You want to create a professional looking ebook, but you’re not a professional designer.
These 5 ebook design tips will help you with that. You don’t need any design skills to do these and you can implement these to your current book right now.
If you enjoy these tips, be sure to check out Ebook Blueprint for the complete guide on how to write, design, and publish a high quality ebook. Let’s get started.
Spacing & Margins
The first quick design fix is to adjust your margins to create a cleaner looking page. Oftentimes I see ebooks and even blogs with clumpy paragraphs and articles that run all the way to the edge of the page.
Not a good look.
What you want to focus on is the space between the paragraphs and the edge, the space between each paragraph, and the space between each line of text. You can adjust each of these by playing around with:
Margins – go for 1.2 inch margins all around
Paragraph – set yours to 6 points before and after in Microsoft word
Line spacing – 1.15 to 1.3 is a good place to start
Here’s a quick example of a clumpy page (left) versus one with proper spacing in mind (right).
Transparent Background Images
Okay, you’re one step closer to designing a professional looking ebook. Now we have to focus on the images you’re using.
So one of the biggest advantages of creating a digital book is adding images, visuals, and graphics to better convey your message. But bad, low-quality images can decrease the perceived value of your book. (plus, they look crappy)
I like using PNG images. These are images that have a transparent background and allows your images to blend in with the rest of the book.
Here’s a quick example of a light bulb with a white background (left) versus a light bulb with a transparent light bulb (right). Notice how much cleaner the second page looks without that square white background surrounding the bulb.
Pattern Interrupting Quote Pages
Two down, three to go. Let’s talk about pattern interrupting quote pages. I’m sure you’ve seen quotes inside of books before.
Authors add them to the beginning of the book, start of a new chapter, or at the end of the book. With an ebook you can easily create high quality quote pages that interrupt the flow and grabs your reader’s attention.
I like to use DaFont.com to download and install free fonts. The one I’m using in the example below is called “Spray Paint” and I think it looks pretty cool.
Check out the difference between the plain quote using regular font on the left, and the Spray Paint font on the right. You can do this with your ebook to make it stand out.
Fonts and Sizes
This is one area where people might go a little overboard. Using different fonts can spice up your ebook, but using too many will kill the design.
As a rule of thumb, you should stick to 3 fonts throughout the entire book. One font for your headline and sub-headers (these are your chapters and sub sections). One font for your main content areas, and one funky font for your quotes.
That’s it. More than that and you’re risking messing up the design. The same thing goes for colors. Stick to 3 main colors and you should be fine.
Here’s a quick example of a page without any headlines breaking up the text versus a page with a Sans-Serif font for headlines and sub-headings. Can you see how that second page looks a lot more professional than that first page?
Two Column Layouts
Lastly, we have columns. This is optional. It won’t necessarily make your ebook look more professional, but it’s an option if you want to try something a little bit different.
I wouldn’t do more than 2 columns. Three column pages create narrow paragraphs and it’s hard to fit any images into them. Columns are easy to create in MS Word, Powerpoint, Pages, and InDesign.
I recommend sticking with one column pages until you get really comfortable with your software of choice. I also wouldn’t recommend 2 column layouts unless you’re creating your ebook in landscape orientation.
Doing it in portrait mode will give you narrow columns. Anyhow, here’s an example of a 2 column page in landscape to give you an idea of what it would look like.
I hope these quick ebook design tips help you create a cleaner looking book. If you have any questions leave them below and for the complete Ebook Blueprint guide, click here.