--- title: "The Galley blog — craft, formatting, and self-publishing, plainly explained" description: "Practical, no-fluff writing on how novels get finished and published: trim sizes, word counts, front matter, EPUB vs print, KDP formatting, and the typography that makes a book look real." source: https://usegalley.com/blog --- # The Galley *blog* Finishing a book is a craft with a hundred small decisions — trim size, word count, front matter, which files a store actually wants. Here's the plain version of each, from someone building the tool that does them. [Galley (8)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/galley)[Publishing (8)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/publishing)[Craft (3)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/craft)[Design (2)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/design)[Formatting (2)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/formatting)[Guides (1)](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/guides) ![A double-spaced manuscript page with a running header and a hash scene break](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/standard-manuscript-format.png) Publishing ## Standard Manuscript Format, and What Agents Actually Check The Shunn manuscript format specification in plain terms: font, spacing, margins, indents, scene breaks, the running header, and the word count that should be rounded. September 10, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/standard-manuscript-format ![A translation glyph over a dark field, with the Galley wordmark](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/write-a-novel-in-your-language.png) Design ## Writing Software for Novelists Who Don't Write in English How to write and typeset a book in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew, Hindi, Bengali, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Greek or Vietnamese, which typeface each script gets, and what still needs building. September 2, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/write-a-novel-in-your-language ![An ebook listing showing accessibility metadata beside the book description](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa.png) Publishing ## Accessible Ebooks and the European Accessibility Act What the EAA means for a self-published novel sold in the EU: accessibility metadata, what makes an EPUB accessible, the microenterprise exemption, and the large-print edition nobody makes. August 30, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa ![A shelf of writing-app icons arranged by purpose](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/best-book-writing-software.png) Guides ## The Best Book Writing Software for Self-Publishing Novelists (2026) A no-hype guide to the writing tools novelists actually use (Scrivener, Vellum, Atticus, Ulysses, Dabble, Reedsy, and Galley), sorted by what you need each one to do. August 21, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/best-book-writing-software ![A print interior PDF and an EPUB exported from the same manuscript](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/galley-for-self-publishing.png) Publishing ## Galley for Self-Publishing What self-publishing a novel in Galley involves: a print-ready interior PDF, a valid EPUB, a tuned file per store, and two checks that run before you upload to KDP. August 15, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-self-publishing ![A double-spaced manuscript page in standard manuscript format](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/galley-for-traditional-publishing.png) Publishing ## Galley for Traditional Publishing Querying agents or working with an editor: standard manuscript format, the submission package, watermarked beta drafts, and getting an editor's Word comments back where they belong. August 10, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-traditional-publishing ![A stack of manuscripts of different thicknesses](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/how-long-should-a-novel-be.png) Craft ## How Long Should a Novel Be? Word Counts by Genre The word-count ranges agents and readers actually expect (fantasy, romance, thriller, YA, literary), and what to do if you're way over or under. August 1, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/how-long-should-a-novel-be ![Three paperback books shown at different trim sizes](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/choosing-a-trim-size.png) Formatting ## How to Choose a Trim Size for Your Novel What trim size means, the standard sizes for fiction (5x8, 5.25x8, 5.5x8.5, 6x9), and how to pick the one that fits your genre and page count. July 29, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/choosing-a-trim-size ![A licence grant clause in a terms of service document](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/is-your-writing-used-to-train-ai.png) Galley ## Is Your Writing Being Used to Train AI? How to find out what your writing app is allowed to do with your manuscript: the licence grant, the improve-our-services clause, the sub-processor list, and what no hosted tool can honestly promise. July 20, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/is-your-writing-used-to-train-ai ![A manuscript page with a clear 'your words only' mark](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/no-ai-in-your-prose.png) Galley ## Why Galley Will Never Put AI in Your Prose AI writing tools are everywhere. Galley deliberately has none in your manuscript: no generation, no rewriting, no training on your words. Here's the reasoning, in full. July 15, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/no-ai-in-your-prose ![The opening pages of a printed novel laid out in sequence](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/book-front-matter-order.png) Formatting ## Front Matter and Back Matter: The Right Order for a Novel Every page that comes before and after your story (half-title, title, copyright, dedication, acknowledgements) in the order printers and readers expect them. July 8, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/book-front-matter-order ![A watermarked draft page carrying a beta reader's name](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers.png) Craft ## Sending Your Novel to Beta Readers When to send a draft out, how many readers you actually need, the brief that gets useful answers, what file to send, and why every copy should carry the reader's name. June 30, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/sending-your-novel-to-beta-readers ![A novelist typing directly onto a formatted 6x9 book page](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/write-on-the-real-page.png) Galley ## What You See Is What Prints: Writing on the Real Book Page Most writing apps show you a text box and reveal the book only at export. Galley shows the finished 6x9 page (trim, typeface, ornaments, scene breaks) while you write. June 26, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/write-on-the-real-page ![A print PDF page beside the same text reflowing on an e-reader](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf.png) Publishing ## EPUB, Print PDF, or Both? The Files You Actually Need to Self-Publish What each publishing file is for (print-interior PDF, EPUB, DOCX) and which ones you need for Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Apple Books, and Kobo. June 18, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf ![A single manuscript exporting into print, ebook, and proofing files](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/manuscript-to-published-book.png) Galley ## From Manuscript to Published Book, Without Leaving One Tool The back half of self-publishing (print PDF, EPUB, KDP preflight, beta-reader drafts, submission packages) usually means a second tool or a freelancer. In Galley it's a menu. June 14, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/manuscript-to-published-book ![A paperback interior page annotated with margin, gutter, and bleed](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp.png) Publishing ## How to Format a Paperback for KDP (Margins, Gutter, and Bleed) A plain-language walkthrough of the print-interior settings Amazon KDP checks (trim size, margins, gutter, bleed, and page count) so your paperback passes on the first upload. June 6, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp ![A single price tag beside a crossed-out monthly bill](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/why-galley-is-buy-once.png) Galley ## Why Galley Is Buy-Once, Not a Subscription Most writing tools now rent by the month. Galley is €199, paid once, with every feature and every future update included. Here's the reasoning, and the maths. May 29, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/why-galley-is-buy-once ![A book barcode and ISBN on the back cover of a paperback](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/do-you-need-an-isbn.png) Publishing ## Do You Need an ISBN to Self-Publish? When you need an ISBN, when you don't, the difference between KDP's free ISBN and your own, and why the imprint on the barcode matters more than the cost. May 25, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/do-you-need-an-isbn ![A manuscript with a character reference panel open alongside it](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/story-bible-beside-your-manuscript.png) Galley ## Keep the Story Bible Beside Your Manuscript, Not in Another App A story bible only works if you keep it updated, and a bible in a separate app is a bible you forget. Galley's lives next to the prose, one keystroke away. May 17, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/story-bible-beside-your-manuscript ![An open notebook of character and location notes beside a manuscript](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/what-is-a-story-bible.png) Craft ## What Is a Story Bible, and Do You Need One? The reference document that keeps names, timelines, and world details consistent across a novel or series, what goes in it, and when you actually need one. May 13, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/what-is-a-story-bible ![A well-set book page next to a poorly-spaced one, side by side](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/book-typography-basics.png) Design ## The Typography Rules That Make a Book Look Professionally Made Widows, orphans, rivers, hyphenation, and the small typesetting conventions readers never notice but always feel, and why they separate a real book from a Word export. May 5, 2026 https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics