What Is Book Typesetting?
Typesetting is not formatting. It is the craft of arranging text on a page for readability, aesthetics, and print production. Here is what typesetting actually involves and why it matters for your book.
Typesetting is not formatting
Typesetting is not the same as formatting. Formatting is applying styles to text: making this bold, that a heading, this a list. Typesetting is the craft of arranging text on a page for readability, aesthetics, and print production.
A word processor formats text. A typesetting system understands the relationships between elements: how the body size determines the heading sizes, how the leading affects readability, how the margins frame the text block, and how the font's optical characteristics affect its apparent size.
The type scale
A type scale is a system where every element on the page is a ratio of the body size. The book title is 2.75 times the body size. The chapter title is 1.8 times. H2 is 1.3 times. Blockquotes are 0.92 times. Folios (page numbers) are 0.75 times. And so on through all the elements on the page.
This creates visual hierarchy and consistency. When you change the body size, every other element scales proportionally. You do not have to manually adjust 37 different element sizes when you change your body font from 11pt to 10.5pt.
Leading and line length
Leading (line spacing) affects readability. Too tight, and the lines blur together. Too loose, and the reader loses their place between lines. For body text, leading is typically 120 to 145 percent of the body size. A 11pt body with 13.5pt leading is about 123 percent.
Line length also matters. The optimal line length for sustained reading is 45 to 75 characters per line. Too short, and the eye jumps too often. Too long, and the reader loses their place returning to the next line. Your trim size and margins should produce a text block that falls in this range.
Genre profiles adjust the ratios
The type scale is not universal. Different genres benefit from different ratios. Literary fiction tends toward quieter typography: smaller headings, more leading, less visual hierarchy. Tutorials need more structure: larger headings, more white space, clearer differentiation between body text and instructional elements.
A good typesetting system has genre profiles that adjust the ratios automatically. You pick your genre, and the system applies the appropriate scale. You can then fine-tune individual elements if you want.