Give the chapter a repeatable hierarchy
Decide whether chapters carry numbers, titles, both, or neither. The typography should show their relationship without making every opening feel like a separate cover. Establish a consistent vertical start and enough space to signal the transition, then test the longest real chapter title rather than a short placeholder.
Use a true heading in the source. In print it controls the opener; in EPUB it gives navigation and assistive technology a meaningful landmark. A visual paragraph styled to look like a title is not equivalent structure.
Treat the first paragraph intentionally
Many books omit the first-line indent after a chapter title, subhead, or scene break because the preceding space already marks the new paragraph. Subsequent body paragraphs use the normal indent. This is a convention, not a law; the important requirement is that the rule is consistent and visible.
Drop caps and small-cap openings can add voice, but they should never make the first sentence harder to understand. Verify punctuation, quotation marks, accented characters, and large-text ebook behavior. Provide a plain fallback so the content remains readable when a reading system simplifies the decoration.
Make scene breaks survive every format
A blank line alone can disappear at a page boundary and may be collapsed by an ebook reader. Use a simple ornament, three asterisks, or another consistent marker with space around it. Mark ornamental images as decorative and retain a text or semantic break so screen-reader users receive the same transition.
Prevent a scene-break mark from appearing alone at the top or bottom of a print page. Keep it with meaningful text on both sides or move the break through pagination rules rather than adding manual blank lines.
Proof transitions, not isolated pages
Scan the first two pages of every chapter. Check whether openings land on recto pages as intended, whether blank versos carry unwanted headers or folios, and whether the first running head reflects the correct chapter. Long books often reveal inconsistent naming and numbering only when the contents and page heads are compared.
In the EPUB, click each navigation entry and resize the text dramatically. A chapter should begin in the right place without relying on a fixed amount of blank vertical space that becomes absurd on a small screen.
Sources: Amazon KDP: Format Your eBook · W3C: EPUB 3.3. Reviewed ; recheck current platform requirements before production.