You can do your markup either in a copy of your book or with pages that you have printed out from your computer.

Starting with a copy of your book saves you the time and cost of printing out the pages. Only work from a hardcopy if it has ample margins, adequate line spacing, and a font size that you can read without eyestrain. If you decide on using a copy, find one that is scuffed or damaged so you don't feel bad about writing in it.

In my opinion, working from a computer printout is a much better choice. Yes, it means using a lot of paper and ink, but the reasons for doing it outweighs the cost. For one, you can experiment to find out what markup helps you and what doesn't. Markup does not have to be complex, but it does have to be consistent. After a couple of tries, you may want to change your system and start over. Working with a printout lets you start fresh without erasing. If you mess up a page, just re-print it.

Make it easy on yourself.

• Font size: Use a large enough font size (like 10 or 12 point).
• Font style: Pick a font style that is easy to read (serif instead of sans serif).
• Spacing: Set spacing at 1 1/2 or double.
• Margins: Put wide margins on both the left and right sides (not just all on one side). You are better off with less text per line (approaching newpaper-column width). You are less likely to lose your place, skip a line, or make unnatural sounding micro-second pauses as your eyes shift back to the left.
• Alignment: Set the alignment to create a ragged right, not justified margins. It is easier to read ragged right. You never get lines where there are large …. spaces …. between …. each …. word …. like …. this. If you are using styles, you can modify the appropriate paragraph style, and it will automatically apply throughout the document.
• Printout's page numbers: Use the header / footer feature of your word processor, to add page numbers automatically for you.
• Book's page numbers: Note the hardcopy page number by hand in the margin. Don't put the page numbers in the text itself. Put it in square brackets like this [47]. The reason for having the page numbers in the margins is so that when you are recording, you can refer to the published page numbers in your notes. This will help you in the sound file editing process, and help your production monitor (if you have someone working with you) as he reads along during the actual recording.

Print out one page and look at it for readability. Don't just look at it on the screen.

One more thing: Before you print out a whole chapter, there is one more thing you have to do. Make sure you are viewing it in page-layout mode. Move to the beginning of the chapter. Now move the cursor down to where the page break occurs. (This is where a new sheet of paper will be used. I am not talking about the bottom of the screen.)

• Look for paragraphs that are split between pages. If the page ends in the middle of a sentence, move your cursor up to the start of that paragraph and force a page break. A page break will shift the entire paragraph to the top of the next page.

Find out how to do this with your wordprocessor (on mine it is Control-Enter). Don't use the return key to force text to the next page! If you ever reset the margins or change fonts, the return key method will leave big gaps in the middle of pages instead of where you want them.

One reason you want to keep the paragraph together on one page is to avoid making page turning sounds in the middle of recording where they are hard to edit out. Also, by keeping the paragraph together, you avoid creating an unintended pause while you turn a page. Your listener should never hear a pause unless it has something to do with the story.

• The second thing to look for is dialogue. Create a page breaks so the dialogue is all on one page, rather than partly on one and partly on the next page. If the dialogue fills more than one page, then there isn't much you can do about crossing pages.

If you are doing markup in a copy of your book instead of using a printout, you can avoid splitting paragraphs between pages this way: when a small bits of a paragraph either starts on the prior page or ends on the next page, write out (hand print) the shorter part on the page where the larger part is. For example, if the last line of the paragraph is on the next page (a page turn), write it out at the bottom of the page. This is less critical if the the paragraph bridges two side by side pages.

Now it is ready for markup. Go ahead and print out a whole chapter.