Your Formatting Is Costing You Sales
You have written a great book. Your cover looks professional. Your description is compelling. But something is wrong. Readers are not finishing your book, and some reviews mention that it is "hard to read" or looks "amateurish." The problem might not be your writing at all. It might be your formatting.
Bad formatting makes readers trust your content less, even if they cannot articulate exactly why. Studies show that readers unconsciously judge the quality of writing based on how it appears on the page. A professionally formatted book signals that the author is serious about their craft. Poor formatting suggests the opposite, no matter how brilliant the actual content may be.
In this guide, we will examine the seven most damaging formatting mistakes that self-published authors make, explain why each one hurts your sales, and show you exactly how to fix them.
Mistake 1: Inconsistent Chapter Headings
The problem with inconsistent headings shows up more often than you might expect. Chapter 1 might be bold at 24 points, Chapter 2 ends up italic at 18 points, and by Chapter 10, you have switched fonts entirely. Sometimes authors adjust headings on the fly without maintaining a master document of their style choices.
This inconsistency damages reader trust. When chapter headings look different throughout a book, readers register the chaos subconsciously. They feel that something is off, even if they cannot identify the specific issue. This feeling undermines their confidence in the content itself.
The fix is straightforward: create a style sheet before you begin formatting. Document exactly which font family you will use for headings, at what size, with what spacing before and after, and whether you will use title case or all capitals. Then apply these choices consistently to every single chapter heading in your book. Most word processors allow you to create named styles that you can apply with one click, ensuring perfect consistency.
Mistake 2: Wrong Margins for Print
Many authors use identical margins on the left and right sides of every page, or they set margins too small to account for the binding. This might look fine on a screen or even in a PDF, but it creates serious problems in a physical printed book.
On a physical book, the inner margin, called the gutter, must be wider than the outer margin. This extra space accounts for the portion of each page that disappears into the binding. Without adequate gutter margin, text runs too close to the spine, forcing readers to crack the book open uncomfortably just to read words near the center.
The solution is to use mirror margins in your word processor. Set the inside margin to approximately 0.875 inches for binding, while keeping the outside margin at about 0.75 inches. Top and bottom margins can remain at 0.75 inches as well. For longer books exceeding 400 pages, increase the inside margin to a full inch because thicker spines consume more space.
Mistake 3: No First Line Indent
Paragraphs that run together without any first line indent create a wall of text effect. Each paragraph blends into the next, making it difficult for readers to track where they are on the page. The reading experience becomes dense and exhausting.
Professional books indent the first line of each paragraph by approximately 0.3 to 0.5 inches. This small visual break helps readers' eyes return to the left margin and register that a new thought is beginning. However, there is an important exception: the first paragraph after a chapter heading or scene break should start flush left with no indent. This convention signals the start of a new section and provides visual variety.
Implement this fix by creating two paragraph styles in your word processor: one for regular body text with a first line indent, and one for opening paragraphs without the indent. Apply the appropriate style throughout your manuscript.
Mistake 4: Scene Breaks Without Visual Markers
Some authors indicate scene transitions using only an extra blank line between paragraphs. While this might work in most situations, it creates a serious problem when the scene break falls at the top or bottom of a page.
When a blank line break occurs at a page boundary, readers cannot see it. They turn the page expecting continuity and instead find themselves in a completely different time or place. This confusion breaks immersion and frustrates readers who must reread to understand what happened.
The professional solution is to use ornamental dividers for scene breaks. Simple options include a row of asterisks or decorative symbols like diamonds or flourishes. More elaborate options include custom ornaments that match your genre. Gothic fantasy might use an intricate celtic knot, while contemporary romance might use a heart or floral design. These visual markers remain visible regardless of page breaks.
Mistake 5: Running Headers Done Wrong
Running headers serve an important navigation function, especially in non-fiction books where readers may flip back and forth between sections. However, many authors either omit running headers entirely or make them so prominent that they compete with the body text for attention.
Headers that are too large or too bold pull the reader's eye away from the actual content. Headers that match the body text styling create confusion about what is a header and what is part of the chapter text.
The fix involves following traditional conventions. Place the book title on left-hand pages and the chapter title or author name on right-hand pages. Use a smaller font size, typically 9 to 10 points, and consider using italics or a lighter font weight to differentiate headers from body text. Keep headers subtle enough that readers can ignore them when focused on reading but find them helpful when navigating.
Mistake 6: Poor Typography Choices
Using decorative fonts for body text is a common mistake among new authors who want their book to look unique. Script fonts, brush fonts, or heavily stylized display fonts might look interesting for a few words, but they become exhausting to read over hundreds of pages.
Another typography problem is pairing fonts that clash stylistically. A modern geometric sans-serif heading paired with an ornate old-style serif body creates visual dissonance that readers find uncomfortable even if they cannot explain why.
For body text, stick with proven serif fonts like Garamond, Georgia, Palatino, or Times New Roman at sizes between 10.5 and 12 points. These fonts have been refined over decades specifically for extended reading and they work. For headings, either use a bold version of your body font or pair it with a clean sans-serif that shares similar proportions. Never use Comic Sans, Papyrus, or script fonts for body text under any circumstances.
Mistake 7: Not Optimizing for Your Genre
Every genre has established formatting conventions that readers have come to expect. Romance readers anticipate elegant flourishes and ornamental chapter openers. Thriller readers expect clean, fast-paced layouts with shorter paragraphs. Literary fiction readers appreciate traditional, classic formatting with generous margins and proper drop caps.
When your formatting breaks these conventions, readers feel that something is wrong with the book even if they cannot identify the specific issue. A thriller formatted like a romance novel feels slow and overdecorated. Literary fiction with sci-fi styling feels gimmicky and inappropriate.
The solution is to research your genre before formatting. Look at bestsellers in your category and note their formatting choices. What fonts do they use? How are chapters opened? Are there ornaments or drop caps? What is the overall visual density of the page? Then match your formatting to those conventions while maintaining your own style.
The Professional Difference
Compare a professionally formatted page to an amateur one, even without reading the words. The professional version has consistent spacing, proper margins that account for binding, clear scene break markers, subtle running headers, readable typography, and genre-appropriate styling. The amateur version has inconsistent spacing, tight margins, missing or invisible scene breaks, competing headers, poor font choices, and no attention to genre expectations.
The difference is immediately obvious, and readers notice within seconds of opening your book. First impressions matter enormously in book publishing, and formatting creates that first impression before a single word is read.
How to Fix Your Formatting Instantly
You do not need to be a designer or spend weeks learning formatting software. PublishReady handles all of these formatting concerns automatically. Simply upload your manuscript as plain text or a Word document, choose from our seven genre-specific templates, and download a professionally formatted file ready for publishing.
We apply proper margins, consistent styling, genre-appropriate ornaments, professional typography, and all the details that separate amateur books from professional ones. The entire process takes under 60 seconds and produces results that rival expensive professional formatting services.
Ready to fix your formatting? Try PublishReady free and see the difference professional formatting makes for your book.