After catching a couple of minor formatting errors, I decided to slow the whole process down a bit and make sure everything looks perfect. I’m not too satisfied with the formatting of the first line of each chapter. Originally I went with the first several words of each chapter in small-caps. This seems to be a new trend with popular middle-grade fiction. But after looking at some of my favorite books for inspiration, I found I really like a more traditional style.
1) Making the fist letter of each chapter large. While several middle grade books do this style, I think I like the cleaner lines of having the top of each letter even.
2) Small-caps. As mentioned above, this is a popular style now and works well with keeping styles consistent across ebook and print. But, I want the print books to look a little more … special.
3) Drop-cap. Drop-caps can be a great way to emphasize a new chapter. They can range from simple to very ornate. I like drop-caps, but they don’t translate to ebooks well.
So I decided to go with a hybrid drop-cap with small-caps for the first several words. I like the way this looks, and it is a very traditional publishing style. I can also use the small-caps as a bridge to keep the ebook style similar to the printed version.
Now, the fun part of converting all 46 chapters to this style…
