provided me with the professional qualifications and expertise to handle layout and formatting programs such as InDesign.

What do I offer?

  • A professional book layout with your preferred size margins, font type and font size
  • One free revision for any last minute changes you need to make
  • Speedy delivery within 7-14 business days (depending on the size of your manuscript)
  • Adhesion to book formatting standards (readability, paragraph indents, widows, orphans, etc.)
  • Open communication and progress updates
  • A guaranteed AI free handling of your manuscript

 

How much do I charge?

I currently offer three different packages for fiction* novels up to 80k words**:

Classic – 250 GBP

  • The classic book layout with page numbers and regular chapter pages
  • You choose the font type, the font size*** and the line spacing***
Classic SAMPLE:Download

Premium – 285 GBP

  • The classic book layout with premium chapter pages (e.g. graphics, initials)
  • You choose the font type, the font size*** and the line spacing***
PREMIUM SAMPLE.Download

Fancy – 340 GBP

  • The classic book layout with super fancy chapter pages (e.g. different font colour, background image and/or several graphics)
  • You choose the font type, the font size*** and the line spacing***

 

FANCY SAMPLE:Download

*If your book is non-fiction, please reach out to me for an adjusted rate. Non-fiction novels often come with many sub-headers and sections per chapter as well as a table of contents and/or graphics which makes the overall layout more complex.

**If your novel is over 80k words, please just reach out to me and I can give you a personalised rate! I also have discounts available for novellas (up to 40k words) and book series!

***includes line spacing up to 16pt and font size up to 13pt. An additional charge of 0.10 GBP per formatted book page applies for spacing over 16pt or font size over 13pt. This is due to the increase of pages to edit.

 

FAQ

 

Why do I even need a professional book layout?
Have you ever decided to put a book down because there was too much text on one page, weird spacing, a font so small you needed a magnifying glass or strange paragraphs?

The classic book layout has industry standards. These are unspoken rules that have proven to enhance the overall readability and professional look of a book. It includes readability, page numbers, justification, indents, as well as the avoidance of orphans and widows (where the first or the last line of a paragraph sit alone on one page).

I will format your each page of your book individually to adhere to all of the above and add graphics, initials or background images to your liking.

 

Do you only work with self-publishers?
I happily accept bookings from both self-publishers and publishers.

 

Can you also do the eBook the conversion for me?
Unfortunately, I do not currently have the tools for that. A lot of self-publishing providers have this option included in their plans for free or a small fee, however (Books on Demand, KDP, IngramSpark etc.), so do have a look!

I can provide you with both the PDF file and the InDesign file or any other file type you may need for your eBook conversion (including black and white versions should your book have images).

 

How do I pay you?
You will receive a bill with payment details along with your formatted novel when it’s done via email. Standard payments will go through direct bank transfer but an alternative arrangement such as PayPal (please note that I need to charge a tiny additional fee if the payment is made through PayPal because they take a cut) can be made if your local currency is different. By the way, payments are possible in Euro. If your local currency happens to be Euro, please feel free to reach out for an adjusted fee.

 

What languages do you offer for book formatting?
I am able to format books written in English or German. The reason I cannot currently offer this for a different language is because formatting often requires the automatic separation of words using hyphens—and if I don’t speak the language, I won’t be able to know for certain if the separation is correct (even if InDesign does it automatically for the most part).

 

How do I book my spot with you?
You can contact me at sserpente@gmx.at with details on how long your book is, what formatting package you’d like and when you need for it to be finished.

I currently have 1 spot left for May 2025 and I still have spaces left for June 2025 onwards!

 

What do you need once I’ve booked my spot with you?
To begin working, I will need the following things:

  • Your final manuscript (containing the correct punctuation and quotation marks etc.) in a Word format (no Google documents please, these are incompatible with InDesign)
  • All information regarding the book size you would like, including margins (your publishing platform will give you the required sizes for your format of choice)
  • The full title of your book, any contributors (e.g. editors, cover designer, etc.)
  • Your ISBN number if you have one
  • Acknowledgements if applicable
  • Dedication if applicable
  • Content warnings if applicable
  • About the Author if applicable

I am also happy to include up to three additional pages that are not included in the list above such as “Other books by this Author”, an illustration or a music playlist page at no additional cost. For every additional page after this, a small fee of 1 GBP per page will apply.

 

Will you do any genre?
Any fiction genre is fine with me; and as a Dark Romance reader and writer, I’m not easily triggered by darker content either—although I should add that I won’t be doing much reading anyway as I need to focus on making your pages look nice!

 

What if I need changes made to my manuscript after I already paid?
One free revision is included in my rate. That means if you realise you overlooked some typos or would like to make minor changes after delivery, I am happy to do this for you free of charge. Please be sure about what font size and font type you would like. If any of those need to be changed after delivery, I will have to start from scratch (and no one wants to pay up to double the fee). If you’re unsure about which font size or font type to choose, I’m happy to send you a pdf with one or two sample pages from your manuscript before I start working so you can pick which one you like best!

 

What if I need changes made to my manuscript long after the release date?
That can happen, I get it! Always keep the files I send to you. If you need to make any changes after the free included revision and/or after the release date, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I am happy to make any additional minor changes for a small fee (currently up to 20 GBP or less).

 

How do I know which font size and what line spacing to pick?
This is dependent on two main factors. One is simply your personal preference, the other is printing costs. The larger the spacing or the font, the more pages there will be and hence, the higher your printing costs per book will be which impacts how much you end up charging for print copies. If you would like to keep your printing costs down, I would recommend to choose a smaller font size (11 or 11.5 pt) and a more narrow spacing without compromising readability—no one wants one unreadable block of text, after all!

 

For your peace of mind:

My Adobe InDesign and Word are not connected to Adobe Cloud (which is feeding content to Adobe AI machines to train them) or Copilot (which does the same). Additionally, I do not use the help of AI to format your book. Your manuscript will be safe with me from any form of AI use.

All of the work I provide for your manuscript naturally underlies the highest confidentiality. Your manuscript will not be shared with any third party or used/worked on while connected to a respective online platform. As a writer myself, I know how paranoid you can become when entrusting your book baby with someone else. I will be holding on to the files until the official release date of your book in case you need to make any last minute changes. They will then permanently be deleted from my computer and emails to protect your details and your book.

As for you, always hang on to the files that I sent you even after release in case you need them again one day (you never know)!

 

 

The small print: If you want to use any graphics or illustrations in your book, please ensure that you own the rights or have written permission to use the images, as I cannot be liable for any copyright infringement. This also applies to all text used in your manuscript. Upon request, I can find some suitable licence-free images for you or list a website or two that provides these types of images.