Page Size in Word for a Paperback

[paul]

So I'm using Word at it's default settings, and am curious to know how many pages long my book would be if it were a typical paperback book.

What settings can I change in Word to get the pages sized to your typical paperback?

[Divides the Waters]

If you're trying to self-publish, go to Page Setup, change the page size to 6x9" instead of 8 1/2 x 11", set your margins to .5 or .75, use a gutter of .25, and mirror margins. Depending on the font you're using, a 10 point or 11 point should be about right for a paperback (I like Book Antiqua, Garamond, or Bookman Old Style myself). The best way to tell is simply to print out a page after making these changes, and put it inside a book of comparable size. Be sure to justify your text, as well.

Some other tips:

You can also use Format/Drop Cap to give the first letter of your chapter a nice feel (I use 3 lines, .1 space), and use section breaks at chapters to avoid having your headers show up on the first page of a chapter. Use alternating headers, and you can have your title on one page and author's name on the next. Make sure you're using smart quotes and apostrophes (search and replace if necessary), and make sure your tabs are all the same. (I finally eliminated all the tabs in my document, and used the slide rule at the top of the Word file to create a uniform tab at around .2)

[Jeff Gerke]

Note that typesetters have a number of subtle tweaks they can make that can change your pagecount by dozens or even hundreds of pages. Slight changes to the font size, kerning, margins, line spacing, etc., plus whether or not every chapter starts on a recto (right-side) page, size of headers, and more.

Most paperbacks are around 100,000 words. Wordcount is always preferable to pagecount when speaking with publishers and agents and such. But I do know it's fun to imagine how many pages you'd have so far if this were a printed book.

Jeff

[paul]

Thanks for the info you two!

Jeff: how many pages does 100,000 words typically translate into?

[rwley]

My novel is a standard trade paperback size, roughly 9x6, has 99,961 words and is 241 pages. Does this help?

Robi

[Divides the Waters]

Mine clocks in at 214, 000 words, and 521-534 pages (depending on whether I'm going with ten point Book Antiqua with .75 margins or eleven point Book Antiqua with .5 margins). I'm guessing Robi's is the better example here.

Incidentally, Paul, you didn't say if you were trying to self-publish or if you were just curious, but I will say this: Don't get scammed into paying for self-publishing services. There are plenty of reputable POD houses out there, but there are very few that don't charge something just to get your book in print. www.lulu.com is great for people who can do it all themselves (formatting, etc.), because you incur no cost to get the book in print. Editorial services, etc. always cost, and lulu has a minimal charge for its distribution service, but it's worlds better than Authorhouse or other similar places that charge $1000 or more just to get the book in print.

Meanwhile, I definitely recommend exhausting your resources in the traditional world first if you can.

[rwley]

I went through PublishAmerica for my novel. No cost up front, no cost for editing; no cost period. Down side; they do no marketing, no real sales pitch of any type. They make it available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and on their own storefront. I'm doing all my own sales pitches. I got my first royalty check last week; The book's been out since September and I've sold 10 copies and made a whole $12. Hey, it's a start.

Anybody wanna buy a book?

Robi

[paul]

I'm not self-publishing, just curious. I've been working in Word at its default settings and have 261 pages and 116,000 words.

Robi: I would expect your to be more pages at nearly 100K words. What size font are you using?

Thanks again for all the info - ya'll are the best around here!

[rwley]

I don't remember what they used in the final product, but it was probably a 12 pt. Those stats are for the finished book. My original manuscript in Word, in a 12 pt Times New Roman is something like 330 pages. What you produce in Word and the final formatted product are not going to be exactly alike. My original ms is also spaced at 1.5 for easier reading for me. Of course the final product is single spaced.

As Jeff said, wordcount is always the preferred method when discussing length.

Best of luck with your efforts. I look forward to reading your stuff in print one day.

Robi

[Jeff Gerke]

All of my published novels are in the 100,000-110,000-word range. In trade paper form (which is different than mass paperback) they all translated into books anywhere from 300 to 380 pages.

Jeff

[Divides the Waters]

rwley said:

I went through PublishAmerica for my novel. No cost up front, no cost for editing; no cost period. Down side; they do no marketing, no real sales pitch of any type. They make it available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and on their own storefront. I'm doing all my own sales pitches. I got my first royalty check last week; The book's been out since September and I've sold 10 copies and made a whole $12. Hey, it's a start.

Anybody wanna buy a book?

Robi

Robi, have you tried making a list on Amazon with books similar to yours? Those lists pop up every time I search, and always lead me to something I didn't even know existed.