Over the years, I’ve attended many Comic-Con events around the area. It’s a great way for independent authors to purchase a booth on the floor, highlight their new novel series with posters, and sign physical copies. Yet, I have come to a conclusion about the state of indie books at such events: great stories, but messy presentation.

Though a book itself may be a great piece of literature, too often the art is undermined by complicated contents. The guts of the book may see everything intact anatomically, but I can’t shake the feeling of unnecessary work on my part, as reader. I find myself distractedly struggling through such stories simply because it looks messy on the page.

Presentation Is Everything

We all know the old adage, Don’t judge a book by its cover, but, let’s be honest: we’re all guilty of that. It’s an unconscious phenomenon. For better or worse, the experience starts there.

It all begins with the eyes. If you want to sell that book, the cover is very important. According to Limelight Publishing, “A book cover creates the first impression on its potential readers. Therefore, a book cover design is one of the most important aspects of marketing a book. If the cover is not designed well, you will lose sales. A successful book cover needs to make a reader ‘feel’ the manuscript rather than ‘tell’ about it.”

The same goes with the internal presentation. There is a format that all books (okay, most books) follow. We are all used to seeing a chapter title, either some form of Times New Roman or Georgia font (there are others), with each new paragraph and dialogue box indented. But after editing many stories and books, one of my biggest pet peeves is the extra space that lies between paragraphs.

The Annoying Extra Space

I have met many authors who hold their accomplishments in hand, showing off the glossy cover art that really rocks my world, but then I open the book to notice that each new paragraph has this gaping space between them. Is there a reason for this?

According to Chron., “The default settings for spacing in Word 2007 and 2010 are different than the settings in Word 2003 and other Microsoft Office programs such as OneNote and Outlook.” According to the Microsoft’s “Word Blog,” spacing changed because “Back in 2007, the product designers changed the default line spacing to improve document readability. The noticeable differences in the new settings are a larger space between lines and a whole skipped line between paragraphs.”

This is a simple fix within the Word software itself, but I guess I understand why it gets overlooked. The page count is super high and satisfying, and authors are used to typing a story this way, so the extra space isn’t as distracting to writers as it is to editors.

Traditional Space Formatting

When submitting to an agent or publishing house or journal, the safest bet is to stick with William Shunn classic manuscript format. You know it, even if you didn’t know it was called that: double line spacing, contact information in the top-left corner, word count in the top-right, etc. If you ever find yourself uncertain of a publisher’s wants in terms of manuscript formatting, you can’t go wrong sticking with this tried and true method.

Clear Sight Books states that, ” In traditional book design, the space between paragraphs is the same as the space between lines. Rather than using extra space to indicate a new paragraph (the Word default), use a first-line indent.” They also say that, “Depending on the font, spacing should be somewhere from 1.1 to 1.5 line spacing (in a design tool, maybe two to four extra points of leading over the font size). Opinions vary on the amount of white space; I like to print several spacing options and ask potential readers what feels most comfortable for their eyes.”

When it comes to publishers, each has standards and guidelines of their own which they expect potential contributors to follow. For authors looking to publish independently, on the other hand, it’s really all a matter of preference. You want to sell your book, so as long as you do everything you can to make your book marketable, mission accomplished.

Final Thoughts

The gist is this: your cover should be visually striking and pertinent to what lies between the lines of the pages. Think of it as eye candy, a treat, an enticement to turn the pages themselves. Additionally, what lies between the front and back cover must be presentable as well. Once you’ve accomplished that, then think about your cover. Think about your audience, and even save up some money to hire an independent artist to do your cover if you can. Just remember to give them credit.

Fixing the spacing between paragraphs will make the work look better—which will in turn make the work more readable and accessible. Presently, I am flipping through the book Chainfire by Terry Goodkind. The line spacing is even throughout all of it. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is another great example that comes to mind. Each book will (and should!) look different, which is to say original and unique—but there are tenets which should be followed.

There is a level of freedom to how creative you can get when designing your book, but there is something to be said about why traditional formatting works and sells. Have fun with it, but also read up on the latest in publishing, go to blogs, and ask what has worked with other independent authors; go from there. At the end of the day, the possibilities are boundless as long as everything is organized and pleasing to the eye.

Good luck, fellow writers!