Which interior style should I choose?

An interior style is a professionally paired set of decisions — body typeface, size, line spacing, margins, and the way a chapter opens — designed to work as a whole rather than as a menu of parts.

There are five, and they differ in two ways that matter: how the page feels, and how many pages your book ends up being.

The five

• Literary — Crimson Text, set unhurried with generous line spacing. Classical, a little old-fashioned in a good way. For literary fiction, historical novels, and anything that wants to feel like a hardback.
• Modern — Gentium Book Plus, clean and very even. A true book face designed for long reading. For contemporary fiction, romance, and book-club paperbacks.
• Genre — Spectral, set tighter. The workhorse: a comfortable page at an economical length. For thrillers, fantasy series, and anywhere print cost per page matters.
• Compact — Spectral again, but denser still. Takes roughly 25% off the length of the book, and that much off what every copy costs to print. A mass-market paperback bargain: a busier page for a cheaper book. For long series and box sets.
• Classic — two faces the traditional way: Crimson Text for reading, a lighter EB Garamond for chapter openers and running heads, with drop caps on. For novels that want to look like they came from a New York house.

Page count is a real difference, not a footnote

Genre saves about 17–19% against Classic on the same manuscript; Compact saves 25–28%. On a 320-page book that's around 80 fewer sheets in every copy printed, which comes straight off your per-copy cost and your spine width.

If print cost is not a concern, ignore this entirely and pick the one that looks right.

Check your characters first

If your book uses anything beyond ordinary accented Latin — a Hawaiian ʻokina, Greek, a check mark — check it before you settle on a style. Not every typeface here contains every character, and the two Crimson-based styles (Literary and Classic) have the narrowest coverage of the six faces.

See Will my accents and special characters print?

Then adjust

The style is a starting point, not a cage. The body typeface, size, leading, chapter opener, drop caps, page numbers, and running heads are all yours to change on top of it — see Can I change the font or page-number placement?

Switch styles and watch the preview update, then export a free watermarked PDF of your favorite and judge it at full size. You can change your mind and re-export any time.

If you would rather see them measured than guess, Advanced Typeset sets your whole book in each style and shows you a real page from each with the page count beside it — see What is Advanced Typeset?

Once a book is set the way you want it, you can save that whole arrangement and load it into the next book — see Can I set a second book exactly like the first?