In this video we're going to be discussing How To Write A Book in
Microsoft Word. This is important to understand as a new writer, because once
your manuscript is complete, you'll share your formatted manuscript with your:
writing coach, beta readers, editors and for those of you who plan to
traditionally publish... you will also share your manuscript first with your
agent and then later with the publishing company. So here's why I like Microsoft
Word for new writers. First of all much like Google Docs its entirely online!
Which means that you can be anywhere with internet access and have the
ability to update your manuscript. It also saves your manuscript automatically.
So for those of you concerned about losing your document this function is a
lifesaver! Okay, so what I'm showing you on the screen is my format template and
this template is offered in my video course How To Write Your First Book so
that you can download it and actually use this template to work from. The page
that we're looking at now is going to be your title page. On the very first line
you're going to include your first name and your last name and then you're going
to tab over to the right and type the words Word Count and then also include
your word count. Now the reason why this is important is because there are so
many people that are gonna determine pricing based off of word counts. So to
learn your word count what you want to do is you want to go to the top of your
screen and you want to go to Review and then click Word Count and in this
particular document there are 618 words. So I want to include that number in this
Word Count section and then you're gonna drop down to the next line and you're
going to type your address on the very next line you're gonna type your city
state and zip and then you're gonna type your email address on the next line. Now
with your email address make sure that it's an email that you check regularly!
This is going to be the email that you're going to either be giving to your
editor or your writing coach or even to an agent or the publishing company. So
you want to make sure that it's an email address that you check often. Then you're
going to drop down to the middle of the page and you're going to put your
manuscript title in all capital letters. Then you'll drop down two additional
lines and you're going to put the words By and then your first and last name. And
that basically is what your title page consists of. It's all pretty simple the
next page right after your title page is where
your manuscript begins.You first want to do a Page Break so that your manuscript
starts on a new page. So in the menu click Insert then click Page Break and
that will start you off on a new page. You'll also want to use this page break
when you're looking to start a new chapter. So whenever you're starting the
new chapter make sure to always start it off with a page break first. Now we're
going to make some changes to the manuscript itself the first thing you
want to do is confirm the page layout so click Layout then click Margins and
confirm that it's set to normal. Next click these three dots then Paragraph
Options and then make sure that your line
spacing says double. You'll notice that there is going to be an extra space
between the line and this is just gonna make it easier for the person reviewing
your document. The next thing you want to do is make sure that you're using the
right font so the most common font for a manuscript is Times New Roman. You can
also use Arial and also Courier. So in order to change the font you would click
Home and if you already have text you would want to select it first otherwise
for the sake of this video I'm gonna just confirm that it's set to Times New
Roman and you'll also want to confirm that your font size is 12. So you're
choosing 12-point font because it's the standard font size you don't want it to
be smaller and you don't want it to be bigger. Again we're trying to make it as
easy as possible for the person reviewing the document. The last thing
that we want to do is make sure that we include a header. Now the reason why the
header is important is if a person decides to print your document you want
to make sure that they know that your document is in the correct order. So
we're going to add a couple of things to the header. We're going to include your
name and your manuscript title. And we're also going to include page numbers this
way if they print it and it happens to get out of order they can put it back
into order. Okay so to get to your header click here where it says Header and now
you can type in this section. So include your first and last name. You're gonna
put a space and then you're gonna put a slash another space and then you're
gonna put your manuscript title. Then you're going to click Insert then Page
Numbers and then I'm going to hit this option on the far right that will right
align the page numbers. Now you just click on your document and you can begin
typing your manuscript. So I hope you enjoyed this video
if you want to write a book that helps you to connect with readers and sell
more books make sure to visit my website at howtowriteabookthatsells.com.
Oh and guys don't forget this template is offered in my video course How To
Write Your First Book so you can download it and you don't even have to
worry about setup because it's already set up for you in the course!