Do you know the “Invisible Paragraph” trick? You create an empty carriage return in between two “normal” paragraphs (with text), and then reduce that empty return down to almost nothing by changing its size to .1 pt (a tenth of a point, the smallest InDesign will go for type) and its leading to 0. It’s essentially invisible in the layout, but you can see it and work with it in the Story Editor (Edit > Edit in Story Editor):

You can then use this phantom paragraph for a few different tricks in InDesign, such as getting the wrap to work right with anchored graphics (more info here).

Another reason to use it is when you’re trying to create one single layout that can be used for both print and EPUB output. I show you what the problem is, and how an “invisible paragraph” can solve it, in this latest free video from our InDesign Secrets video series at Lynda.com:

Check out all the great InDesign videos at lynda.com — many of which are free, and some of which are for subscribers only. (If you’re not yet a subscriber, get 7 days free content here!)

Update: If you’re exporting to EPUB from InDesign CS4, 5, or 5.5 (which is what I was  using when I recorded this video)  this is the trick to use. If you’re using InDesign CS6, the EPUB results are different in a number of subtle ways. One way is that CS6 always adds an extra empty return after every anchored graphic, whether it needs it or not. So for custom anchored graphics, you don’t need to add an invisible return to get the EPUB looking right, InDesign will do it for you.