Formatting a Book (Without Losing Your Mind)

Let’s be honest for a second. When you first decide to self-publish, you probably imagine the hardest part will be writing the actual book. Sitting down every day, wrangling words onto the page, battling self-doubt and plot holes and caffeine crashes. And yes, that part is hard. Brutally hard sometimes. But no one warns you about what comes next.

Formatting.

You finish your manuscript. You feel proud, maybe even a little invincible. Then you open your file, take one look at the margins, the font inconsistencies, and the chaotic line breaks, and suddenly you’re questioning every life choice that led you to this moment.

I’ve been there. I survived. And I found a way through without turning into a sleep-deprived formatting zombie.

Here’s what works for me.

For Print: Apple Pages, Every Time

I know some folks swear by Microsoft Word, while others spend hours navigating the labyrinth of Adobe InDesign. Personally, I use Apple Pages. And honestly? It’s underrated.

Pages comes with built-in book templates that are surprisingly beautiful and professional. They’re clean, simple, and easy to customize. You don’t need to be a graphic designer or a layout expert. Just drop in your manuscript, make a few adjustments to match your vibe, and you’re good to go. The formatting options are intuitive, the page and section breaks are easy to manage, and the export to PDF is flawless for most print-on-demand platforms.

Sample Book Template, Apple Pages

One of the things I love most is that it doesn’t overcomplicate the process. There’s enough flexibility to get creative, but not so many knobs and levers that you end up lost in formatting hell. If you’re working on a Mac and haven’t given Pages a real shot, I highly recommend it.

For Ebooks: Reedsy Is a Lifesaver

Now let’s talk about digital formatting, which can feel like solving a puzzle in a language you don’t speak. EPUBs, MOBIs, HTML tagging, chapter linking—it’s a mess. Or at least, it used to be.

Reedsy changed the game for me. Their free online formatting tool lets you upload your manuscript, pick a style, and download a polished EPUB or MOBI file in just a few clicks. It handles chapter breaks, metadata, table of contents, front matter, back matter—everything that used to give me a headache. And the end result looks good. Like, actually good. Not like “eh, this’ll do” but clean and professional, with zero weird spacing or broken links.

Reedsy Design Studio

The best part? You don’t have to fiddle with code or download any special software. It’s all browser-based and beginner-friendly, which is perfect if you just want to get your book out into the world without a tech meltdown.

For those concerned about formatting print, you can export your Reedsy book to PDF, too! This way, all of your formatting is in one place. However, the free version requires credit to be written in your copyright page.

Thinking About Hiring Someone? Read This First.

There’s no shortage of people out there who will format your book for you... for a price. You’ll find freelancers on Fiverr, Upwork, even platforms like BookBub that offer paid services to get your manuscript looking polished. And look, if you’ve got the money and zero interest in learning this stuff yourself, outsourcing can be a great option. Some folks do incredible work.

But here’s the real question: Is it worth it? Can you confidently say your book will sell enough copies to cover that investment? Will the formatting alone make or break your launch? Or is that money better spent on a professional edit, a stronger cover design, or a marketing push that actually gets eyes on your work?

Formatting matters, yes... but only after the story, the writing, and the strategy are locked in. So before you drop $100–300 on layout, ask yourself what stage you’re really in. If you’re still building your audience or publishing your first book, there’s no shame in using the tools that are free and functional. You can always upgrade later. But if you’ve got momentum and want to free up your time to focus on writing, then hiring out might be the right move.

Just don’t assume spending money guarantees sales. It doesn’t. Be honest about where you are in the process, and what your book actually needs.

What You Actually Need (And Don’t)

You don’t need fancy software. You don’t need a hundred-dollar subscription. You don’t need to cry into your keyboard while trying to figure out how to force Word not to indent the first paragraph of a chapter.

You just need tools that work. For me, it’s Pages for print and Reedsy for digital. Simple, clean, affordable. And it frees up your energy for the stuff that really matters, like writing the next book or figuring out how to actually sell the one you just formatted.

But that’s a different blog post.

So what about you? If you’ve found a formatting tool that made your life easier, I’d love to hear about it. Or if you’re in the thick of formatting chaos right now, drop a comment and I’ll see if I can help. Let’s share resources and make this whole process suck a little less for everyone!

Until next time,

Read weird shit.

—Rufus Watson