Drop Caps, Indents, and Other Formatting Tricks in Word

Letter GJoin a discussion with self-published writers and you’ll hear strong opinions on what constitutes proper formatting for both paperbacks and eBooks. One discussion that comes up on various Kindle fora is what, exactly, to do with the first paragraph in a chapter.

There are no hard and fast rules, but there are some strong recommendations. The consensus is that for both eBooks and paperbacks, the first paragraph in a chapter shouldn’t be indented. Because I’m a curious person, I pulled five paperbacks off my shelf to see how Stephen King, Billie Letts, Barbara Kingsolver, John Steinbeck, and Larry McMurtry handled first paragraphs. Okay, not them, but their publishing and formatting teams. None had indented first paragraphs, and four of the five used drop caps. Continue reading “Drop Caps, Indents, and Other Formatting Tricks in Word”