I publish my books with Amazon Create Space. I love the finished product , but getting there – oi – I don’t have any hair left; I’ve pulled it all out within the last four months. There are a lot of little things about formatting with Create Space that can drive you nuts. For instance, if you are using the Create Space *basic* formatting template, you’ll need to page number your manuscript, and what with the title page, dedication page, table of contents, and blank pages, you won’t be starting your page numbering on the very first page. So, before we even wrastle with the rest of that crazy template, we need to get those page numbers on there. I fought with Microsoft Word, specifically Word 2007. I spent hours Googling this topic. I never found a good list of directions on how to complete the very simple task of ‘different page’ page numbering. I found lists with the wrong directions though…grrrrr.
Dear Microsoft Word people, just give me a simple option that says *start page numbering on page so-and-so* Yes, I have learned why the system is set up the way it is, with page breaks and what-all, but us simpletons really don’t care about all of that and us fantasy writers really don’t want to learn the technical reasons why. (As a self-proclaimed nerd, I love to learn LOTS of things. But not the technical aspects of Word 2007. No. Snore.)
So here it is, other like-minded souls, here are the step-by-step instructions on how to number your manuscript starting a couple of pages into the work. Say you want your page numbering to start on page five – in other words – say page 5 says *Chapter 1* at the top of it.
1. Click your blinking cursor on the top of page 5 before the text starts 2. Click on *Page Layout* (area: top left of the screen) 3. Click on *Breaks* (area: just under *Mailings*) 4. Under* Section Breaks* click on *Next Page* (you’ve just split the document into two parts – each part can be formatted separately now. This is the technical part I don’t care much about :D) 5. Click *Insert* 6. Click *Page Number* (area: just to the right of the middle up there ^) 7. Now, click on whatever number styling you like – *top of page* *bottom of page* then choose a style. 8. Look up there again. You’ll see a yellow (highlighted) button that says *link to previous* click on it. It will take the highlighting off. You want to do this so pages you are numbering become their own document, ‘separate’ from the other part of your manuscript (In the eyes of Microsoft Word) 9. Click on *Insert* 10. Click on *Page number* 11. Click on *Format Page Number* 12. (area: bottom) See *Page Numbering* 13. Under *Page Number* 14. Click on *Start At* 15. Enter 1 16. Click *OK* 17. You still have page numbering up above where you don’t want it. Go delete those numbers while they are highlighted (they are highlighted when *Header* or *Footer* is on. Double-click anywhere on the manuscript to get rid of the *Header Footers* Voila
Seventeen steps. Isn’t that silly? Where’s that *start page numbering on page _________* button?