{"id":7599,"date":"2024-03-28T06:34:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T06:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qinprinting.com\/blog\/?p=7599"},"modified":"2026-01-08T16:20:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:20:49","slug":"fundamentals-of-typesetting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qinprinting.com\/blog\/fundamentals-of-typesetting\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Fundamentals of Typesetting? An Independent Publisher's Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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As one of the world's most successful international offset printers specializing in supporting independent publishers, one of the most common errors we see is poor typesetting. Here, we clear up the confusion and explain the basic rules to save you time, trouble, and money when designing your books.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Book Printed by QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What is typesetting?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The entire purpose of proper typesetting is to make the reading experience as seamless and non-invasive as possible. Even those of us who are unfamiliar with the subject will always notice poor font selection and ill-thought layouts. So, what precisely do we mean by the fundamentals of typesetting<\/strong>, and why is it vital for independent publishers to understand? Typesetting is creating book pages based on particular, long-established criteria in order to generate a professional appearance and provide legible print and layouts of high quality. In short, beautiful pages that are a pleasure to read.<\/p>

Many self-publishers\u200a\u2014\u200aespecially the least experienced\u200a\u2014\u200aseem to consider it an insignificant concern to deal with hyphens, widows, orphans, tight and loose lines, and the various other “principles” of typesetting. Most don’t even understand the terms. And that’s fine if you’re outsourcing your book design to a third-party professional. But if you want to handle this aspect of your publishing journey yourself\u200a\u2014\u200abecause of budget constraints or a desire to be in complete creative control of your project\u200a\u2014\u200athen you need to learn how to do it properly.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why does typesetting matter?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Every element of the book’s page structure shares a single aim: to decrease the number of pauses or moments of confusion that may disrupt the reading experience. In the early days of self-publishing, readers were more tolerant of poor typesetting as they understood it was all a bit “D.I.Y” and might have even seen it as part of its charm. But times have changed, standards have improved, and in line with reader expectations, the bar has been raised. There is no longer any place for pretense; readers are cognizant of do-it-yourself work, and it’s unfortunate to lose a reader’s attention because of poor formatting, particularly when the content is well worth reading.<\/p>

So, to help you, we’ve outlined below the major problems we see repeatedly, along with helpful hints and tips to guide you in getting it right. Look out for the points that follow, which are perhaps the most common challenges independent publishers experience when preparing their typesetting and book layouts:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What makes a book look like a book?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The material’s arrangement within a strictly defined zone on the printed page, called the book block<\/em>, is what makes books appear more like books than pamphlets or brochures, for example. This results from the simple fact that facing pages always end on the same line, giving the book block its characteristic appearance. The sole exception may be the chapter’s concluding page.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Book Printed by QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Margins and binding<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Because of the large margins of white space surrounding the book block, the reader’s eye may move easily from one line to the other while reading. When binding a book’s pages, the process squeezes them together slightly, removing some of the margin space. If you don’t account for this compression, the margin on the binding’s inner side may appear to be smaller than the margin on the outside.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Alignment<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The text ought to be aligned across the entire page. Consider a traditionally produced book: if you lay a ruler below a line on the left-hand page, it will correspond with the same line on the page opposite it. Misaligned pages are a common error that we often see in files submitted to us for printing from inexperienced designers. If it’s the first time you’ve designed a book interior, you’ll need to spend plenty of time changing the spacing between lines to make sure this alignment is precise, especially if you add subheadings, lists, and images.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Alignment\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Image from QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Widows and orphans<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In typography, a “widow” is a solitary line of text at the end of a paragraph that ends up at the top of the next column, and an “orphan” is a single word occupying the last line on a page. To avoid widows and orphans, you need to make sure that the first line of a paragraph does not overlap with the last line of a page, and that the final line of a paragraph does not extend to the top of the page that comes after it. When lines are widowed or orphaned, they force the reader to pause, impeding their ability to absorb the text. To remove these, a professional book designer will go forward and backward several times, adjusting pages as needed. If you’re going to do it yourself, you’ll need to do that, too. When a subhead appears at the bottom of the page, it ought to be followed by at least two lines of text while maintaining the book block. Leaving orphaned headings looks ugly and may be confusing for the reader.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Image from QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Line spacing \/ Leading<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It’s challenging for readers to follow lines of text that are too close together or overly far apart in terms of line spacing. Some independent authors with whom we’ve worked have tried to increase or decrease the total number of pages of a book by adjusting the line spacing. This action typically aims to reduce the costs connected with printing the book. Take this advice to heart, however: while there’s a certain amount of “wriggle room” in line spacing, do not overcompensate for your page count by adding or removing so much line spacing that it looks silly. The small saving you might make in production costs will not be worth the loss of sales you experience because you’ve printed an unreadable book!<\/p>

Most times, there ought to be no line space separating paragraphs. Known as paragraph spacing, leaving these gaps is great when you’re publishing online\u200a\u2014\u200asay a blog or web page\u200a\u2014\u200abut looks odd and distracting on the printed page. The only exception is a scene transition or the start of a new section, which you can show by inserting a line space before a paragraph if you think it’s really necessary. If there is an empty line before the paragraph concerned, eliminate the first-line indentation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Image from QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The matter of fonts<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Serif fonts are preferable for longer stretches of writing. Our minds learn to identify word shapes rather than reading every single letter individually. Serifs, which are the ornamental flourishes that complete the ends of a letter, form a link between the letters, which produces a shape that is more recognizable and easy on the reader’s eye compared to a sans serif font. We strongly advise using typefaces without serifs only for headlines and other small-scale purposes. To improve readability, choose a type size with a maximum of 70 characters per line.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Image from QinPrinting<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dashes<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Each style of font has three different dashes. They are:<\/p>