What Font Size Are Books Written In For Self-Published Authors?

For my quieter, picky side: I prefer thinking about the reader's comfort first. In print, 10–12 pt for body text is a safe sweet spot for most adult titles — but font personality and page size can push that number up or down. The real trick is balance: tracking, leading, margins, and measure all change how large a typeface 'feels.' If a page looks dense or the paragraphs crowd the margins, increasing the font by half a point or loosening the leading often fixes it more gracefully than fiddling with margins alone. I always order at least one proof and read an entire chapter straight through before committing; if I find myself skimming because the type feels cramped, I adjust. It's a small obsession, but a comfy book is a book you want to revisit, and that makes me happy.

You'd be amazed how much the small detail of font size changes the whole reading experience — I get nerdy about this stuff. For printed, self-published novels I usually aim for 10.5 to 12 points for body text, depending on the typeface. A compact serif like 'Garamond' or 'Goudy' reads comfortably at 10.5–11 pt, while a taller, more modern face like 'Georgia' or 'Times' benefits from 11–12 pt. Mass-market paperback style often skews smaller (around 10–11 pt) to pack more pages economically, but trade paperbacks and hardcovers usually sit around 11–12 pt to feel airy and mature.

Typeface, leading (line spacing), and trim size all interact with font size. For a 5.5" x 8.5" trade paperback, 11 pt with roughly 130–145% leading tends to produce a pleasant measure — you want about 60–75 characters per line. For larger trim sizes you can afford slightly larger type; for smaller pocket formats you may need to reduce size carefully. If your audience skews older or includes readers who prefer easier reading (seniors, visually impaired), bumping to 13–14 pt or producing a large-print edition (14–18 pt) makes a huge difference.

For ebooks, the rules relax because readers can change font size on devices; still, I set sensible defaults: roughly 100% or 1em in CSS, which maps to about 12–16px on many readers. Always order a printed proof. I print a proof copy, sit with it at arm's length, and ask a couple of actual readers to test it; digital previews lie. Typography choices matter more than you think — a good font size makes a novel feel professional and invites people to stay with it, and that little extra care always makes me smile when the final book lands on my shelf.

Trying to be practical: I treat font size as a design decision instead of a fixed rule. For general adult fiction I pick a serif in the 10.5–12 pt range depending on the font's x-height. If the serif is narrow, nudge up; if it’s broad, you can afford to go a touch smaller. Nonfiction with lots of figures or tables might use the same body size but needs careful caption sizing so nothing becomes illegible. Children's chapter books obviously need larger type — 12–14 pt for early readers, and picture-first books usually rely on layout rather than body type.

Ebook defaults are flexible but important: readers expect to resize fonts, so you want a sensible default that displays well across devices. Using 1em and readable line-height (around 1.2–1.4) keeps things consistent. Pay attention to paragraph indents (around 0.2–0.3 em) and avoid double-spaced paragraphs unless you’re aiming for a specific stylistic look. My quick workflow: choose the font, set a sample chapter at chosen pt, export a PDF, and print a proof page to judge comfort at normal reading distance. It's a tiny ritual but it saves a lot of squinting complaints later.