What is the best font for a book?

For the text, a serif with moderate contrast and a true italic. Lora, Crimson Text and Libre Baskerville are the most used that pass our rule, with contrast from 2.21 : 1 in Crimson Text to 3.57 : 1 in Cormorant Garamond. Set a chapter in a few of them before you decide.

Can I use these fonts in a book I sell?

Yes, in print, as a PDF or as an e-book: their licences allow commercial use and embedding the font in the file. Of these, all 21 come under the SIL Open Font License.

What is an optical size?

A cut of a typeface drawn for a range of sizes: small sizes get sturdier strokes and looser spacing, large ones finer detail and tighter spacing. With an optical size axis, as Merriweather has from 18 to 144, the letters change with the size you set.

Which book fonts are in Google Docs and Word?

20 of these 21 are most likely in Google Docs, under More fonts in the font menu. None is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts: install the one you want from its source to write in Word.

Which book font fits the most words on a page?

The narrowest: EB Garamond’s lowercase averages 43.7% of the em, Libre Baskerville’s 58.7%, so the same text runs about 26% shorter in EB Garamond at one size.

Best fonts for books

A book needs a text face that stays calm for hundreds of pages, and a voice for its cover. For the pages, serifs with moderate contrast, an italic and a second weight, Lora, Crimson Text and Libre Baskerville first; for the cover, serifs drawn in optical sizes, such as Merriweather and Newsreader.

Pass the rule: 54 of 2,035; of all the fonts we measured
Shown: 21; the most used first, one of a family
Commercial use: 21 of 21; every licence here allows it
In Google Docs: 20 of 21; most likely, under More fonts; Slides too

01 / The picks

21 fonts for books

Serifs: for the pages, contrast from 2.2 : 1 to under 4 : 1 with an italic and a second weight; for the cover, an optical size axis.

For the pages

Contrast from 2.2 : 1 to under 4 : 1 · 42 pass · 12 shown

Set the first 6 in your own words

For the cover and title page

An optical size axis · 12 pass · 9 shown

Set the first 6 in your own words

02 / Questions

Book fonts, answered

What is the best font for a book?: For the text, a serif with moderate contrast and a true italic. Lora, Crimson Text and Libre Baskerville are the most used that pass our rule, with contrast from 2.21 : 1 in Crimson Text to 3.57 : 1 in Cormorant Garamond. Set a chapter in a few of them before you decide.
Can I use these fonts in a book I sell?: Yes, in print, as a PDF or as an e-book: their licences allow commercial use and embedding the font in the file. Of these, all 21 come under the SIL Open Font License.
What is an optical size?: A cut of a typeface drawn for a range of sizes: small sizes get sturdier strokes and looser spacing, large ones finer detail and tighter spacing. With an optical size axis, as Merriweather has from 18 to 144, the letters change with the size you set.
Which book fonts are in Google Docs and Word?: 20 of these 21 are most likely in Google Docs, under More fonts in the font menu. None is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts: install the one you want from its source to write in Word.
Which book font fits the most words on a page?: The narrowest: EB Garamond’s lowercase averages 43.7% of the em, Libre Baskerville’s 58.7%, so the same text runs about 26% shorter in EB Garamond at one size.