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There are other considerations. People like to be sure of what they're buying, so how do you get them to pay for a book by an unknown author? One way is to use a POD site that allows you to create a preview of your work, perhaps the first chapter, to hook them into the story. Lulu.com lets you do this. From the author's perspective, payment terms are very important. Some sites send you a cheque when your sales account hits a certain threshold. Others transfer funds to your bank or PayPal account at the end of each month. If you live several miles away from the nearest bank, however, paying in cheques could become a chore.

If you use a foreign POD site that sends your revenue in the form of a cheque, your bank will charge you a handling fee for processing it. This could be as high as 10 per cent of the cheque's value. Exchange rates influence the value of the payment. Depending on your bank, the forms used for paying in foreign cheques can be surprisingly complex. The one I filled in at Barclays had the counter clerk and his supervisor scratching their heads.

The account management facilities that are offered by a POD site are also important. Being able to see at a glance how your sales are progressing is interesting, but it can also tell you how successful you are, as can statistics about page hits and overall rankings. It's also useful to be able to swap in a new version of your manuscript just in case you find an error.

If you do run into problems,

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the best sources of help are other users of the site. Look for sites with a large, friendly and active forum community. They'll be able to help you with tips and dodges they've discovered. A few sites, such as CaféPress.com, also give you an easy way of designing and selling items such as mugs and T-shirts. This gives you scope for creating a range of merchandising linked to your books. If someone has enjoyed reading about a character with a memorable catchphrase, he or she might also be tempted to buy a mug or T-shirt emblazoned with it.

Getting into shape

Once you're happy with the text of your book and choice of POD site, you'll need to put it into the format that will appear on the printed page. This process can be frustrating if you don't know what you need to achieve.

The main text of most books uses justified margins as opposed to leaving the text ragged at the right-hand end of each line. If you haven't done so, modify the style you used for the main body text (usually the 'normal' or 'body text' styles) and ensure the style you've used always formats paragraphs in this way. Microsoft Word has a habit of changing the style of your text without telling you, so it's best to go through the document to make sure it's consistent.

Next, you need to decide on the physical width and height of book you want to produce, based on the sizes your choice of publisher can print. The average bookshelf contains books in a bewildering array of sizes. When trying to decide which is right for you, you should measure some of the books you own. This will give you an idea of how yours might look.

You'll also have to consider margins. Having smaller ones might reduce your page count and therefore the amount that the POD site charges for printing, but it could also mean that readers struggle to read the ends of lines closest to the book's spine. Leave at least half an inch of space from the left and right margins to compensate, and more if your book is particularly long, as the binding will then take up more of the page.