Starting a new document:
File > New Document (Do not click "new book")
Then, select the page size that you want. For most Explorer Stories, use "Letter Half" (8.5" tall x 5.5" wide).
If you print at Kinko's use "Letter Half." If you print via createspace, use the right size from their lists.
Or, manually enter the page size. InDesign defaults to picas and points for it's units of measurement. That doesn't matter—you can type in "8.5 in" and push tab and it will understand what you mean (eight and half inches, in this case).
Then, set your margins. It is easier to do it now. You can probably use the default margins, but some people (like me), like wider margins. I usually adjust them at this point. For letter size paper, or anything close to it, I use 1" margins. For half letter, I'd use .75" margins. Set them now.
Hint: slightly wider margins give you more room for your folio.
Don't worry about the number of pages now. You can change that as you go.
Push "Enter/Return" when you have the page size correct and the margins correct.
WARNING: If you set the page size incorrectly, you will have to re-do everything!
Page order for a book:
Usually books have a certain page order. Check with professional example, and base your work off of the best samples that you can find.
Here's a pretty standard page order for a book:
Title page
Sometimes designers will stretch this over a few pages like this:
Page 1: Half title page (just the book title)
Page 2: Series title page (other books in the series or other books you wrote)
Page 3: Title page (full title & subtitle of book, author, co-author, etc. & publisher's name/logo)
The title page often looks similar to the cover.
Copyright page—copyright info is pretty standard and can be found in any of our older books
Dedication page—consider dedicating your book to those who inspired you, your family, etc.
Table of contents—this usually takes a few pages. Some designers like this to start on a right page, so they might insert a blank page after the dedication page to make this happen.
Foreward, preface, acknowledgements—If you have these, this is where they go, in this order. Again, a lot of designers prefer these to start on right pages, so use blank pages for left pages if you need. Some books move the acknowledgments to the back.
Chapter One—It should start on a right-hand page. You might use a blank page for the left page, or put an illustration there. If you have nothing, consider a logo or icon that represents your book and can be used over & over.
Use the same font from your title page for your chapter titles.
Continue laying out your book… Generally, new sections or new chapters should start on right hand pages, especially on one-of-a-kind books like these.
Back matter: Appendix, notes, glossary, bibliography, references, contributors, sometimes the acknowledgments, resources—These are not required, but this is where they go. The acknowledgments section is particularly nice (and appropriate) to have. Say thanks to those who helped you, who inspired you, who edited your work, who did research, who read your drafts, etc.
The last page—It has to be a left page. This is how the physical universe works, and your book will not print if the last page is not a left page. Some designers like to put a little logo or graphic element here. You could make one or you could use the HTHMA logo.
Master Pages
InDesign uses "Master pages" as the base layer(s) of every page. Whatever you put on the master pages shows up on every page.
You will probably only put your "folio" here: the page number (at least), the book title and maybe graphic element.
You can find the master pages at the top of the "Pages" palette on the top right of your screen.
Inserting Auto Page Numbers
Select the "Master Pages" in the "Pages" palette on the right part of your screen.
These pages are probably blank.
Draw a text box where you want your page numbers to go. This is outside of the margins, but close to the margins.
While the cursor is blinking inside this text box, click Type > Insert Special Character > Auto Page Number or Current Page Number, depending on your version of InDesign.
A capital "A" will show up in the text box. This is a little code to InDesign to show the page number automatically.
Click to one of your pages in the pages palette—the correct page number should show.
Now do the other page. You can copy/paste the first, or just do the steps again.
Important: check the alignment of both page numbers! Use your rulers, click & drag a ruler, view the grid, just do something to make sure both page numbers are lined up, even and look good! Don't rush—your page numbers show up on every page!
Optional: Lots of designers like to put the title of the book here, or maybe only on one page. Feel free to design a creative & original "folio." The word "folio" here refers to the total package of the page number, any accompanying text, and any graphic element, like a little logo or line.
Measure everything and keep track of fonts & sizes! If you want it to look professional it should be small, elegant, and aligned properly.
Laying Out Text
Getting Text on the page:
There are two ways to do this. It doesn't matter what method you use, just do it carefully!
If you have a word document of your story or something like that on your desktop…
Click File > Place
Select your story in the "Place" dialogue box and push Enter/Return.
The cursor should change to a little image of some text. The cursor is now "loaded" with your story.
Click on the page where you want it to go.
The story will show up in a text box on that page.
Hooray!
If you used a Google Doc…
Open your Google doc.
Select all of your story.
Copy.
Go to InDesign.
Go to the page where you want your story to start.
Draw a text box that touches the right, left and bottom margins (not the top… see "Making Text Look Good" down below).
You should now see a blinking cursor in this empty text box.
Paste.
The story will show up in a text box on that page.
Hooray!
Set your font & font size now.
Click inside your story, so the cursor is in there.
I know that you can only see the beginning of the story. It's okay.
Select all (push "Command A").
Right click with everything selected and with the cursor over your story. A new menu will pop up.
Look for something called "Clear All Overrides." It's not always there—it's only there if it needs to be.
Look carefully.
Is it there?
If it is, click it. This gets rid of any code being transferred from the program you used to type your story. Sometimes (often) this old code messes with InDesign's ability to make text look good.
If "clear all overrides" is not there, you're all good & you can move on.
Select all again (if it's not still selected).
Set the font & font size. Kids will probably prefer size 12. Harry Potter is Adobe Garamond, size 12. Garamond & Caslon are among the most popular for novels, stories, and things like that.
Continuing your story from page to page:
Look at the bottom right of the text box holding your story. Is there a little plus sign? If so, you have more text to lay out (or a bunch of blank space to delete)!
Click on that little plus sign.
The cursor will re-load with your story.
Go to the next page in your layout.
Click on the page.
Your story drops right in, continuing from where it left off.
Adjust the text box to touch the margins.
Repeat, as necessary, until your story is all done.
Making text look good:
White space is your friend.
Use it.
Chapters almost never start at the top of the page.
Start somewhere in the middle. Use the rulers & be consistent.
Put the Chapter title in the middle of the empty space you just created.
Use a different font for the chapter title. Or, use big/little caps (This is one of the buttons on the top left of the screen when you have text selected. Just make sure you are consistent from chapter to chapter.
Start chapters on right pages.
Even if this means you have a blank left page.
Use a "drop cap."
Never just make the first letter a bigger font size.
This messes up spacing, alignment, etc. It doesn't look good.
To make a "drop cap," select the first letter of the chapter or section, and highlight it.
Look at the buttons at the top of the screen. One of them is an "A" going into some text, with an up arrow and a down arrow. Push the up & down arrows, and this sets the number of lines your first letter drops into the text.
If you can't see the "A," and you have the cursor in the text, then push the little "paragraph" button on the top left of your screen. Now look for the "A" again.
Consider using a different font, perhaps your title font or your chapter title font for your drop caps.
"Justify" your text.
Click the button that has the right & left sides lined up, but has a short last line.
Use your margins.
You set them for a reason. Often I see students who set their text inside their margins, but the text boxes don't touch the actual margins. I don't know why. This just means the text boxes are slightly different sizes and not lined up. When you flip through the book, it's obvious that something is off. So, bring your text boxes right to the margins.
Except for the start of chapters! Drag the top window-shade of that text box down to create with space.
Laying Out Images
Laying out images in InDesign can be easy and fun! Or, it can be a nightmare—you decide. Follow these steps and your stuff will look good every time!
First, put all of your images in a folder on your desktop.
In the immortal words of Hansel, the files need to be "in the computer. It's so simple!"
Make sure all of your images are 300 dpi/ppi at print size.
Open them in photoshop.
Click image > image size.
Make sure "Resample Image" is OFF!
Make sure "Constrain Proportions" in on!
Type "300" into the Resolution box.
The width and height probably changed. Look at these numbers. This is how big your image can be… if you don't want it to be pixelated and blurry!
Find the page where you want your first image to go.
Select the box tool from the tools palette on the left. Draw a box that is the size you want your image to be.
Click the black arrow from the tools palette. The box you just drew should be selected.
Click File > Place.
Find your images in the "Place" dialogue box. Click on the image that you want. Push enter/Return.
Viola! Your image is in the box.'
But it might be the wrong size.
Use the black arrow to adjust the size of the box that holds the image.
You can also use the black arrow and the frame that holds your image to crop your image. Cool!
Use the white arrow to resize your image by holding shift and sliding one of the corners of your image.
HOLD SHIFT THE ENTIRE TIME YOU RESIZE!
Why am I yelling? Because this is the most common mistake I see in the whole world. Push shift. Hold it down. Then resize. Let go of the image. Then let go of shift. Last.
When your image showed up in the box, was it too big?
No problem, just resize it down, using the instructions above.
Was your image too small?
If you sized it correctly in Photoshop, then you know that this is the size your image can be without pixelation.
Resize the box with the black arrow to match the image.
Don't make the image bigger. That lowers the resolution.
When resizing images…
If you make them bigger, InDesign pulls the pixels apart and the resolution goes down.
Beware! You could take a perfectly good image and make it pixelated by stretching it out.
If you make them smaller, InDesign pushes the pixels together and the resolution goes up.
Awesome! Your images are going to look great!
One last hint on images.
In CS6, click on the image, then click on the "links" palate. On the bottom half of that palate, there is something called "Effective PPI"
This should be 300 or higher, and it should be one number (not 349 x 276 or something like that). Two numbers means your image is stretched. One number means it's all good!