The first step to mastering Atticus
if you're bringing in a manuscript that you've already
written is making sure your file is ready for the most efficient importing possible. So this tutorial is going to walk you through just a very few prep steps to get your docx file
perfect for importing into Atticus so that you can format a publish ready
file in no time. Let's get started. Before we look at a document, I want to
share with you a few word features that really help to prepare your document
be
fore importing into Atticus. First, I always recommend
you turn on the navigation panel, especially if you're using
chapter titles in your book to turn on the navigation panel. Click view from the top menu
and then make sure there's a checkmark beside navigation pane. This allows
you to navigate within your book quickly and easily,
jumping to designated chapters. The second feature in Word
that is extremely useful is the Show
Formatting Marks feature. If you click home from the top menu,
you'll
see the Show/Hide paragraph marks button
right beside the Styles panel. Having this feature turned on
will show you where you have paragraphs, breaks, page breaks and more formatting
elements used within your manuscript. Preparing your manuscript for import. Before we get started
with the few formatting recommendations, there are a couple other important things
you should know about importing your book into Atticus. First, it's important
to delete any table of contents you may have in your origi
nal manuscript. If it's linked within the Word document,
it will create internal coding issues when the formatting
is converted in Atticus. But don't worry, Atticus
automatically creates a contents page for every book
that is properly formatted for both epub and print and automatically updates
with any changes you make. front matter. Atticus automatically creates
a title page and contents page, and it's easiest to remove these pages
from your word document before importing. You'll also automatic
ally
have a copyright page template in Atticus, but if you already have one written, import it
and make a few adjustments inside Atticus. If you have a dedication, page,
introduction, or any other front matter content, you can leave that
in your word document and simply drag and drop them into place
in the front letter section. After importing handling chapter breaks, making sure your chapters
separate properly once imported into Atticus
is one of the most important steps to saving time and ener
gy
in the formatting process. There are four ways you can tell Atticus
to start a new chapter. Number one, label your chapter title as Word default
Heading 1. Number two Ensure each new Chapter Title is 20 points or larger. Number three, insert a page break between chapters. Or number four press. Enter or return four times
after the last piece of body text before a new chapter begins. Setting Chapter Titles. If your book includes chapter titles,
we highly recommend you format your chapters using
one of the
first two options previously mentioned. If you ensure all your chapter titles
are either tagged as heading one or in font,
that is at least 20 points in size. Not only will Atticus know
where to start a new chapter, but it will also import your title into
the appropriate chapter title location. This will also automatic include
your chapter title in the Left navigation menu of Atticus, as well as the auto
generated table of Contents. If you use the heading one style,
you'll also see t
hem show up in the navigation pane inside Word
making it easier to navigate
through your original manuscript. This is my personal preference. If you don't use chapter titles,
a simple page break or four paragraph breaks between each chapters
will work perfectly well for your book. This is one of the ways
seeing formatting marks comes in handy. If you notice,
your document isn't properly adding breaks between your chapters. You may find that you've
accidentally inserted a section break instead of
a page break and you'll be able
to find and fix that quickly. If you can see the formatting marks. On the other hand,
if you notice, Atticus is starting new chapters
where you hadn't planned them. You may find that you've used multiple
paragraph breaks in a section of your book, and Atticus understood this
to mean start a new chapter. This will be obvious
with formatting marks showing subheadings and special paragraph styles. If you have subheadings in your book,
you can apply word default head
ing two through headings six and they will import
as unique subheading formats to Atticus. Once imported, you can set the style
for the subheading in your custom theme settings. You can also use subheadings to create
special paragraph styles for your tax. For example, if one of your characters
loves to write notes, you can set their notes as headings
three in your Word document. Once imported into Atticus,
you can set the heading three style to be a script font. Don't worry
what your subheadings
look like in Word. You'll format them in Atticus. Always use Word default styles. If you create a custom style and word,
Atticus will not be able to interpret it. Scene breaks. Another element you may want to make sure
is properly set in your word document before importing into Atticus
is your scene breaks. If you use three asterisks with no spacing
or any other formatting applied to them
between your scenes, Atticus will automatically convert
those to placeholders. Scene breaks when imported.
This will allow you to quickly customize
the break to an ornamental design with a single click
and apply this design to all scene breaks in your entire book. Footnotes and End Notes. Finally, if you plan on having footnotes
or end notes in your final book, you'll want to set those up in word
as footnotes. Atticus will import them easily
and you can add your preferences in your theme settings. If you've already set up your notes
in Word as end notes, unfortunately
they won't transfer over to Atti
cus. It's super easy
to convert them to footnotes though. First, make a copy of your Word document. If you don't want to alter
the original next, open this file in word and click
the references tab. Click the expand Menu
icon in the footnote and note section. Click convert
and then select Convert all end notes to footnotes and click okay. When you upload this version to Atticus, all notes will be recognized
and added to the text and you can select their location
in the formatting tab. Importing
and customizing in Atticus. Beyond these simple formatting settings, it doesn't matter too much
how your manuscript is set in Word. You'll be able to set your font styles,
paragraphs, settings, line spacing and much more within Atticus. If you've gone through this tutorial
and are having trouble getting your manuscript to import into Atticus,
here are a few extra steps to check. Number One: URLs. If you've added hyperlink notes to your
manuscript, they may not be formatted in a way that Atticus
can import them
without breaking them. We recommend clearing all hyperlinks from
your docx file before you import and set all your links directly from inside
Atticus to ensure they work properly. Number Two: Images. If you have a lot of images
or even just a few large images, your document may be timing out before
it can be imported. We recommend saving all your images
into a separate folder and removing them from your docx file
for most efficient importing. Once your book is in Atticus,
you hav
e the flexibility to import and format each image
individually, ensuring they align perfectly
with your vision. Number Three: File type. Have you made sure that you're
importing a docx file? The x at the end is very important. If not, try re-saving as this file type
and it should import more successfully. Now that your manuscript
is successfully inside Atticus, it's
time to start adjusting the look and feel by creating a custom theme
that is unique to your book. If you'd like to see how I create
d
the script style, paragraph settings or the custom image for my scene break,
check out the tutorial. Create a custom theme next.
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