Smashwords Formatting Tutorial: How to Publish on Smashwords

About this video

Roberts gives a step-by-step Smashwords formatting tutorial aimed at meeting the strict Smashwords style guide and getting premium distribution right away. Step one is to ’nuke’ your document: copy all text and use Paste Special to paste it as unformatted text into a new document, removing background metadata and hidden macro content that Smashwords’s auto-formatting software cannot handle. Step two is to keep body text simple, using either first-line indents or block paragraphs, but never both. Step three is to set chapter headings using the Heading 2 style, which Smashwords recommends, without overusing heading styles because they automatically insert page breaks in the EPUB and MOBI versions. Step four is to bookmark each chapter title using Insert, Links and Bookmark, checking the hidden bookmarks box and deleting any jumbled hidden bookmarks, with a simple bookmark name containing no spaces or punctuation. Step five is to build a clickable table of contents manually at the front of the book by linking each pasted chapter title to its bookmark with Ctrl+K, rather than using auto-formatted tables of contents. Step six is to save in .docx format; he says Smashwords currently accepts .docx or EPUB, with file sizes not exceeding 10 megabytes for docs and 15 megabytes for EPUB, and advises keeping images to about 72 dpi and no bigger than 5 inches wide by 6 inches tall.

Key takeaways

• Nuke your document first by pasting all text as unformatted text into a new file to remove hidden metadata and macro content Smashwords cannot handle
• Use either first-line indents or block paragraphs in the body text, never both
• Apply the Heading 2 style to chapter titles, but do not overuse heading styles because they auto-insert page breaks in EPUB and MOBI versions
• Build the table of contents manually by bookmarking each chapter title and linking the front-of-book titles to those bookmarks, instead of using an auto-generated table of contents
• Save as .docx (Smashwords also accepts EPUB), staying under 10 megabytes for docs and 15 megabytes for EPUB, and keep images to about 72 dpi and no larger than 5 inches by 6 inches

Episode details: published August 27, 2017 · 4:06 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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