Once the final text for your manuscript is complete, it's time to complete the interior design. This includes activities such as font selection, pagination, choosing a consistent look and feel for chapters, headings, sections, illustrations, front and back material, etc.
My very first book project was a nightmare because I attempted to format before the final text was complete. The end result was that I had to change the pagination at least a dozen times. Now I pour over the text endlessly prior to this stage so that formatting only needs to be done once.
I kept my interior designs very simple in the beginning, and rather boring. Most of my books used Times New Roman (the default font for Microsoft Word, and a clear indicator of amateur status) and featured very few visual elements. I was just happy when I created a book with a logical and consistent layout. But as my experience grew, my desire to create better looking interiors grew with it. I still have a lot to learn, but my most recent books have a much more professional appearance.
A good way to get a sense for book design is to pick up a few favorite books that match your genre (print books are best, since not all e-books feature quality designs) and look at them in a new way. What font is used? How much space exists between each line of text? Is it justified, or is there a ragged right edge? What do the chapter headings look like? Where are the page numbers? If a section break is used (usually a hard return), what happens if the next section begins at the top of a new page? Does the author's name and/or book title appear somewhere on the pages themselves? What about front and back material? How many blank pages are there at the end? How many title pages? Where is the forward, dedication, introduction, table of contents, etc.? How are references, notes and bibliographical information documented? How are page numbers handled in the front material? How are chapter headings handled? Does text for a new chapter always start on the right page? What is the font size?
Keep in mind that you are not limited to the fonts already on your computer. You can purchase fonts from a variety of web sites. There's also a big difference between print design and e-book design. I usually release in both formats, starting with print book design. Because e-books generally use flowable text and can be displayed on screens of various size, it can be challenging to get it just right. I recommend downloading Amazon's Kindle viewing tools and looking at the text on various device simulators.
If you don't want to spend time learning about interior book design, you can hire someone to do this work for you. But it's not cheap, and if your goal is to make a profit then you will want to carefully weigh every investment. Creating a book is a lot like building a house. Every feature comes at a cost, but too many cost-cutting measures can lead to future regret.
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