In the pre-computer age, typewriters gave precisely the same amount of space to each letter, regardless of its width.The arrival of digital typesetting changed the way characters are arranged on the line: More on that score here.) Why the Difference? (By the way, if you haven’t yet learned how to touch type – it’s never too late to learn, and it can vastly improve your writing productivity. For those who learned our keyboard skills on typewriters, the convention was two.When learning to type on computer keyboards, the convention is just one.When we learn to touch type, it’s drummed into us how many spacebar spaces to insert after a period (full stop). Here’s the gist of the ensuing conversation… One Space Versus Two Spaces As indie authors, surely it’s our prerogative to put as many or as few spaces as we like?.Can there truly be any rights and wrongs?.Isn’t this down to the preference of the individual?.This was the question posed by one of our authors on our members-only forum recently. Just how big should that space be? One space, two spaces, more? Today we’re looking at an issue too easily overlooked and often misunderstood, perhaps because it’s invisible: the blank space after a period. If you want to make your self-published books as professional as possible, it’s important to pay attention to formatting details such as margins and spacing.
