Chicken Scratchings

Posts Tagged ‘Art’

15 stacks of books higher than this

by Bill Ruesch

Latest figures based on ISBN’s reveal that the US published nearly 190,000 books last year.  If you assume an average thickness of 1″ per book, and stacked them one on top of the other you’d have fifteen stacks of books each stack taller than the Empire State Building in New York. Last year–15 stacks of books taller than the Empire State Building. This wasn’t over a ten or twenty year stretch, but just last year. Try to visualize these fifteen stacks standing beside the Empire State Building and then imagine what would happen to the streets of New York City if two, five, or ten year’s worth of published books were stacked among the buildings.

All of this is from US publishing alone!  Another 130,000 books were published in the UK. If you added these books to the stacks it would create another ten more Empire State sized stacks. It boggles the mind.

The Questions to Ask

• Does my book stand a chance?
  • The odds are, please excuse the pun, stacked against you.  Every hour of every day over 21 books are published in the US. The competition is unbelievably tough, but as difficult as it is, if you don’t enter the fray you are guaranteed to fail. Remember as difficult as it is to win a lottery, lotteries are won every day. Like Han Solo said in the movie Star Wars, “Never tell me the odds kid.” That is the attitude you must adopt.
• What is the best path for me to pursue in getting my book sold and read?
  
  • First dispel the notion that all you have to do is write well and you’ll become rich and famous. That’s a fairy tale. There is no happily ever after for 99% or more of all authors. Even Mark Twain in his heyday knew the value of marketing. It has been recorded that he had 10,000 people selling his books for him. If Mark Twain had to arrange for his own book sales, it isn’t too far of a stretch to think that you would have to too. Even traditionally published authors have to participate in selling.  The Red Hen Association has downloaded an interview with a contemporary published author, Casey Sherman. Mr. Sherman has some very enlightening things to say about book selling today. Check it out at Casey Sherman interview.
  • Consider the genre of your book. Small independent publishers produce four times as many nonfiction titles as fiction. There is a reason for this disparity. A nonfiction book usually has an identifiable market.  A book of fiction has a more difficult time locating its audience; however, a novel has the potential for much greater sales in the long run. According to  http://BookStatistics.com popular fiction comprises 55% of book sales, followed by 10% religious nonfiction, and 9% cooking and crafts.
• How many books do I have to sell to make money?
  • Large publishers say they have to sell 10,000 books to break even, but for self-publishers without huge overheads break even can come much sooner. It is difficult to name a figure for profitability because costs of printing, editing, art, illustration, and cover design can, and do differ for each book. Simple math is all it takes to determine earnings. Add all the sales and then subtract all of the costs. Be sure to keep records of all costs including transportation to and from events, mail and shipping expenses, professional services like accountants and attorneys, meals if you are out of town, etc. Not only will you want to report expenses to the IRS to decrease your taxes, but you can’t get an accurate break even number without it. Self-publishing is a business. It’s best if you treat it as a business and not a hobby.
• How have other authors done it ?
  • In today’s world it is easier and more difficult at the same time to be heard among the babble. The Internet makes it possible to reach out to the entire world. You can setup and start a blog for free in minutes. Just think, you can launch a soap box and speak to the whole world right now. The problem is that 175,000 other blogs are started each day according to Cnet. Nonetheless, a blog has become a necessity. A stagnant blog, will not serve you. Just because you build a blog site doesn’t mean that you will attract visitors. You have to market the site, in order to market yourself and your book.
  • Arrange speaking engagements where you can sell and sign copies of books.
  • Go to where the potential readership goes. If your book is about race car drivers, see if you can get the book into NASCAR events. Maybe your book is about fairies, go to FaerieCon or other fairy festivals. Got a cookbook? Go to places where cooking is the topic. Be creative and think in terms of places people might be who would relate to your book even if it is a stretch. I have a friend who writes books about Dutch oven cooking. He has an arrangement with a Dutch oven manufacturer to put a sales piece about his books in the box of every oven they sell.
  • Be fearless. Call on buyers for stores and ask them to stock your book.
  • Get your book on library shelves. Contact the American Library Association for places and times of librarian conferences.

  Will these tips really work? They aren’t guaranteed, but they will help. The biggest tip is make your own fame. If you find a way to become a household name, you will sell books. There’s your guarantee.

A budding self-publisher said to me, “I can layout my pages on my computer, why would I hire designer to do that for me?” Everyone with graphic design software suddenly thinks they are an artist. Don’t kid yourself–it isn’t true. That would be akin to providing someone with a car and turning them into an instant Indy driver. Although, I have to say, that particular delusion runs rampant among the mostly younger members of the population. You can observe it on just about every street in America. Pedal to the metal driving is scary to us who find ourselves dodging the wild and crazy drivers out there–you know who you are.

An artist's touch can make the mundane beautiful.

GIGO

If I sit you in front of a canvas and hand you a brush and tubes of oil paint you would probably say something like, “Oh no, I’m no artist,” but if I sit you in front of a computer all of a sudden you think you are Rembrandt. What’s the difference? The computer isn’t a magic wand, it’s a tool. A tool wielded by the capable can produce excellent results. A tool in the hands of a neophyte or worse will produce poor results. Guaranteed. The old software programmer’s saying GIGO (garbage in/garbage out) is still true.

An amateurish book in hand is not worth two in the bush.

Why does it matter? Isn’t a page a page? It’s constructed of sentences and paragraphs, right? That’s the kind of thinking that gets a self-publisher in trouble. And it’s the kind of thinking that is supported by any number of Internet Publishing Companies whom I won’t name but are associated with POD, Subsidy Publishing, etc. who will help you get a book out as cheaply as possible and generally looks like it too.

Font selection is an art in itself.

Let me tell you a little story. My brother, Dan Ruesch, is a prominent graphic designer. I spend most of my time in the printing business and so we find ourselves working together on projects from time-to-time. I rushed over to his office one day to find out the status of a print job that had an extremely tight deadline. I was expecting to pick up the art, but Dan was still selecting fonts. Argh! I found him by his table with two samples of type–one in each hand. He was holding them up and describing each as a connoisseur would talk about wine. “This one has the flavor of…” This other has a bouquet of…” “The first one has an undercurrent of…” I swear I watched as the clock’s hands spun and my hopes of meeting the deadline were rapidly sliding away.  It turned out that I was being prematurely negative. We did meet the deadline after all.

It’s all about harmony–not discord.

What does all of this have to do with designing a book? Communication is more than the writing. We as human beings judge things by their appearance. If you see someone dressed nicely in fashionable clothing you will make a determination about them, probably favorable. Take that same person put them in their work-in-the garden jeans and your evaluation will be different, maybe less favorable. Book design is the same thing. Before someone will lay down money to buy your book they need to have a favorable impression of it.

What a book designer does that you probably don’t know:

Some of the things a good book designer will do are:

• Makes sure the front matter, copyright page, table of contents, title page, acknowledgments etc. are set up correctly and are complete.
• Lays out the document so that odd numbered pages are on the right hand side; if a chapter ends on a right hand page the next is blank.
• Makes sure the chapter treatments, and other graphic touches are consistent throughout the book.
• Watches the leading (pronounced Ledding) is the space between lines must be adequate for comfortable reading, too tight and the eye will skip line, too distant and it becomes tiresome.
• Keeps an eye on kerning, the space between letters needs to be comfortable, not too tight, and not too distant.
• Chooses a style of type for page numbers and position.
• Decides whether or not to have headers or footers and what style should be used?
• Decide between serif fonts (those with feet) or san-serif (no feet). It is generally accepted that serif fonts are easier to read.
• Selects font and font size. Decides what font best reflects the purpose and meaning of the book.
• Chooses the right paper. Does it need to be heavier or lighter weight? Should it have a texture or be smooth? What about color? Should it be white, cream, or some other color?

This is only a partial list, and I haven’t even gotten to cover design which employs yet another set of questions and decisions to be made. The point being, don’t try to layout a book by yourself. Use the skills you have and let the people with other talents help you do it right. Good artists are worth their hire. Find the best you can afford, and let them help you create visual communication that is worthy of your writing. After all, ugly isn’t a crime, it’s a sin.

What good is a book without a reader? A book is worthless until it is read. Selling, or marketing if you prefer, is as important as writing. You have to get the books into reader’s hands. How do you do that? I recommend TAP (The Author Platform). It is custom made to teach the self-publishing author how to use Social Networking, Blogging, Amazon, Book Parties, and other means of marketing. You need it. Just click here.