I’m about to publish my book, but formatting is turning out to be harder than I thought. I want it to look professional, but I’m not sure if I should learn how to format your text into a book myself or hire someone.
If you’ve gone through the process, did you use any specific software or service? Was hiring a professional worth it, or is formatting your text into a book something that’s easy to do with the right tools?
That truly depends on how comfortable you feel doing your own design and formatting. If you're technical and willing to learn, software such as Vellum for Mac, Adobe InDesign, or Atticus can help you format your book more professionally. If time is short or if you want a polished, stress-free outcome, it may be worth hiring a professional—especially for print books where margins, spacing, and fonts are so important. There are those who even say that they will consider using a dissertation proposal service to have someone format a complex document for them. I’ve watched indie authors wrestle with the formatting and at the end of the day hire a pro anyway. If your budget permits, a formatter will save you a lot of headaches!