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Thread: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?


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Permlink Replies: 12 - Pages: 1 - Last Post: Mar 25, 2013 1:57 PM Last Post By: punchygonzales
Xunaira

Posts: 28
Registered: 10/02/12
Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 9:57 AM
 
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I am confused as to whether i should make the manuscript single spaced or double spaced? Please help
man2010

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Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 10:14 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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Use default spacing in Microsoft Word or use single-spaced. Double-spacing won't work on older Kindles.
Xunaira

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Registered: 10/02/12
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 10:28 AM   in response to: man2010 in response to: man2010
 
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I checked via Kindle previewer, it doesn't show much change. Should i indent my paragraphs as well?
man2010

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Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 10:59 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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Yes, you can create a paragraph style that has "special" indent "first-line" at 0.5"
In this case you need to also eliminate spacing between paragraphs by setting "spacing before" and "spacing after" to 0.1 pt
After that, select your paragraphs and apply this Word style.
wildeatheart

Posts: 85
Registered: 02/08/12
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 11:41 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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Just wanted to add . . . paragraphs in novels are typically indented---except for the first paragraph in each chapter. That paragraph typically is not indented.

I'm with the others on spacing--go single. Double is a classic newbie mistake and makes for far more frequent page turns, which can be really irritating to readers. ;-)
Xunaira

Posts: 28
Registered: 10/02/12
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 1:16 PM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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And i can't seem to place space in my manuscript! How do i do that?
man2010

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Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 8:48 PM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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What do you mean?
J Hastell

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Registered: 10/25/12
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 23, 2013 7:15 PM   in response to: man2010 in response to: man2010
 
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Select/highlight all the text you wish to set to single.
From the top menu bar select FORMAT.
From the drop down menu select PARAGRAPH.
In the box that appears, on the tab marked 'Indents and Spacing' look for the section that says 'Spacing'
Within that section is a box marked 'Line spacing:'
Set this to 'Single' if it isn't.
Select OK at the bottom. Close box.
jtbigtoad

Posts: 9,273
Registered: 08/01/10
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 24, 2013 4:24 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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And i can't seem to place space in my manuscript! How do i do that?
You're not saying what kind of "space" you're looking for indents should not be created with either spaces or tabs – use a defined first line indent – I like to use 0.38" this standard is 0.5". I don't like 0.5" because it is too big and indent for small screens.

For space between paragraphs, you should have a "space after" setting of 12 points (that's one line).

An extra line feed (carriage return, ENTER key etc.) will not be honored by all applications.

You can also use the space before/space after settings for things like headings and titles.

In Word 2003 all that kind of stuff is controlled by Styles. In the later editions of Word, this function is cleverly hidden with a bunch of junk which just really complicates everything!

If you have a later edition of Word, you may want to click the help function and look up Styles – it may make your life a lot easier.

JT

;)
punchygonzales

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Registered: 11/26/11
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 24, 2013 7:55 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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I can't think of a single book I've ever seen that was double spaced.
punchygonzales

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Registered: 11/26/11
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 24, 2013 8:00 AM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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It just dawned on me that you probably have a standard double spaced document for submitting to publishers and wondered if maybe the conversion process took out the double spaces for you. There's a conversion program called Calibre that has an option to take out spaces, but KindleGen will not do this for you.
Michael Robinson

Posts: 444
Registered: 12/26/12
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 25, 2013 1:31 PM   in response to: Xunaira in response to: Xunaira
 
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My cordial suggestion is that you should neither make nor impose ANY assumptions regarding the formatting of the book ... if you don't have to.

After all, you've no idea what sort of reader-device the reader might be using. Could be the latest gadget; could be an old one; could be a portable phone.

Focus on your =content= and, insofar as possible, do it as generically as you can. Let the reader-device, whatever it may be, be free to make as many final-decisions as possible.

If it's clear-enough to me, the Gentle Reader on my "I wanna upgrade this thing as soon as I can afford to" cell-phone on this six-hour flight, where the paragraph breaks are ... why do you have to care whether they're indented or not? 'Cuz if they ARE "indented," it causes me to see two characters on the right of an otherwise-blank line, word-wrapped to the next still-impossibly-short line, and I say to thee, "gee, thanks."

:-) Plan to write great content, such that, even if you find yourself with both hands tied behind your back and stuffed into a very tiny box, the content still manages to get through to that PAYING CUSTOMER in row 38C, with a cell-phone in his hand on that ungodly six-and-a-half hour flight.
punchygonzales

Posts: 2,853
Registered: 11/26/11
Re: Should the Kindle e-book be single spaced or double spaced?
Posted: Mar 25, 2013 1:57 PM   in response to: Michael Robinson in response to: Michael Robinson
 
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If the book is fiction, then it needs to be indented and with no blank lines between paragraphs though or we're doomed as a civilzed society. :)

Seriously, I'm not going to go against several hundred years of tradition just because a handful of people might read a book on a cell-phone. Besides, if a book is formatted correctly with indents, it will still look fine on a cell-phone unless the cell-phone itself has serious problems.
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