Self-publishing HandbookTypesetting (= formatting) your book is a very tedious, time-consuming job. If you do it yourself you will probably end up blinking at the screen, wondering if there’s a period or dirt on your laptop screen or you’re just going mad on multiple occasions.

It’s once again a question of resources. If you have the money to spare, you might want to employ a typesetter. If you would rather save the money, typesetting is a skill you can pick up fairly easily if you already have basic formatting skills in programs like Windows Word, as well a lot of patience and enough time.

DYI Typesetting

You should be aware that if you want to produce a print book, as well as an e-Book, that means twice the work, since every medium has different requirements. This article however, will focus on the print version.

There are a number of typesetting programs online. For example, there is InDesign, which is used by many publishing companies. There is a free test version for 30 days. But you can also use other programs, like for example Windows Publisher, which your computer may already have.

Whatever system you end up using, keep in mind that it needs to be compatible with whatever program the printers use. For example, in my case, I ended up using the PDF file exported from InDesign because my version of InDesign wasn’t compatible with the older one used by the printers. So before you choose a program, make sure to check compatibility (also which version of the program) with the printers.