turn your poems into beautifully set book pages. explore layouts, keep your line breaks, and prepare your collection for print.
first edition · ten places for beta poetsjoin →prologue
from notes to page
p. 1
from your notes to a real page.
paste a poem the way you wrote it. lines & pages sets it on a book page, with your words and line breaks just as you wrote them.
song of myself
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
in your notes, a long line just runs on to the edge, and looks like a new line.
on the page, every line keeps its place. the stanza break stays.
the poem is walt whitman’s song of myself, 1892, in the public domain. 5 by 8 inch page, lines & pages classic margins, measured with the same code as the free line checker.
i.
the gallery
p. 3
pages that hold their breath.
interior studies in each lines & pages house style, set with poems from the public domain. every line break belongs to the poet.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
14
no. 01 — classic collection
william wordsworth, 1815
5.5 × 8.5 in · eb garamond 11 pt
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
— emily dickinson
27
no. 02 — modern minimal
emily dickinson, c. 1861
optical centre · no title
one
the waiting
no. 03 — section opener
always a right hand page
no folio · blank verso added
The Sick Rose
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
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no. 04 — breath
william blake, 1794
short poem at the optical centre
song of myself
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of
summer grass.
58
no. 05 — turnover lines
walt whitman, leaves of grass
1.5 em hanging indent
WHEN YOU ARE OLD
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
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no. 06 — chapbook
w. b. yeats, 1893
5 × 8 in · title in small caps
six house styles · tap a page to see it up close · poems from the public domain
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ii.
the free line checker
p. 7
will your lines fit the page?
paste your longest lines. see if they fit a printed page, before you start your book.
loading book type…
iii.
the craft
p. 12
built around the way poets write.
a word processor treats a poem like a paragraph. lines & pages was built around the line: its breaks, its breath, and the space around it.
every intentional line break matters.
your words and line breaks stay as you wrote them, with the spaces and tabs inside each line.
setting the page…
lines & pages: four lines, as dickinson wrote them.
stanzas deserve their own space.
a stanza is kept together where the page allows. longer poems pause between stanzas, as a reader would.
setting the page…
lines & pages: blake’s second stanza turns the page whole.
long lines, handled thoughtfully.
a line wider than the page turns with a hanging indent, so it still reads as one line.
setting the page…
lines & pages: the turn is indented, so whitman’s line still reads as one.
margins that grow with the book.
as your page count crosses each KDP band, the inside margin widens with it, prepared for KDP’s published print specifications.
inside margin 0.625 in for 24 to 150 pages: KDP’s 0.375 in, plus a little more so the words never sink into the fold.
iv.
first edition
p. 16
the first edition · opening soon
we’re opening lines & pages to ten poets first. we set your whole collection and you get the print-ready PDF, free. in return, tell us what works and what doesn’t.
10
places in the first edition
£0
your book set, with its print PDF
£19
a book to export, after the beta
v.
questions
p. 20
questions, answered.
short answers to what poets ask most. anything else, ask us when you join the first edition.
what is lines & pages?
a design house for poets. you bring your poems; we set them as a real book, prepared for KDP's published print specifications.
is the free line checker really free?
yes. no account and no email. paste your lines and see how they fit the three most common book sizes.
what happens to my unpublished writing?
in the free line checker it stays on your device. it's measured in your browser, and nothing is sent or kept.
can I check a whole manuscript?
yes. choose "whole book" and paste it, or drop in a .txt or .docx file.
which book sizes can I choose?
5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5 and 6 × 9 inches, the most common paperback sizes on KDP.
will my line breaks be kept?
yes. your words and line breaks stay as you wrote them. a line too wide for the page turns with a hanging indent, so it still reads as one line.
can I preview my book before paying?
yes. you can set and preview your book free, and pay £19 only when you export the print-ready PDF.
do you publish my book on amazon?
no. lines & pages makes the print-ready PDF, and you upload it to KDP yourself. your book stays yours.
what is the first edition?
a beta for ten poets. we set your whole collection and you get the print PDF free, in return for honest feedback. we'll write within a week of you signing up.
can someone design my book for me?
yes. the lines & pages studio also designs books by hand, for poets who'd like a finished book set for them.