#humanransom-note

hopefully the rest of it is less... well less

That was my alarm clock unfortunately but i just woke up from a killer nap which makes up for it :)

The problem for me however isn’t the physical aspect of putting the book together, it’s the typesetting.

I’ve tried looking for guides, but I’ve got ADD and the guides I can find, through google and the renegade publishing guide/advice/FAQ google doc, can’t hold my attention, and it makes me want to gnaw my own hands off.

In all honesty I just want the suggested margin measurements best for your basic A4 printer paper. (I know there’s more to typesetting, but header/footer/side margins seem to be where my mind decides to throw a fit)

I’m probably making it harder then it needs to be tbh but nothing else has helped.

Thank you for your time

Hello, and thanks for reaching out! The more community members, the merrier 😄 !

(Please note that if you'd like an expert opinion, feel free to ask in the discord/reach out to my fellow Renegade members kate2kat & pleasantboatpress here on tumblr - they work primarily in A sizes, whereas I am a filthy US american.)

When I started out, I took my software's default margins and tweaked them til they looked okay to me.

"Default": 2.5 cm for every margin.

Tweaked: 2.5 cm for the top OR bottom margin, 2 cm for all other margins.

I know these are very basic, but it's a good place to start playing around to see what works for you.

A rule of thumb is to have 10-12 (maybe up to 14) words in an average line of text. Narrow margins and small font sizes reduce the final page count, but can make the page crowded/more difficult to read, and whether that tradeoff is worth it is up to you - a test print of a page or two really helps me here.

Give your page numbers and running header/footer with the title & author info (if included) breathing room. Look at the page proportions: even if top & bottom margins are exactly the same, when there's something interrupting the white space up top it makes the bottom margin seem wider by comparison.

Look at the innards of all kinds of books and make a note of what you do and don't like in the layouts; plus, copying examples is a great way to produce a period look. The golden ratio, for instance, can be used to imitate certain medieval/renaissance manuscripts!

TL;DR: start with the measurements above & then change them as needed based on the following:

What is being printed (are you replicating a look? Trying to save paper or stretch a short fic?)

Personal preference (where do you want the page #s/ author or title info, if any? Does a crowded page or any big blank space bother you?)

Your printer (most won't print to the paper's edge, leaving a 0.5 in. wide border of untouchable space) & the peculiarities of the software you use to typeset