Book Templates: Your Formatting Friend

The self-publishing process comes with a lot of preparation. One important step is getting your files ready for print. Luckily, there are resources to help format your files and ensure your pages will print perfectly. 48 Hour Books can help set you up for success with our free book templates.

Benefits of Using a Book Template

Using a book template helps ensure your book is formatted correctly for printing. When you use a template, you don’t need to worry that your file is the wrong size because it will already be set up for you. This helps guide your formatting.

Book templates ensure you’ve got the right document dimensions and margins This streamlines the printing of your book and reduces the risk of errors in formatting, which can slow down the publishing process.

If you use our book templates, you don’t have to be a graphic designer to format your book – you can be a beginner and still end up with a solid finished product, giving you peace of mind that your book will print correctly and look professional.

We’ll be breaking down how our book templates work and the available options.

48 Hour Books Templates

We offer free book templates in multiple sizes with the correct margins already set up for you. The book templates are compatible with most word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word.

Before you download your free book template, you will need to think about what size is right for your book. This will depend on your book genre, as well as your personal preference. For example, if you are writing a fiction book, common book sizes are books are usually 4.25” x 7”, 5.5” x 8.5”, or 6” x 9”. We recommend looking at books that are also in your genre to determine what you like.

Once you have decided what size you want your books to be, fill out our book template form (located at the bottom) and you will be directed to our template download page.  There are four standard book sizes to choose from. Click on your desired book dimensions to download the template.

On the same page, you will also see a downloadable PDF on how to use our templates. This contains tips and guidelines on how to input your book into the template.

Next to the PDF instructions, we also have a PDF converter called “doPDF.” When you print with 48 Hour Books, we require print-ready PDF files of your inside pages and cover. This PDF converter will come in handy if you are using a PC, so you can save your finished Word document as a PDF and upload the file for printing.

***Make sure you ALWAYS save a copy of your original Word document. You cannot make changes in a PDF file, so if you ever wish to go back and correct your files, you will need to make those changes in the original Word file.

You can choose to utilize our free book templates as you are writing your book for the first time, or you can download the template and copy and paste into the template. Keep in mind that you will most likely have to do more formatting work if you copy and paste your book into the template.

48 Hour Books can help with reformatting your files. For an additional cost, you can request book reformatting on your online order form. In this case, you would upload your Word Document and your assigned prepress technician will custom format your book file for you.

If all you need is a little file formatting guidance, we’ve got the help you need. Simply download our free book formatting tips.

Cover Templates

48 Hour Books also offers free book cover templates! These are also accessible when you fill out the free book template form.

To use a book cover template, you will first need to choose which software you want to use to create your cover. We offer two free cover design templates (Adobe InDesign and PDF). They are also available in four common book sizes.

Already a designer? Use our cover size calculators to determine your book cover measurements, such as the spine. This calculator will provide all the measurements you need to build your book cover.

If you need more cover design help, 48 Hour Books offers two cover design services:

·      Create-a-Cover (now with new cover templates available): Build your cover from a list of templates and color options and provide text and photos you wish to use. 

·      Custom Cover Design: Provide all the information you would like to see on your book cover and our designers will design your cover from scratch.

We’re Here to Help

48 Hour Books is here to help you through the process of printing and self-publishing. If you have any questions at all about preparing your files, contact us and we will connect you with one of our expert prepress technicians to help. No question is too small. Contact us today!