Build A Manuscript Shell - Copyright Notes, Headers & Footers

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. I’ll include links to previous posts in the series here in the Bottom Line It section. So far, I've posted topics on Publishing Options, Rights, Royalties and Advances, What's the Deal With ISBNs And Bookstores, Choosing A Publisher , Getting Organized, parts one and two of DIY Formatting For POD, A Word About Industry Standards, Build A Manuscript Shell - Page Setup and Build A Manuscript Shell – Set Up Front Matter. Today's post is Build A Manuscript Shell – Copyright Notes, Headers & Footers.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):

A Note About Copyright
I provide this information here because we've just finished setting up the front matter section of the manuscript shell, which should include a copyright page, and which may be raising some questions in your mind about copyright.

Per the United States Copyright Office, in the U.S. “Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”

In response to the question of whether or not copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is mandatory in order to receive copyright protection in the U.S., the Office responds, “No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.”

In response to the question of why a copyright should be registered at all if copyright already exists, the Office answers, “Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within 5 years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.”

In other words, a registered copyright affords an author maximum protection in a court of law if he or she should ever need to bring a case of copyright infringement.

Having said that, legal matters are outside the scope of this book and nothing herein should be construed as legal advice. If you are uncertain whether or not to obtain a registered copyright for your work in the U.S., I encourage you to obtain Circular 1, Copyright Basics, from the U.S. Copyright Office website, and confer with an attorney for further guidance. For information about copyright law and enforcement outside the U.S., confer with an attorney versed in international copyright law.

Set Up Headers And Footers
Headers and footers will appear on your chapter pages, but not on the first page of each chapter. This is why you selected the ‘Different first page’ option for headers and footers in the Page Setup section.

In The IndieAuthor Guide, text in the header is right-aligned on odd-numbered pages and left-aligned on even-numbered pages. This ensures the header is always aligned to the outer margin of each page, not the inner margin, near the Gutter. Likewise, in the footer page numbers are right-aligned on odd-numbered pages and left-aligned on even-numbered pages. This is why the “Different odd and even” option exists for headers and footers in the Page Setup section.

Recall that these instructions are based on the use of Microsoft Word™ 2003, but can be adapted to any major word processing program from that year or later. To find the functions named here in a different word processor, just search on the desired item in your program's help files. Also, as with all these posts on the subject of setting up the Manuscript Shell, you may find it's easier to follow along if you open your word processor program in one window and keep this blog open in a second window, then switch back and forth between the two as needed.

If you want the text and page numbers in your headers or footers to be differently-aligned on odd- and even-numbered pages, as they are in many mainstream-published books, you need to insert four placeholder pages in each chapter of your manuscript shell, as detailed below.

Chapter Page, Header Content, Footer Content
1, No header, Right-aligned page number in footer
2, Left-aligned header text, Left-aligned page number in footer
3, Right-aligned header text, Right-aligned page number in footer
4, Left-aligned header text, Left-aligned page number in footer

If your header and footer content will be centered on every page, you still need to insert one placeholder page for the first page of the chapter (which won’t have a header), and a second placeholder page to represent how headers and footers should be formatted on every other page of the chapter. In that event, you can go back and de-select the ‘Different odd and even’ checkbox in the Page Setup dialog.

Begin by inserting placeholder pages, without headers or footers. If you've already set up your front matter per this series, page nine is the first page of your first chapter. Enter the name or number of the chapter and apply your custom chapter heading Style to it. Enter a few carriage returns and a page break.

For header and footer formatting with differently-aligned odd- and even-numbered pages, you must set up three more placeholder pages. On pages ten and eleven, enter a few carriage returns and a page break. On page twelve, enter a few carriage returns and a Next Page Section Break, as described previously. For books with identically-aligned headers and footers, you only need to have one additional placeholder page (page ten) with a few carriage returns and a Next Page Section Break on it.

Set Up Headers
Go back to page nine and select the Header and Footer option of the View menu. The cursor jumps up into the header section, and the Header and Footer toolbar is displayed.

Notice that the Link to Previous button is selected in the Header and Footer toolbar by default---in Word™ 2003, it is always selected by default at the start of each new section you create. Its current setting is displayed in the header or footer onscreen as well. This option should never be selected for your headers, even if you intend to use centered headers, because the first page of each chapter won’t have a header but subsequent pages will.

You don’t want a header on the first page of any chapter. Leave the header blank. The far right button, next to the Close button, is the Show Next button. Click it to go to the header on the second page of your chapter.
The second page of your chapter is an even-numbered page. If the Link to Previous button is selected, click it to de-select it. In a book with centered headers, the header on this page should be center-aligned. In a book with headers aligned like this book, the header on this page should be left-aligned so it will appear near the outside margin of the page. Enter your desired text (book title or chapter title) in the header. Apply formatting options as desired, including desired text alignment. Click the Show Next button.

If your page headers are all center-aligned, you don’t have any more page headers to set up. Click the Previous button to get back to page nine of your manuscript, then skip ahead to the Set Up Footers section on the following page. Otherwise, read on to complete your header formatting.

The third page of your chapter is an odd-numbered page, which means its header should be right-aligned. De-select the Link to Previous button if applicable. Enter the same header text as on the previous page and apply the same formatting, but make the text right-aligned. Click the Show Next button.

The fourth page of your chapter is an even-numbered page, which means its header should be left-aligned. If the Link to Previous button is selected, click it to de-select it. Enter the same header text as on the previous page and apply the same formatting, but make the text right-aligned.

Instead of the Show Next button, this time click the Show Previous button, located immediately left of the Show Next button. Click it two more times to get back to the blank header on the first page of your chapter.

Set Up Footers
Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button, to the immediate right of the Link to Previous button, to switch to the footer.

Again, by default, the Same as Previous button is selected. Click it to de-select it. Insert the page number (and any other desired text) in the footer. Apply desired formatting, including desired alignment. Page numbers will be either centered or right-aligned.

By default, page numbering will display the actual page number of the word processing document. If you want page numbering to begin with “1”, click the Format Page Number button (highlighted above) to display the Page Number Format dialog box.

In the Page Number Format dialog box, click the Start At option to select it and accept the default number setting of “1”. Leave all other options in the dialog set to their defaults and click OK.

On the Header and Footer toolbar, click the Show Next button to go to the footer on the second page of your chapter. Insert the page number (and other desired text, if applicable) and apply desired formatting, including left-alignment of the page number.

That’s all there is to footer setup, regardless of whether or not your footers will be differently-aligned on odd and even pages. Since all chapter pages will have footers, all even-page footers will be formatted the same as one another, all odd-page footers will be formatted the same as one another, and Link to Previous is always selected for a new section by default, you don’t need to do any footer setup for subsequent chapters/sections. Word™ will automatically continue inserting the correct odd- and even-page footers as pages are added to the manuscript.
As for headers, Word™ will continue to insert the correct odd- and even-page headers as you add pages to your chapter, but because you don’t want a header on the first page of any subsequent chapters/sections you will have to repeat the header setup steps for each chapter/section in your manuscript.

An even number of pages (two or four, depending on whether or not you want differently-aligned headers and/or footers) are inserted as placeholders for each chapter/section to ensure the first page of each new chapter/section will always be an odd-numbered, or right-hand, page. This is pretty standard in mainstream-published books, and while I don’t generally kowtow to mainstream conventions this is one case where I do, simply because it’s what readers are used to and have come to expect. Later on, as you type or paste chapter text into your manuscript, you may find the chapter/section ends on an odd-numbered page. If that’s the case, insert a page break to create a blank even-numbered page at the end of the chapter.

The last page of each chapter/section should always be an even-numbered page, and should always end with a Next Page Section Break. After you’re finished typing or pasting in chapter text later, if you find some of your original placeholder pages are still there at the end of the chapter/section, delete any extra, blank pages—but again, make sure the last page of the chapter is an even-numbered page, and that it ends with a Next Page Section Break.
Set up a second chapter/section as you did the first one, inserting and formatting desired headers and footers the same as for the first chapter/section. Two placeholder chapters are enough for the manuscript shell, so we’re done with chapter setup for now.

Up Next: Set Up Back Section

Build A Manuscript Shell - Set Up Front Matter

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. I’ll include links to previous posts in the series here in the Bottom Line It section. So far, I've posted topics on Publishing Options, Rights, Royalties and Advances, What's the Deal With ISBNs And Bookstores, Choosing A Publisher , Getting Organized, parts one and two of DIY Formatting For POD, A Word About Industry Standards and Build A Manuscript Shell - Page Setup. Today's post is Build A Manuscript Shell - Front Matter.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):
Your book should have all the same front matter as a mainstream-published book. That means a copyright page, dedication page, title page, and table of contents. The page facing the reader when he opens the front cover should be blank. Set a placeholder on the first page of your word processing document for this page, followed by some carriage returns and a page break.

Note that you may find this blog entry easier to follow if you actually open your word processor to a blank document and follow along with the directions, switching between this window and your word processing window as needed.

To insert a page break in MS Word™, under the Insert menu on the toolbar, select ‘Break’. In the Insert Break dialog, select ‘Page break’ and click OK. To insert a page break using the keyboard shortcut, hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the Enter key.

This brings you to page two of your word processing file, which is actually the reverse of that blank page the reader sees when he opens the cover of the book. This is where you will put your copyright information, in the basic format shown here. The print in the image may be a bit small to read, but it’s essentially the same format as any mainstream-published book.

You will notice that the left-hand margin on this page is much narrower than the left-hand margin on the previous page. This is because the left-hand margin on the first page consisted of a Gutter plus a margin, since on that page the left-hand side is where the page will be glued or sewn into the book’s spine. On this page, which will be the reverse of the first page in the printed book, the Gutter is on the right-hand side.

The effect can be jarring when viewed onscreen. Remember that each page of the finished book will consist of two pages from your word processing document: one will be the ‘front’ of a printed page and the other will be the ‘back’.

The blank page directly beneath the front cover is page one of the book, an odd-numbered page. Its reverse is page two of the book, an even-numbered page. When the book is open, pages on the left will always be even-numbered (because they are always the backs of odd-numbered pages) and pages on the right will always be odd.
Recall the facing-pages preview in the Page Setup dialog box. If these were two facing pages bound into a book, the one on the left side would be even-numbered and the one on the right would be odd-numbered. The Gutter will always appear on the left on odd-numbered pages, and on the right on even-numbered pages.

If you do not have all of the information needed for your copyright page (i.e., ISBN, EAN, etc.), leave placeholders as necessary. Just don’t forget to go back and update your copyright page when all the needed information is available. If your book mentions brand names of products or services, add copyright and trademark information about those items to your copyright page, following the format shown on the copyright page of The IndieAuthor Guide. Finally, select all the text on the page and apply your custom copyright Style to it. Insert a few carriage returns and another page break.

Now you’re on page three of your word processing file, which is the front of the second page in the book. This will be your title page. Enter your title, subtitle (if applicable), and author byline as desired, then apply the correct custom Style to each item. Enter a few carriage returns and a page break.

This brings you to page four of your file, which will be the reverse of the title page in your book. It may be blank or display titles of your other published books in an Also By [author name] list, according to your preference. Enter a placeholder, carriage returns and page break as shown here.

Now you’re on page five of your word processing file, or the front of the third page in your eventual book. This is your dedication page. Enter your dedication message about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the page, then select all of its text and apply your custom dedication Style to it. Enter a few carriage returns and a page break.
Page six of your word processing file is the back of the dedication page in your book. Enter a placeholder, carriage returns and a page break, following the prior examples of blank pages.

The next page, page seven of your word processing file, is where the table of contents goes. Enter a ‘Table of Contents’ header and apply your custom formatting Style to it, then the usual carriage returns and page break. The actual table of contents will be inserted much later, when the book is being prepared for print.

Now you’ve reached page eight, the reverse of your table of contents page. This page may or may not have text on it in the printed book, depending on the length of your table of contents. For now, set it up like the other blank placeholder pages, but instead of inserting a page break after the carriage returns, insert a Next Page Section Break.

This is done via the Break menu, as described previously. You’re inserting a section break instead of a page break to create a new ‘section’ for chapter one of your book. This is necessary because headers, footers and page numbers aren’t typically displayed on ‘front matter’ pages (copyright page, title page, dedication page, table of contents) but are displayed on the pages making up the main body of the book. Since headers and footers are applied on a per-section basis, if you want headers and footers on some pages but not others, you must set up separate document sections for each instance of changed formatting. Going forward, each chapter will be set up as a new section in the document.

Your front matter is set.

Up Next: A Word About Copyright, and Setting Up Headers and Footers

Build A Manuscript Shell - Page Setup

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. I’ll include links to previous posts in the series here in the Bottom Line It section. So far, I've posted topics on Publishing Options, Rights, Royalties and Advances, What's the Deal With ISBNs And Bookstores, Choosing A Publisher , Getting Organized, parts one and two of DIY Formatting For POD, and A Word About Industry Standards. Today's post is part one of how to set up a Manuscript Shell - Page Setup.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):
A manuscript shell is to your manuscript what framing is to a house: it provides a consistent structure to the overall project. The shell is where you set up all the necessary formatting options for text and the manuscript in general. It’s a lengthy pain setting up the manuscript shell, but you only have to do it once and manuscripts created in the shell will automatically be properly formatted for POD as you work. After the shell is created, save it for use as a template: each time you begin a manuscript, open the shell and “Save As” under a new filename.
Begin by opening a new, blank document and doing a “Save As” with your desired filename. Save frequently as you work on setting up the shell.

Create Custom Styles
Make a list of the Styles you will need, select a name for each one, and create them as described in my previous post, DIY Formatting For POD, Pt. 2. If you need a refresher course on Styles, refer to Part One of DIY Formatting for POD.

Modify Page Setup
In MS Word™ go to File > Page Setup to access the Page Setup dialog. If you are using a different word processor and don’t know where to set options like margins, paper orientation (i.e. landscape vs. portrait), search your program’s help files for “page setup”. Instructions here continue with MS Word™, but you should be able to set all the same options in your program. If you are using MS Word™, you may find it helpful to open the program to a blank document and follow along with these instructions as you read, since I was unable to get properly-formatted screen shots to display on this blog.

The Page Setup dialog has three tabs: Margins, Paper and Layout. When setting your top and bottom margins, bear headers and footers in mind. If you will have headers and footers—and most books do, even if only for page numbering—be sure to make headers and footers wide enough to allow for spacing between the header/footer and adjacent text. Your text should not butt right up against your headers or footers.

Before changing anything else, in the Pages section select “Mirror margins”. This will make the margins on facing pages mirror images of one another, and alters some options in the dialog. Left and Right margin names are changed to Inside and Outside respectively, the Gutter position drop-down is locked, and instead of one page, the dialog displays two facing pages at the bottom.

Now you can set your inside and outside margins. Take a book of the same dimensions and type as your intended book (i.e., trade paperback novel, training manual, etc.) off your shelf and measure its margins. Note that margins are sized up or down incrementally for different page sizes. The IndieAuthor Guide has 1” margins, but that would be much too wide for a mass-market paperback-sized book. In trade paperbacks, I set margins of ½”.
Inside and outside margins are generally set to the same width. Don’t worry about making the inside margin wider to account for the binding, because the Gutter setting will handle that.

Because hardcover and paperback books do not lie flat when they’re opened, a certain amount of empty space is needed between the book’s spine and the text on each page, to account for the part of the page that’s hidden by the binding. The Gutter setting allows you to specify how much empty space you want in that area of each page, between the spine and the inside margin.

The dimensions, page count and purpose of your book will determine the appropriate Gutter width. A large-format book will open a little bit wider than a small-format book, exposing more of the Gutter area to the reader. A thin book will open wider than a thick one as well, also exposing more of the Gutter.

Get a book of the same approximate size and thickness as your intended book and open it to a page somewhere near the middle, as if to read. Tilt the top of the book down so you can see the top edge of the spine, and measure the distance between the spine and visible inner edge of the printed pages—in other words, measure how much of each page is invisible because it’s curved inward, toward the spine. That distance is the width of the Gutter, and in mainstream books with glued bindings, it’s often too narrow.

If you’ve ever had to forcibly flatten an open book in order to more easily see the text closest to the spine, you know how annoying it is to the reader when Gutters are too narrow. Moreover, flattening a book in such a way can crack a glued binding, resulting in loose or even lost pages. If you want to make the reader comfortable and increase the chance your book will survive its first reading, be generous with your Gutters.

The purpose of your book comes into play when you imagine how the book is most likely to be positioned when the buyer is reading it. Books that are read for pleasure will be held in the reader’s hands, but in a how-to book like The IndieAuthor Guide, the reader will frequently need to lay the book open on a desk or table and refer to it as she follows a step-by-step procedure. Knowing this, I set the Gutter for this book to 1”. This, together with my 1” inner margin, makes the distance from the spine to the inner edge of my text a whopping 2”. The book still won’t lay perfectly flat on a desk or table, but the reader should have no difficulty reading right up to the inner margin when she glances up from her computer to look at it.

Try setting your Gutter to .5, or ½”. Notice that the facing-pages image at the bottom of the dialog now displays the gutter as shaded margins along the inner edge of each page.

In the Preview section at the bottom of the dialog, leave the ‘Apply to’ dialog box set to its default value of ‘Whole document’. Click the ‘Paper’ tab to open the Paper options dialog.

All you need to set on this tab is ‘Paper size’, at the top of the dialog, by manually entering your desired page height and width. If your book will be a ‘perfect bound’ paperback, in which the pages of the book are flush with the edges of the cover, set the paper size to your intended book’s dimensions (i.e., 6x9” for trade paperback).
If your book will be a hardcover, you will need to consult your publisher/printer to learn the correct paper size for your book’s dimensions.

The facing-pages preview at the bottom of the dialog will display a rough approximation of how your margin and gutter options will be applied to pages of the size you’ve specified, so if something looks screwy in that little picture you may need to go back to the Margins tab and make adjustments. When you’re satisfied with the preview image, click the Layout tab.

For most books, the only settings to be altered here are in the Headers and Footers section. Click on the checkboxes next to ‘Different odd and even’ and ‘Different first page’ to select them.

If yours is a poetry book, cartoon collection or other type of book with ‘alternative’ page layout, you may want to set ‘Vertical alignment’ in the Page section to Center instead of its default value of Top.

Click the OK button, and you’re done with the Page Setup dialog.

Up Next: Building a Manuscript Shell – Set Up Front Section