Publishing Playscripts as an eBook

Playscripts can be published in fixed layout as well in reflowable layout. Mentioned below are the steps to publish them:

Step 1: Keep your title page simple – no over sized letters, color or fancy graphics.

Step 2: Set Margins 1.5”. Set other margins at 1”

Step 3: Stage directions are indented on left about 1.5” from left margin running to the right.

Stage directions can be in parentheses but they don’t have to be.

Stage directions within dialogue should be stated in brackets and can be italics.

Stage directions always follow a blank line.

Step 4: Character names should be CAPITALS. Character names are indented on left about +4.3” from left margin.

Step 5: Dialogues are set to margins +2.9”. Use opentype fonts or licensed fonts. Avoid italics (except for occasional word emphasis).

Make sure a blank line always follows between the dialogue and the next character’s name.

When a character’s dialogue is interrupted by a page break, and continues onto the next page, you set the page-break-inside property to “avoid”.

Step 6: In Cast Page, make sure to capitalize the character names which helps to set them apart.

Use a 0.5” hanging indent when the character description wraps onto a second line,

Step 7: Title or text of Act and Scene are centered on the line and they should be written in all CAPITALS.

Step 8: The At Rise and Setting Description are a little more than half across the page, can be left indented at approximately 3.25” running to the right margin.

Step 9: For character names that appear in the stage directions you have the choice of two formats.

1. The format is like screenwriting: When for the first time in the stage directions character is introduced, the character name is in all CAPITALS, from next time it’s always in mixed case. For example, I introduce Marla in this At Rise description.

   At RISE:

   (A kitchen/living room somewhere in
   New York. Early evening. MARGE,
   forty something mother, MARLA)

   But later in the play, I write

   (Marla strokes the cardboard dog.)

2. In stage directions, keep the character names in CAPITALS throughout.

Step 10: When one character interrupts another, use double dashes (–) or an em dash (a long dash) to show that the speaker is being cut off.

Step 11: Proofread your script for typographical and other errors, and remember that a spell-check program doesn’t catch everything. Another set of eyes or reading the script aloud really helps.