--- title: "Book writing software for a novel in Indonesian" description: "Write and typeset an Indonesian novel: fifteen book faces licensed for sale, a print-ready PDF for an Indonesian printer, and a valid EPUB. Including what Galley does not do for Indonesian." source: https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-indonesian --- # Book writing software for writing a novel in Indonesian TL;DR Indonesian gets all fifteen book faces and the full toolkit, with two honest gaps: there are no hyphenation patterns, so set it ragged right, and Amazon does not sell Indonesian at all. The print PDF and the EPUB are the whole product. Bahasa Indonesia ## Cara menulis novel dalam bahasa Indonesia Galley adalah tempat Anda menulis novel dan membuat bukunya. Anda menulis sejak kalimat pertama di halaman buku yang sebenarnya: ukuran Anda, margin Anda, huruf buku cetakannya. Ada lima belas huruf buku, semuanya berlisensi bebas sehingga Anda boleh menjual apa yang Anda cetak. Hasil akhirnya adalah PDF siap cetak dan EPUB yang valid. Antarmukanya berbahasa Inggris; bukunya berbahasa Indonesia. ## Why Galley is the right book writing software for a novel in Indonesian Indonesian is the easiest language on this shelf to render and one of the hardest to publish from, and those are separate problems. The rendering is easy because Indonesian uses the plain Latin alphabet with no diacritics of its own. Every one of the fifteen book faces sets it, nothing is hidden, and nothing breaks at export. What that means in practice is that your choice of face is a design decision and not a coverage decision, which is a luxury a Bengali or Lithuanian writer does not get. The publishing is hard because **Amazon does not list Indonesian in any format**, and because domestic Indonesian publishing runs on relationships with houses like Gramedia rather than on a self-serve upload. So the file you make is the whole product: a print-ready PDF an Indonesian printer can work from, and a valid EPUB for Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo or a local store. Two things Galley does not do, said plainly: there are **no hyphenation patterns for Indonesian**, so justify with care or set the book ragged right, and there is no Indonesian interface. Everything else is the same app: a [true book page](https://usegalley.com/features/make-the-book) at your trim, the [story bible](https://usegalley.com/features/story-bible) beside the manuscript, a print-ready PDF and a valid EPUB. ## How Indonesian gets typeset **All fifteen faces are available**, because the alphabet asks nothing unusual. **There is no hyphenation.** Justification is off by default and ragged right never needs it. **Sorting is Indonesian**, and the prefixed and reduplicated forms sort as written, so a cast list comes out predictably. **Italics work**, on a drawn italic in all fifteen faces, which matters because Indonesian uses italics for foreign and regional-language words constantly. ## The typefaces you get for Indonesian Fifteen faces, all under the [SIL Open Font License](https://openfontlicense.org/). Five are recommended: EB Garamond, Crimson Pro, Cormorant, Lora and Libre Baskerville. **EB Garamond** is the safe first choice for a novel. ![Sample sentence in EB Garamond](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/eb-garamond-en.png) **Lora** is contemporary and warm at body size. ![Sample sentence in Lora](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/lora-en.png) **Literata** reads well small, which helps if your extent is pushing your spine. ![Sample sentence in Literata](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/literata-en.png) The rest of the shelf: Crimson Pro, Cormorant, Libre Baskerville, Source Serif 4, Spectral, Alegreya, Vollkorn, Cardo, Gentium Book Plus, Newsreader, Libre Caslon Text and Charis SIL. The [typeface documentation](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#typeface) lists every face by language. ## Exports for an Indonesian novel - **Print-ready PDF** at your trim, mirrored margins, real gutter, font embedded. - **EPUB 3** with your cover, tagged `id`. - **Store-ready EPUBs** for Kobo and Apple Books. - **Word and Markdown** for an editor or an archive. - **Manuscript format**, double-spaced. - **A proofreading PDF** two pages to a sheet, and a **large print PDF**. - **A watermarked copy per beta reader**. The Amazon-shaped tools switch off on an Indonesian book and say why. ## Indonesian punctuation Indonesian sets speech in the curly double pair, which is what Galley types on an Indonesian book. Regional-language and foreign words are italicised by convention, and the [style sheet](https://usegalley.com/docs/the-story-bible#style-sheet) in the story bible is where to record which words you have decided count as naturalised. The [dialogue punctuation rules](https://usegalley.com/resources/dialogue-punctuation-rules) and [dashes, hyphens and ellipses](https://usegalley.com/resources/dashes-hyphens-and-ellipses) sheets cover the general cases. ## How long an Indonesian novel is Indonesian publishers quote length in words and printed pages. Indonesian runs longer than English in word count for the same story because of its affixation and its function words. Galley counts words and projects a page count at your trim, which is the number that decides your spine. The [word count to page count converter](https://usegalley.com/resources/word-count-to-page-count) should be a helpful resource for you. ## Trim sizes for an Indonesian book Six standards, from mass market at 4.25×6.87 inches to Royal at 6.14×9.21. Indonesian trade fiction is commonly issued around 13×19cm or 14×21cm, which land near the small trade at 5×8 inches and the Digest at 5.5×8.5. The [spine width calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/book-spine-width-calculator) and the [trim size comparison](https://usegalley.com/resources/book-trim-size-comparison) would be helpful here. ## Metadata and the copyright page The [copyright page](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#copyright-page) writes itself from the metadata you filled in. An Indonesian ISBN comes from Perpustakaan Nasional and is issued to a publisher, which is worth knowing before you plan a domestic edition. ## Translating into or out of Indonesian A translation in Galley is its own book: its own language, its own typeface shelf, its own ISBN, its own cover, still linked to the original, with the editor split so the original sits read-only beside what you write. There are pages on [writing a novel in Malay](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-malay), [writing a novel in Vietnamese](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-vietnamese) and [writing a novel in Dutch](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-dutch), which is a closer relative of Indonesian publishing history than it looks. No machine touches the prose. Galley has [no AI anywhere near your writing](https://usegalley.com/blog/no-ai-in-your-prose). ## Self-publishing and traditional publishing in Indonesian **Self-publishing.** Amazon is closed, so print goes through an Indonesian printer or IngramSpark and the ebook goes to Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo or a local store. **Traditional publishing.** Indonesian publishing is concentrated in a few large houses and reads submissions directly. The [submission package](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#where-it-goes) assembles the synopsis, the bio and the opening chapters. The same book exports both. The longer arguments are in [Galley for self-publishing](https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-self-publishing) and [Galley for traditional publishing](https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-traditional-publishing). ## Where to go next - [Writing software for novelists who don’t write in English](https://usegalley.com/blog/write-a-novel-in-your-language) covers every script Galley sets. - [Book design and typefaces](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#typeface) lists every face by language. - [Series and translations](https://usegalley.com/docs/series-and-translations) covers the full language list. - [EPUB vs print PDF](https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf) explains what each format can do. ## Questions people ask about writing a novel in Indonesian ### Does Galley hyphenate Indonesian? No. Indonesian has no hyphenation patterns in Galley, so justify with care or set the book ragged right. Justification is off by default, so the honest default is already the right one. ### Can I sell an Indonesian book on Amazon KDP? No. Amazon does not list Indonesian in any format. The print PDF goes to an Indonesian printer or IngramSpark, and the EPUB goes to Google Play, Apple Books, Kobo or a local store. ### Which fonts can set Indonesian? All fifteen. Indonesian uses the plain Latin alphabet with no diacritics of its own, so nothing on the shelf is hidden. ### Is the Galley interface in Indonesian? No. The interface is English and stays English. Your book is entirely Indonesian. ## Other languages - [Book writing software for Malay](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-malay)Write and typeset a Malay novel in Rumi: fifteen book faces licensed for sale, a print-ready PDF and a valid EPUB. Including the Jawi question, answered honestly. - [Book writing software for Vietnamese](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-vietnamese)Write and typeset a Vietnamese novel: stacked diacritics that do not collide, twelve book faces that carry the full set, and a print-ready PDF for a Vietnamese printer. - [Book writing software for Dutch](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-dutch)Write and typeset a Dutch novel: hyphenation by Dutch rules, fifteen book faces licensed for sale, a print-ready PDF and a valid EPUB for Amazon or a Dutch printer. Start the book. Galley sets it in Indonesian from the first sentence to the print PDF. [Launch Galley](https://app.usegalley.com)