I’ve watched a lot of writers hit this wall.
They open Atticus, write a book, click preview… and suddenly the formatting looks wrong.
- Weird spacing
- Chapters starting in strange places
- Scene breaks disappearing
- EPUB looks fine but PDF looks broken
- Or the exact opposite
Then the panic starts:
“Did I mess something up?”
Most of the time? No. You didn’t.
You’re running into the three structural quirks of Atticus that nobody explains properly. Once you understand those, the whole thing becomes predictable.
Let’s walk through the real causes.
The #1 Reason Atticus Formatting Looks Wrong (Structure Is Broken)
This is the mistake I see constantly when mentoring new indie authors.
They write like this:
Chapter 1
Text text text textChapter 2
More text
But Atticus does not treat text as chapters unless you tell it to.
Atticus uses section containers. Think of them like folders.
Your book should look like this in the sidebar:
- Front Matter
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Back Matter
If someone pastes a manuscript from Word or Google Docs, the structure often collapses into one giant block.
Then Atticus tries to guess.
Badly.
Quick Diagnostic
Open the left sidebar.
Ask yourself:
- Do you see separate chapters listed?
- Or one big document?
If it’s one block, that’s the problem.
Fix It Fast
Highlight the chapter title.
Then click:
Add New Section → Chapter
Atticus will create a proper chapter container.
Do this once per chapter.
Formatting problems disappear immediately.
The Scene Break Problem (This One Confuses Everyone)
You type this:
***
Or maybe:
###
Looks fine in your editor.
But when you preview the book? Gone.
Why?
Because Atticus ignores random characters used as separators.
You must use the built-in scene break.
The Correct Way
Place the cursor between scenes.
Click:
Insert → Scene Break
Now Atticus inserts its own formatting marker.
That marker survives export to:
- EPUB
- MOBI
- Print layout
Random symbols won’t.
Why Your PDF and EPUB Look Different
This one frustrates people the most.
They preview EPUB.
Looks perfect.
Then they export PDF for print and suddenly:
- margins change
- page count explodes
- chapter pages move
Nothing is broken.
You’re just seeing two completely different layout systems.
| Format | How It Works | What Changes |
|---|---|---|
| EPUB | Reflowable | Text adjusts to screen size |
| Kindle | Reflowable | Same as EPUB |
| Fixed layout | Exact page design |
EPUB behaves like a website.
PDF behaves like a printed book.
That means:
- EPUB ignores page breaks
- PDF respects them
If your print layout matters, always check the Print Preview inside Atticus.
Not the EPUB preview.
The Hidden Formatting From Word (The Silent Killer)
This is the ugliest issue I see.
Someone pastes a manuscript from:
- Microsoft Word
- Google Docs
- Scrivener
Everything looks okay.
Until random formatting starts appearing:
- weird spacing
- font changes
- indents disappearing
What’s happening?
Hidden style code came along with the paste.
Word documents carry invisible formatting instructions.
Atticus tries to interpret them.
Sometimes it guesses wrong.
The Fix That Saves Hours
Do this before importing:
- Copy the manuscript
- Paste into Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit in plain text mode (Mac)
- Copy it again
- Paste into Atticus
That strips all formatting.
Now Atticus builds clean styles from scratch.
Old publishing trick. Works every time.
Chapter Titles That Refuse To Format
Sometimes authors manually style chapter titles:
- Bold
- Larger font
- Centered
Then Atticus overrides it.
Why?
Because chapter titles use a locked style template.
The formatting comes from the theme, not the text.
Trying to force it manually causes weird results.
Correct Method
Edit the Theme Settings.
Then change:
- Chapter heading font
- Alignment
- Spacing
- Ornament style
The theme controls the book’s design.
Not the text editor.
The Theme System (Where Most Formatting Actually Happens)
This is the part people miss.
Atticus isn’t Word.
You don’t manually design pages.
Instead, themes handle the typography automatically.
Themes control:
- chapter page layout
- scene break design
- paragraph indents
- drop caps
- ornamental breaks
Switching themes can instantly change the entire book.
Experiment here first if formatting feels off.
When Paragraph Indents Look Wrong
I see this constantly with manuscripts imported from Word.
The first paragraph in a chapter isn’t supposed to indent.
Atticus does this intentionally.
That’s standard book typography.
But if every paragraph has no indent, the cause is usually one of these:
- Manual spacing instead of paragraph breaks
- Imported Word formatting
- Tab characters used for indents
Tabs break ebook formatting.
Always.
What To Check
Turn on paragraph markers in your source file and look for:
TAB Text
instead of
Paragraph style
Remove the tabs.
Atticus will apply automatic indents.
Still Seeing Weird Spacing? Check This
There’s one tiny setting people overlook.
Open:
Theme Settings → Paragraph Spacing
If spacing between paragraphs is enabled, it removes indents.
That’s intentional design.
Books usually use one system or the other.
| Style | What It Looks Like |
|---|---|
| Traditional novel | Indents, no extra spacing |
| Modern nonfiction | Space between paragraphs |
Pick one.
Mixing both looks broken.
The Weirdest Edge Case I Ever Saw
A client once swore Atticus was corrupting his manuscript.
Random paragraphs were turning italic.
No pattern.
We checked everything.
Turns out his manuscript contained invisible HTML tags from copying out of a website.
Atticus was faithfully importing them.
Solution?
Plain text paste.
Problem vanished instantly.
That trick alone has saved dozens of manuscripts.
The One Thing I Wish Every Atticus User Knew
Atticus works best when you stop fighting the formatting.
Don’t try to control every visual detail like Word.
Instead:
- Structure chapters correctly
- Insert proper scene breaks
- Use clean text imports
- Adjust formatting through themes
Once you do that, the software behaves beautifully.
Most formatting disasters come from old Word habits carried into a system built for publishing.
Break that habit.
Everything suddenly makes sense.
If You Remember Only One Thing
When formatting goes sideways in Atticus, 90% of the time the cause is messy imported formatting from Word or Google Docs.
Strip the manuscript to plain text.
Rebuild the chapter structure.
Let the theme handle design.
Problem solved.
Every time.