Choosing a Font

Fonts are visual representations of letters. Your choice of font has a significant impact on the readability and style of your book, and a poorly sized or illegible font can leave a bad impression on readers. Standard font size for books is usually between 10.5 and 12 pts. This achieves good readability while allowing your book to have as few pages as possible.

Serif fonts

In general, serif fonts are better than sans serif fonts for the bulk of the text. Serif fonts are considered more readable over long periods of time. What is a serif font? Any font that contains those little flashy points along the edges of the letters. Some of the best serif fonts are:

Garamond

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Garamond 10.5 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Garamond 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Garamond 12 pt.

Palatino

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Palatino 10 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Palatino 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Palatino 12 pt.

Baskerville

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 10.5 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 12 pt.

Book Antiqua

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Book Antiqua 10.5 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Book Antiqua 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Book Antiqua 12 pt.

Georgia

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Georgia 10.5 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Georgia 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Georgia 12 pt.

Times New Roman

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 10.5 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Times New Roman 12 pt.

Sans Serif Fonts

Any font that does not contain those little bells and whistles on the edges of the letters is known as a sans serif font. Many websites and digital documents are set in sans serif fonts. However, for print documents, sans serif fonts are best used as complementary fonts. They are an excellent choice for chapter headings, section headings, headers/footers, and page numbers. Some of the best sans serif fonts are:

Arial

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Arial 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Arial 12 pt. 

Gill Sans

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Gill Sans 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Gill Sans 12 pt.

Helvetica

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Helvetica 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Helvetica 12 pt.

Tahoma

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Tahoma 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Tahoma 12 pt.

Verdana

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Verdana 11 pt.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog in Verdana 12 pt.