Deborah Woehr

This is where I screwed up. Lulu requires your page count to be divisble by four. Not a problem, I thought. I’ll just add a couple of pages to the back and one to the front to get the right number.

I succeeded with that, but the layout wasn’t what I had expected. First off, my title page was located on the second page instead of the very first. The anthology is divided into author sections, with the first page showing a picture of the author’s blog as well as a short bio. Some of these pages were printed on an even page, while others were printed on an odd page. It was not consistent.

At first I thought I was being anal (that happens sometimes). I flipped through a couple of anthologies I own and saw that they started each section on an odd page. My mistake was relying on what the computer showed me. Had I printed the entire manuscript out and pasted the pages together, I would have seen exactly where to insert a blank page. As it turned out, I inserted 20!

For novels, this is not a big deal. You can have your chapter headings on either page. But I’d like you to print out your manuscript anyway. Get out a glue stick and tack the pages together, starting with the title and copyright pages.

Make mock covers for the front and back of your book, while you’re at it, and add them to your manuscript. Inspect each page for its position. By the time you turn the last page, you’ll know what your book’s interior will look like. Take this time to perform a final copy edit.

Checklist

1. Is your title page the first thing you see when you open the cover?
2. If your book has a Table of Contents, does the first page land on an odd page? It should.
3. Are the chapter headings all the same size and font? Do they line up in the same position for each chapter throughout the book?
4. Are your fonts consistent throughout the book? Do they clash with or compliment each other?
5. Catch any typos that you didn’t notice before?
6. Does each page contain 30 lines or less? This is Lulu’s recommendation for 6×9 paperbacks.
7. Are there any orphans and widows on any of the pages?
8. Are your graphics in the right position on the page?
9. Are your headers consistent, including page numbering?

Now that you’ve checked over everything, it’s time to talk about book covers.