Day Seventeen: Submitting to CreateSpace (Part 2)

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.

drop-cap-example

Now, the fun part of converting all 46 chapters to this style…

About Anthony A. Kerr

Anthony A. Kerr has always been a storyteller. Whether it was acting out elaborate plots with Star Wars figures when he was little, writing really, really, bad movies in high school, or creating weekly comic strips at work. Stories are always swirling around in his head, yelling at him to put them down on paper. Anthony grew up in Wooster, OH and currently lives in Denver, CO with his wife and three children.
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