Page setup: the basics

Everything about how your book looks on the page—its size, margins, fonts, how chapters open—lives in one place: the page setup. This page shows you around it. The pages after this one go through each part in turn.

Open it

Open a book and choose Page setup from the Book menu. (Only the book's owner sees this; collaborators see the book as it's set.)

Screenshot: the Page setup window on its Layout tab, with the "As it prints" preview down the right-hand side.

Two tabs

• Layout is the shape of the page: trim size, margins, the size of the type and the spacing of the lines, where chapter titles sit, headers and page numbers, and a few typographic switches.
• Fonts is the type itself: which fonts set the text, the titles and the front and back matter; colors; how a chapter's first paragraph opens; and any fonts you've uploaded.

See it as it prints

On the right of the Layout tab, As it prints shows a real page from your book, set with what's in the form right now. Switch between Chapter and Front & back matter to see either kind. It catches up a moment after you stop typing, so you can try a number, look, and try another.

Under the picture, Write also does the arithmetic for you: the size of the Text block, the Lines per page, and the Estimated pages for the whole book. It also checks the setup against KDP's print requirements and says Clears KDP's print requirements, or what to fix if it doesn't.

Save, or don't

Nothing changes until you click Save setup. Cancel leaves everything as it was, so it's safe to experiment.

A setup can belong to more than one book

A page setup has a name—Trade paperback 5.25 × 8, say—and any number of books can use it. That's how a series stays consistent: change the setup once and every book in the series follows. The line at the bottom of the window tells you before you save when other books will change too.

To give one book something different, or to make a separate setup for a hardcover or large-print edition, choose + New setup from this form… from the Setup list at the top. See A page setup for each edition.

The ebook

An ebook reflows to fit each reader's screen, so trim size, margins and page numbers don't apply to it. Your fonts (if you choose to include them), chapter openings, title styles and decorations do.