What Font and Font Size Should I Use for My eBook?

By
BookBaby
-
By BookBaby -
eBook fonts

Updated March 2023.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

When it comes to picking the best font for your eBook, stick to standard fonts and let your readers choose the size and style they like best.

Regardless of the font you choose for your eBook manuscript, once the file is converted to ePUB format, the CUSTOMER will decide which font they want to read your book in. This fact is sometimes frustrating for book designers/typesetters, but it’s great for the end-user – and you!

Table of Contents:
• Choosing the best eBook font
• Font attributes
• Font size for eBooks

Choosing the best eBook font

To ensure maximum readability (across multiple devices, screen sizes, etc.), you will want to eliminate anything in your manuscript that might unnecessarily complicate the eBook conversion process. When it comes to the best eBook fonts, we recommend you use only ONE font in your book, and that it be a standard one: Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier.

Fancy fonts (especially fancy serif fonts) might look great, but oftentimes they are converted into strange characters and symbols. Your eBook could look like a garbled mess. If you’re a font snob, look at it this way: by sticking to a safe, boring font, you’ll ensure nothing gets lost in translation – or conversion. You don’t want to risk the language itself for the sake of typography.

Font attributes

If you want to include other elements like bold, italic, or underlining, use the format font menu or the buttons on the toolbar. If you need to use characters that aren’t on the keyboard, be sure to choose them from the menu with the same name as your font – not wingdings, symbols, or special characters.

Font size for eBooks

Like the font itself, the font size will be customizable by the reader. An eBook conversion tip, avoid very large or very small font sizes to help the process go more smoothly. We recommend 12 point font size for body text and 14-18 point for chapter titles.

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In a world where a text can be discovered, accessed, and customized to reader preference on multiple devices (computers, phones, eReaders, tablets, etc.), maximum readability benefits the author as much as the consumer.

Hopefully these eBook font tips will help you avoid any conversion gremlins along the way and help you choose the best font for your eBook.

Let BookBaby help you with your eBook conversion so you can handle the important stuff (like writing and promoting)!

Request our free catalog to see all the ways we can help you publish like a professional author.

21 COMMENTS

  1. What a resourceful information in two minutes! The first instruction to stick to the standard fonts is a take home point, though we could consider adding some styles along the line.

    Found this article through a blog and may consider using Bookbaby’s services for our Christian e-book publications. Thanks!

  7. I have a book nearly completed that I’m planning on putting on Kindle. I use 12 pt Times New Roman as standard anyway, but I use bold to emphasise some words (it’s non-fiction). I don’t like using CAPS as it just looks like shouting. Does the reader’s choice of font mean that they might not see all the bold typeface in bold? I don’t fancy having to change all the bold into CAPS in my book.

  10. Hi I am writing an ebook with poems, short stories and essays. I would like to use at least a few different fonts to set them apart in style, is that a good idea or do the whole book in one font?
    Thanks Sherry

  11. “This fact is sometimes frustrating for book designers/typesetters, but it’s great for the end-user – and you!”

    Can’t agree. I’ve encountered too many situations where having two DIFFERENT fonts has been helpful/critical to a reader’s understanding. Forcing all fonts into the few fonts supported by Kindle Readers is like forcing graphic artists to do four-color illustrations with two-color printers.

  12. I used Pages on my MacBook Pro to write my ebook. I used 12pt font, then exported to ePub, and uploaded to KDP at Amazon. The font looks good, but it’s tiny, compared to fonts of other ebooks I’ve downloaded from Amazon. Why is that? Should I use a larger font size?

    • Hi Linda,

      You could certainly try a slightly larger size, but the final output will depend on the reader’s settings on their Kindle. Have you tried adjusting the font size settings on your personal Kindle?

      Lucy

  13. Hi Chris,
    Just found your article as my scrivener is putting out a large font and I was using 12pt size and I thought it was me. I agree with your advice to stick with the basic fonts and the 12pt standard sizes – readers are buying your book for the content, not the presentation.
    Thanks
    Bren

  14. While I generally agree it’s a good idea to stick to the basic typefaces and that letting the reader set the face is the right way to go in most cases, I’ve recently had some eBook projects that have shown me there are exceptions.

    I have just done two very complex academic eBooks that are both histories of Indian theology. They include long expanses of text with diacritic marks, and I’ve discovered that the fonts built into eBook readers sometimes do not include a full set of diacritics. That left me with no choice but to embed a font that did include the full complement of diacritics. I chose Gentium, a free open-source typeface that has the entire Unicode library of accent marks and diacritics.

    • Franklin, how did that work out? Did you try the final text on various Kindle readers? How would including German accented words work if used in a basic font like Times New Roman, but the reader changes the font?

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