hey all so when I compile my manuscript in paperback with a title page, at the top of the page it says the title and then the word Novel at the end. Novel is underlines. I’ve included a screenshot. I compile using paperback. I would not like the word Novel next to the title.
Unless you’ve done a lot of rewiring, the project title comes from the Metadata tab on the right side of the compile overview window.[1] With stock settings you would be using the Front Matter/Paperback/Title Page binder item, but from your screenshot your title page looks nothing like that example. Perhaps you changed it, or maybe you made your own. Either way, that is where you would need to look for something perhaps accidentally typed in after the <$projecttitle> placeholder, if you couldn’t find anything in the aforementioned metadata tab.
§23.4.2, Metadata Tab, in the user manual PDF. ↩︎
hi amber,
thanks for your reply. Im confused lol. I also think I didnt explain it well enough. I’ve included more ss of whats happening. I’m not sure what order these screenshots will land but here’s the order i took them. 1. ss of entire Srivener interface that shows the manuscript and the binder. On the binder I have highlighted what I want compiled. Front Matter, and at the bottom roman numeral parts of the novella. 2. an ss of the compile overview window just so u can see if I’m doing this right. 3. is an ss of the first page of my pdf document that i exported from the compile overview. 4. is an ss of a page of the manuscript with the title at the top that shows “novel” tagged on to it. This title appears on every other page of the novella.
Thanks!
Mark
Alas, it appears none of the screenshots are showing up, so I unfortunately cannot follow along with these captions.
This title appears on every other page of the novella.
But perhaps I do not need them. Yes, indeed I was a little confused by the original description. This does not to me sound like a description of a title page, but of a running header. As with the stock title page, it is often not edited directly and uses a placeholder (like <$projecttitle>) to pull the text from your project’s compile metadata. That way multiple areas of your book, like the title page and the running head, can use the same information without having to hunt down multiple different little places to change things.
I’m not sure what to tell you further about that. Did you look up the section in the user manual that I referred you to, that contains a screenshot of which tab to click on, and then a detailed description of all the fields? Right below the screenshot is the area describing the Book and Author Information, along with the title fields that you would need to check.
You probably have “_novel” or “_novel_” of some variation in one of those fields.
LOL you do not see the screen shots, because after I had written all of that, well, um… i forgot to upload them.I took them tho!! lol But yes, that’s what I thought you were saying from my original screen shot. It was was not the title page but instead a running header. Now let me see if i can fix this.
No worries, I always forget to add attachments when writing emails. ![]()
oh youre here lol. can u tell me how to edit the running header. im new to the compile game. thank you
Well again to be clear that probably isn’t the most efficient approach, because the running header in your settings is probably using the <$projecttitle> placeholder, which just pulls the name from the Metadata tab. If you change that, it fixes both the running head and the title page at once. If you just fix one, you’ll have to go and fix the other separately—same goes for revising the book title later on if that ever happens.
But, it’s easy enough to do, and you might as well learn how to do it, as there are other useful things to know about, where you change that (like margins):
- Open
File ▸ Compile..., and in the left column where you selected Paperback, double-click on the highlighted one to duplicate and edit it. - This will open the Format design window. Select “Page Settings” from the left list.
- Here are all of the options for how running headers, footers, paper size and margins are found. You’re looking for the stuff in the “Header and Footer Text” tab, in the lower half.
- With this format there are several different variations since it is a more complex setup. First Pages, for example, are what you’ll get on any page break like a chapter. Normally you would want to click through all of these to make a global edit, but in this case, the project title is only printed into “Main Body” (the other page, Facing Pages, is where your name/pseudonym would go).
Personally, I would try fixing the source of the problem first, where the text comes from, but if you’d rather handle it all manually then you can fix each spot that has “Novel” after it (and at that point, the Title metadata field probably won’t do much of anything and can be ignored).
I’d do it but i’m paranoid
There is nothing to be afraid of. You are duplicating the format to edit it, which means the original cannot be edited, you can always get back to it by clicking on it in the left sidebar again. Creating duplicates and experimenting, even to break things, is perfectly fine!
Yes, just delete all of the text in that field and type in whatever you want, then click the Test button in the lower left corner to see if it works. If not, that Cancel button is another reason not to be paranoid.
OK thank you! and if it works, which im sure it will, how do i make it the permanent one and not the duplicate one. sorry to be so cautious. but im really good at next-level screwing things up
Yeah I’m still confused as to why you are changing the placeholder instead of the text that has the word “Novel” in it? But no, you can’t make this your global Paperback format, nor would you want to. Then every book you print would have “How to Make a Friend” at the top, and then for every book you’d have to go in and manually fix it, and then if you go back and compile and older book, you’d have to go in and manually fix it again, back to what it was, and so on.
I.e. why it’s generally better to fix the actual title of the book, rather than going around and stomping on the individual ants… the places where the title is used. But I think at this point I’ve made that point too much. ![]()
ok i think i screwed something up earlier, but i can’t backtrack, it’s all a blur. But i think before I compiled I went into this setting, <$projecttitle> and wrote my title in. Where the novel part came from idk. But I think i remember it popping up, and me just thinking it was my job to write the title in there. Does this make sense? My goal is just to fix it so that “novel” isn’t there. Thank you for your patience.
Yeah I’m still confused as to why you are changing the placeholder instead of the text that has the word “Novel” in it?
yes! tell me how to do this lol… i musta said something weird to get us into the settings. but yea, this is all i need.
Reading back on our thread, i missed the info u provided in the User manual. So I’m reading that now. Hopefully Ill get there. will let u know
I fixed it!!!
Thanks for your help! Have a great weekend!
Mark
Glad to hear it!
You have a good one, too.

