Your Font Choice: How Much Does it Matter?
Choosing a font for your book can be a difficult task. It’s one of those things that most writers don’t really think about until they’re about to start writing. Then the questions start pouring in. What font should I use? Should specific genres be written using specific fonts? Can you influence the subconscious of your readers with specific fonts and thereby increase the likelihood of them liking your book? All these questions usually result in some quick Google searches, which then deliver a number of alarmist articles desperately imploring you never to use Times New Roman for anything ever, along with a million other font-related faux pas.
As compelling as these articles are, the reality is rarely so dramatic. Times New Roman will not make or break your book. Most people can’t even tell the difference between Times New Roman and Baskerville on printed paper. Nevertheless, fonts are important. There are certain rules of thumb that you ought to keep in mind. These are what we’re going to be discussing in this article. The goal is to make your self-published book look like a professionally published one, and there are certain tricks you can use to achieve that result. By the time you’re done reading, you ought to have a general idea of what you should avoid doing at all costs, and where you’re free to indulge your personal sense of aesthetics.
Font Facts: The Basics
You’re probably aware that there are two main font types: serif and sans serif. We’ll discuss exactly what sets them apart from each other later on in this article. To start off, however, just know that serif fonts have little protrusions at the ends of the letters, and sans serif fonts do not.
Generally, you’re going to want to select two fonts when creating your book: one for your body text, and one for your titles – both on the front cover and your chapter titles (if you choose to have any). The purpose of the former is to be as legible as possible, the purpose of the latter is to evoke the mood or spirit of your book. Having more than two fonts is not recommended, as it can easily get distracting, confusing, and detract from the overall legibility of your book. Whatever font you end up choosing, however, you’re going to want to use a serif font for your body text, as they tend to offer a more pleasant reading experience on paper. More on that further down.
Furthermore, it’s important to keep in mind that people have something of a collective memory. We associate sensory cues with certain ideas, concepts, or events. Fonts are no exception to this rule. For example, as you’ve probably heard before, people tend to associate sans serif fonts with “modernity” and serif fonts with “tradition”. This is of course a broad generalization, and reality is more nuanced, but this binary dynamic is a useful summary we can use to separate the look and feel of the two font types. For example, one would probably not use a serif font for the title of a sci-fi novel, much like one wouldn’t use a sans serif font for the title of a fantasy novel.
Serif Fonts
Generally, Serif fonts are considered the best for long-form texts like books. Serif fonts are known for having a little edge, vaguely resembling a foot, at the beginning and end of each letter. The serifs help guide our eyes by creating an imaginary line under the letters, making it easier for the reader to follow sentences and stay concentrated. The general consensus is that serif fonts tend to be easier to read on paper. Fonts that don’t have serifs (sans serif) are more commonly used on websites, where they are considered the more reader-friendly alternative.
Take a look at any newspaper, book, or most magazines, and you’ll see they use Serif fonts. Chances are, if you were to open a book with a sans serif font, you’d think it looked rather odd. This isn’t to say that the interior of all printed books, newspapers and magazines look the same. It’s important to remember that Serif is a general category; there are hundreds of fonts that can be considered Serif. For example, the most commonly used fonts in newspapers are Times New Roman and Poynter, which are both Serif fonts.
Seeing as books are long-form printed texts, and keeping in mind the consensus regarding the legibility of serif fonts in print, we recommend you stick to a Serif font for the inside of your book. The cover, blurb, and spine allow for more creative freedom, and we’ll cover them later in the article.
It’s also worth remembering that most e-readers allow users to change the font of the book they’re reading. In other words, if you’re worried about the legibility of serif fonts on e-reader screens, don’t be – e-book readers will easily be able to customize the layout of the text to their liking.
Which Serif Fonts to Use for Your Book?
First off, let us emphasize how strongly we advise against using gimmicky, stylized fonts for your body text. While they may capture the mood of your story, they are distracting and hard to read when used at length:
These stylistic fonts may work for your cover, assuming the title of your book is short enough. Make sure (and be honest with yourself) that the font adds something to your cover, should you choose to use a gimmicky font. Also, whatever you do – never use Comic Sans, Papyrus, or Jokerman – even if they’re your favourite fonts and fit perfectly with your vision. These fonts are the most universally hated typefaces on the planet, and nothing will dissuade people from picking up your book as quickly as the sight of these fonts.
Now, remember how we singled out Times New Roman as a source of controversy earlier in the article? Well, it’s time for us to denounce that font as well. As far as body text is concerned, we’d advise against using it. Not that there’s anything wrong with it per se, but it does have a bit of a stodgy air to it. While the reasons behind most font choices tend to be rather abstract, the emotional responses they can elicit in your readers are nevertheless very real. Times New Roman can come across as boring and unimaginative to people who care about things like typefaces, which is the last vibe you want your book to have. The fact that it was Microsoft Word’s default font for so long, and the standard broadsheet font before that, has ingrained it in our minds as “the boring font”.
So, what fonts can you use then? Most of you will have your choices somewhat limited by the software you’re working with. Microsoft Word offers different fonts than Pages, for instance, and Google has its own font selection as well. Then there are fonts like Baskerville, which are available across all of these word processing programs.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to highlight some solid font choices for each of the programs mentioned above. This is by no means an exclusive list, but rather a curated selection that won’t let you down.
Microsoft Word
If you’re working in Microsoft Word, we have two main font recommendations for the body text of your book:
Garamond
Garamond is one of the most popular serif fonts to use for books, and it’s easy to understand why. It’s clean, stylish, and sophisticated. Garamond is based on a 16th-century design by a Parisian engraver by the same name. Since then the font has expanded and includes several variations, but in essence, it remains the same easy-to-read serif font. Google also has a version of Garamond that you can download.
Sabon
Take a look at this classy font right here. It’s elegant, it’s supremely legible, looks fantastic overall. It’s actually inspired by Garamond, and you can definitely see its influence. Depending on which version of Word you’re using, you might not have access to Sabon straight away. Don’t worry though – you can download the font right here.
Google Docs
The world is getting ever more cloud-based, and authors are no exception here. Many writers are opting out of that pricey Word subscription, choosing instead to use the free Google docs. Fortunately, there are a lot of excellent fonts available here as well. The great thing about Google fonts is that they’re free to use, meaning you can actually download and use them in a word processing program of your choice!
Merriweather
This is a font that was apparently designed with the goal of creating a serif font that was easy to read on screens, similar to the Georgia font (another excellent choice by the way!). It works great on paper too, however. You can download Merriweather here.
Lora
Like most Google fonts, Lora was developed for screens. Nevertheless, it works wonderfully for print as well. You can download Lora here.
Pages
Baskerville
A classic font based on the design by John Baskerville from 1757. If you’re a fan of Caslon, this is a wonderful free alternative with a very similar look and feel. Microsoft Word also has a version of Baskerville you can use, and you can even download Google’s screen-optimised version here.
Palatino
This font was created by a typographer named Hermann Zapf back in 1949, but it’s actually based on much older Italian renaissance fonts. You’ll also be able to access a variant of Palatino when using Microsoft Word.
As you’ve probably noticed by now, these fonts are very similar to each other. Nevertheless, each font has a distinct personality, which is something you should keep in mind when choosing what to use for your body text.
The classic and timeless Baskerville, Garamond, and Palatino give off the kind of gravitas you might want in a book of literary fiction, a thriller, or another “serious” genre. On the other hand, the softer and slightly more rounded Merriweather and Lora fonts lend themselves well to genres like romance, YA, or perhaps fantasy. For non-fiction and academic books, you might want to consider the very clean look that Sabon can provide.
These font and genre combinations are by no means set in stone – you should simply view them as our personal recommendations. The important thing to keep in mind, however, is that they all share the common characteristic of excellent legibility. Additionally, they look good when used for long-form texts. As such, they can be used across all genres.
Which Sans Serif Fonts to Use for Your Book
Now that we’ve discussed serif fonts, it’s time to take a look at sans serif. As mentioned, sans serif fonts differ from serif ones in that their letters do not have any embellishments (serifs) – hence the “sans”. This gives sans serif fonts a modern, minimalist look which lends itself particularly well to screens, compared to serif fonts.
As mentioned, you don’t want to use sans serif fonts in your body text. However, they can be very well-suited for your cover, should you find one that complements the look and feel you’re going for. Furthermore, if you have your heart set on a gimmicky font that (as mentioned above) might be suitable for a cover, you’ll notice that most of them are sans serif. As such, the question is not so much “which sans serif font should I use for my book?” as “should I use a sans serif font for my cover, and if so, which one?”.
This is a tougher question than you’d think. In the end, it’s probably going to come down to personal feelings more than anything else. The most important thing is that the font you choose for your cover contributes to the emotional response you want to stimulate in readers. As mentioned in our article on how to design a book cover, you want to hint at the general mood of your book using the cover. The title font is a very important part of this.
Assessing every custom-made, stylized typeface out there would go far beyond the scope of this article. You can browse all kinds of quirky, artistic fonts at sites like fontsquirrel.com, but for now, we’re going to review some of the more standard options. Below are some examples of title-friendly sans serif fonts:
Word
Bahnschrift
Created by the German Institute for Standardization in 1931, the bold, assertive Bahnschrift is a solid choice for something like a thriller. It’s quite weighty, no-nonsense and supremely legible. Bahnschrift is probably the most unorthodox of all the fonts on this list, but maybe that’s your jam?
Gill Sans MT
Gill Sans is probably as close to a timeless sans serif font as you can get. Its classy, which is probably what made Penguin Books decide to use it for their reissued classics series. It does the job extremely well, presumably because of its ability to look good on most backgrounds without being too imposing. As such, it’s an excellent all-around choice for when you don’t want the title to grab too much of a passer-by’s attention (detracting from the cover art), or when you want an overall minimalist effect.
Google Docs
Montserrat
Montserrat’s airy spacing and light, carefree strokes bring our minds back to romantic summers and other rose-tinted memories from years gone by. It’s ideal for minimalist romance titles or nostalgic, sentimental period dramas. Montserrat is an open-source font, so you can download and use it for free.
Roboto
Domo arigato, Google – this is a really solid, well-rounded font. It doesn’t exude the same elegance that Montserrat does. Rather, it radiates a confident simplicity, much like long-time hipster favourite Helvetica. Roboto is available for download from Google Fonts.
Pages
Helvetica
Speaking of Helvetica, here she is. There’s not all that much to be said about this font that hasn’t been said already. The massive popularity of Helvetica is basically a meme at this point, but there’s a reason for that. It’s just a really good font.
Avenir
If Montserrat and Helvetica got together and had a font baby, it’d probably look like Avenir. Enough said.
Other options
While these are some of our favourite sans serif fonts, there are of course hundreds more out there. Not to mention all the serif typefaces that also make for excellent title fonts. In fact, all the serif fonts discussed above would be equally appropriate to use on your front cover. When it comes to print books, it’s really only sans-serif fonts that are limited in the sense that you should only use them for titles.
Another font category that should only be used for titles is what we like to call stylised fonts. There are heaps of these that are free to download and use. A quick Google search should yield plenty of results. If used sparingly, such fonts can enhance the aesthetic of a cover without being too distracting. Take one of our example covers for instance, where we used the War is Over font:
This particular example is meant to represent a mystery/thriller novel, though it is a bit of a caricature. The bold, imposing font looms over the tiny person depicted on the cover, underscoring the ominous, threatening atmosphere of the book. This effect is further enhanced by the dark red colour of the font, reminiscent of blood, which is very fitting for a thriller. In addition, the aesthetic flourish on the font is reminiscent of snow, making the title look weather-beaten and tying into the winter theme. You’ll also notice that we stuck to our previous recommendation of using a maximum of two different fonts (note that the author name is written in bold, however).
Get to it!
That’s it for our recommendations! We hope that the discussion in this article has helped kickstart your creative process. Keep in mind that the suggestions put forward aren’t set in stone by any means though! Context is king, and it’s difficult to make any sweeping stylistic statements regarding typefaces. There is one exception though: never use comic sans!
If you have any questions regarding the fonts you should use, or would like to make some suggestions of your own, sound off in the comments!