Setting up a Book Template Part 2

In these instructions, I'm going to take you through from the front cover through to the back cover. However, if you plan to use a print on demand (POD) house (for example, Print My Genealogy), you need to check their requirement. It may be that they need to have the covers separate from the pages of the book. Other PODs might want the front and back covers included as part of the PDF.

For my job, the covers are always included in the PDF because they use a DocuTech (special machine) to print the books as needed. The DocuTech pulls card stock for the covers and paper for the pages as needed. Many professional print shops will handle your books in the same way.

So let's create a cover.

1. Open the document you created (Genealogy Book). Note that you create a document, and when you're happy with it, you save it as a template. We've just started working on the document.
   
   When we last left the document, you had turned on the hidden codes so that you could see the end of document paragraph mark. You can turn off the hidden codes or leave them on. It's a matter of preference. I turn them on and off as I need to see them or want to hide them. For this project I would suggest that you leave the paragraph marks visible.
   
   We're not going to go into cover design because it's a huge topic and subject to lots of opinions. I'm just going to suggest that you add a graphic, a title, and an author's name. The one piece of advice I would offer is to pick a margin and stick with it. Do flush left, flush center, or flush right...avoid mixing the alignments.
2. Insert a graphic. The graphic should be existing in a folder on your system.
   
   Word 2003: Click the Insert menu--> select Picture-->select From File. A dialog appears.
   Navigate to and select the graphic you want to use. Press Enter a few times to add a few new line. Click in the first emply line below the graphic.
   
   Word 2007 or 2010: Click the Insert tab-->select Picture. A dialog appears.
   Navigate to and select the graphic you want to use. Press Enter a few times to add a few new line. Click in the first emply line below the graphic.
   
   Note the style that is applied to the graphic and the lines you added will be Normal and that's fine.
    
3. Type a title in the first empty line below the graphic, and then apply the built in Title or Book Title style.
   
   --Display a list of all styles. (See A Style for Every Season for instructions.)
   --When you locate the Title or Book Title style, click it.
   --Press the down arrow once to move your curson to the next emply line with a Normal style applied. You're going to add the author's name in the third line.
   
   Note: If you don't like what you see for the title, you can change it. Right-click the Title or Book Title style in the Styles (or Styles and Formatting) list, select Modify, and use the Modify Style dialog to change the characteristics of the style.
4. Type an author's name in the first empty line below the title. 
   
   The style that is applied is Normal. You can leave it as is. Or, you can add a new style named Author and format it as part of your cover art. You may want to create the style because you'll want to use it on the title page also.
   
   See step 3 in Create a Name Character Style to see how to display the create style dialog.
   In Name, enter Author.
   In Style type, accept the default of paragraph.
   Make the selections necessary to format the Author style (font, size, etc.), and then click OK.
   Click in the author's name you typed, and apply the Author style.
5. Click in the next emply line, and insert a page break (Ctrl + Enter). The few empty lines you have appear at the top of page two (a.k.a. the inside front cover). You might want to add several more blank lines. You can just keep clicking in the next empty line for the next element.
   
   Traditionally, the inside front cover is empty; that is, no text. However, when you create your own templates, you can do as you please. It's your template/book. If you can think of something appropriate--for example, a graphic of the family tree--you might want to add it.
6. Add a title page. Click in the next empty line, and insert a page break (Ctrl + Enter). The few empty lines you have appear at the top of page three (a.k.a. the title page).

Here's what your document should look like so far.

Not much to see yet but it will get better...just stick with me.