--- title: "Book writing software for a novel in Norwegian" description: "Write and typeset a Norwegian novel in Bokmål or Nynorsk: guillemets as you type, hyphenation for both written standards, fifteen book faces and a print-ready PDF." source: https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-norwegian --- # Book writing software for writing a novel in Norwegian TL;DR Bokmål and Nynorsk are two languages in Galley, not one setting with a switch. Both get «guillemets», both hyphenate, both get all fifteen book faces, and Amazon takes Norwegian in all three formats. Norsk ## Å skrive en roman på norsk Galley er der du skriver romanen og der du lager boka. Du skriver fra første setning på en ekte boksides: ditt format, dine marger, skriften boka trykkes i. Anførselstegnene er norske, orddelingen følger norske regler, og det finnes femten bokskrifter, alle fritt lisensiert slik at du kan selge det du trykker. Ut kommer en trykkeklar PDF og en gyldig EPUB. Grensesnittet er på engelsk; boka er på norsk. ## Why Galley is the right book writing software for a novel in Norwegian Norwegian is two written standards, and a tool that treats it as one is already wrong. Bokmål and Nynorsk are separate languages in Galley with separate hyphenation patterns and separate EPUB tags, so a Nynorsk book is tagged `nn` and hyphenated as Nynorsk rather than filed under a generic Norwegian. Then the quotes. Norwegian fiction sets guillemets, « and », and most tools give you the English curly pair because their smart-quote rule never asked what language the book was in. Galley asks. Then the font licence, which is the part most tools do not mention at all. Galley embeds the face inside your PDF and your EPUB, which is redistribution, so every face on the shelf is one you are allowed to sell the book with. 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 Norwegian gets typeset **Both standards hyphenate**, on their own patterns, in the justified print PDF only. Justification is off by default. **Æ ø å go all the way through**, including into the download filename. **Sorting is Norwegian**, so æ ø å land after z where a Norwegian reader expects them instead of scattered through the alphabet. **Italics work**, on a drawn italic in every one of the fifteen faces. ## The typefaces you get for Norwegian Fifteen faces, all under the [SIL Open Font License](https://openfontlicense.org/). **EB Garamond** is the safe first choice for a novel. ![Sample sentence in EB Garamond](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/eb-garamond-en.png) **Literata** was drawn for long-form reading and holds up on paper and screen. ![Sample sentence in Literata](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/literata-en.png) **Newsreader** sets an even, unfussy page at body size. ![Sample sentence in Newsreader](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/newsreader-en.png) The rest of the shelf: Crimson Pro, Cormorant, Lora, Libre Baskerville, Source Serif 4, Spectral, Alegreya, Vollkorn, Cardo, Gentium Book Plus, Libre Caslon Text and Charis SIL. The [typeface documentation](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#typeface) lists every face by language. ## Exports for a Norwegian novel - **Print-ready PDF** at your trim, mirrored margins, real gutter, font embedded. - **EPUB 3** with your cover, tagged `nb` or `nn` as you set it. - **Store-ready EPUBs** for Kindle, Kobo and Apple Books. - **Word and Markdown** for a redaktør 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 [KDP preflight](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#preflight) checks the file first. ## Norwegian punctuation Guillemets you get automatically. Norwegian fiction also opens speech with a dash at the head of the line in a lot of contemporary work, and that is a character you type. Both survive into the print PDF and the EPUB. Which standard you write in is a spelling and grammar question rather than a typesetting one, and the [style sheet](https://usegalley.com/docs/the-story-bible#style-sheet) in the story bible is where to record the forms you have settled on. Book-wide [find and replace](https://usegalley.com/docs/revision#find-replace) is how you fix a drift across every chapter at once. ## How long a Norwegian novel is Norwegian publishers quote length in words and in printed sheets. Norwegian fiction sits broadly where the rest of Scandinavia does, and Norwegian runs a little longer than English at the same story length. The [word count to page count converter](https://usegalley.com/resources/word-count-to-page-count) and [novel word counts by genre](https://usegalley.com/resources/novel-word-count-by-genre) do the sums. ## Trim sizes for a Norwegian book Six standards, from mass market at 4.25×6.87 inches to Royal at 6.14×9.21. Norwegian trade fiction is commonly issued around 13.5×21cm, between the Digest at 5.5×8.5 inches and Royal. 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. A Norwegian ISBN comes from the Nasjonalbiblioteket and is free. Norway also runs innkjøpsordningen, the state purchase scheme that buys copies of qualifying new Norwegian fiction for the libraries. It goes through a publisher, so it is one of the few places where the traditional route is worth real money that self-publishing cannot reach. ## Translating into or out of Norwegian 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. A Nynorsk edition of a Bokmål novel counts as one, which is exactly the case a generic tool cannot express. There are pages on [writing a novel in Danish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-danish), [writing a novel in Swedish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-swedish) and [writing a novel in Icelandic](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-icelandic). 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 Norwegian **Self-publishing.** Amazon takes Norwegian in all three formats. There is no Norwegian Amazon store, so the domestic route runs through the bokhandel chains and the library system, and the same print PDF and EPUB serve either. **Traditional publishing.** Norwegian houses read submissions directly, and the combination of innkjøpsordningen and the Kulturrådet grants makes the traditional route worth more in Norway than in most markets. 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. - [Book typography basics](https://usegalley.com/blog/book-typography-basics) is the set of rules that makes a page look made. ## Questions people ask about writing a novel in Norwegian ### Does Galley handle Bokmål and Nynorsk separately? Yes. They are two languages in the app, each with its own hyphenation patterns and its own EPUB tag. Set the one you write in on the book's metadata page. ### Which quote marks does a Norwegian book get? Guillemets, « and », which is what Norwegian fiction sets. The rule follows the book's language. ### Can I sell a Norwegian book on Amazon KDP? Yes, in all three formats: Kindle ebook, paperback and hardcover. ### Do æ, ø and å survive export? Yes, through typing, autosave, search, the print PDF, the EPUB, the Word file and the download filename. ## Other languages - [Book writing software for Danish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-danish)Write and typeset a Danish novel: »reversed guillemets« as you type, hyphenation by Danish rules, fifteen book faces and a print-ready PDF for Amazon or a Danish printer. - [Book writing software for Swedish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-swedish)Write and typeset a Swedish novel: ”right-facing quotes” as you type, hyphenation by Swedish rules, fifteen book faces and a print-ready PDF for Amazon or a Swedish printer. - [Book writing software for Icelandic](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-icelandic)Write and typeset an Icelandic novel: þ ð æ and the accented vowels all the way to the print PDF, low-high quote marks as you type, hyphenation by Icelandic rules and fifteen book faces. Start the book. Galley sets it in Norwegian from the first sentence to the print PDF. [Launch Galley](https://app.usegalley.com)