Formatting a Graphic Novel or Comic Book for Smashwords

Digital Comics have seen a lot of growth recently due to the high cost of printing and the cool factor of smartphones, eReaders and tablets. Smashwords is a great way for aspiring writers and artists to publish their original comic books and graphic novels without going broke in the process. Setting up your first issue is actually pretty simple.

Here are the basic steps:

1) Save each page of your masterpiece as a jpg that is either 550 px or 1100 px on its longest side. (This size is optimized for the Kindle which all other eReaders seem to copy.)
NOTE: Make sure your comic is VERY LEGIBLE ie. easy to read at 550 px on its longest side. Most comics formatted for the traditional print comic size will NOT work, because the lettering is too small. You may have to reletter your comic. The best advice is to just format it as if it would be a mini-comic or digest. But also make sure it looks good big, because some people will read your comic on a 27″ iMac and see it in all of its 1100 px glory.

2) Create a new Word document. Adjust the page size in Page Setup to be 6″ x 9″ and the margins to 1″.

3) Create a title page following Smashwords’ formatting guide.

4) Insert each jpg into its own page (except the cover page which can sit on the first page unless it’s too big, then it will automatically move to the next page). This way Meatgrinder won’t automatically resize your images to illegibly small.

NOTE: Meatgrinder doesn’t like several hard returns in a row, so adding a return after each image/comic page will cause a warning and put you to the back of the approval line. Just insert one image, then insert the next and it will automatically be placed on the next page.

5) Include an About the Authors/Artists, Other Works, etc. at the end. This is a great place to market yourself and your other works. It will also provide a word count for your work and make sampling work better.

Here are some other tips and considerations:

• Smashwords only allows you to upload a 5MB file, so your comic should not exceed 22 large pages (1100 px) or 40 smaller pages (550 px). That makes producing long graphic novels and trade paperbacks a little difficult. My advice is to break it up into parts. Maybe someday the 5MB limit will change, but for now that is your best bet. (These page counts are just rules of thumb; the size of your files will vary.)
• Allow 40% sampling. This will allow a reader to read about half of your story if you’ve included a lot of About Me information and Other works.  A 50% sample will usually do this, while 30% may not let a potential customer see anything. BE SURE to look at your book to make sure you aren’t giving the whole thing away!
• Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Sony will only allow a small sample (much smaller than you indicate) so most readers will not be able to see even one panel of your work. My advice is to break your story into 20-page parts and offer the first one for free. Most of your sales will be thru these retailers, so this is the best way to expose new customers to what you have to offer.
• I’ve said this once, but I’m going to say it again: Make sure your comic is VERY LEGIBLE ie. easy to read at 550 px on its longest side. Most comics formatted for the traditional print comic size will NOT work, because the lettering is too small. You may have to reletter your comic. The best advice is to just format it as if it would be a mini-comic or digest.

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Jeff Thomason is an Economist that writes novels and short stories, draws humorous Cartoons, creates Graphic Novels and Comic Books as well as visionary Illustrations, programs custom Web Applications, and builds unique Websites. See his work at www.SkyFitsJeff.com or read more of his helpful tips and analysis at aTouchofJeff.blogspot.com.

Tagged as: comic books, comics, formatting, graphic novels, how to, publishing, Smashwords