Posts Tagged ‘Book Design’

Holistic Book Reviews

The Red Hen Association of Self-Publishing Authors is offering members an opportunity for free publicity. We are starting a section of featured book reviews. These reviews will have a twist. A typical book review includes a cover photo with a content critique. The Red Hen book reviews will go a step further. Since we in the association are convinced that book marketing takes more than good writing, we will include a discussion of the book design also. That is why we are calling it Holistic Book Reviews–your book will be reviewed as a whole, not in parts. Customers choose books to buy based on more than the text.

We also intend to include your ordering information.  Or maybe we can work out some way of funneling orders through the Association for a minimal fee, of course. To become viable the Association will need income streams, but we haven’t quite figured that out yet. If anyone has a suggestion about it please feel free to share it with us. We are open minded.

Avoid The Sure Way of Making a Quick Trip to the Discount Bin

Good cover design, page layout, size, and materials can make a great deal of difference to the marketability of your books. Self-publishers have an advantage over traditional publishers in that they control their own presentation.

Traditionally published authors give up ownership of their children. It must be heartbreaking to send your baby out and when it’s released be shocked and embarrassed by what the publisher did to it. I’ve heard tales of ugly covers, misleading hype, and fractured type. You count on the publisher to polish your work and give it the best possible chance for success, but the truth is that publishing is a business. No business large or small, has unlimited funds, or time.  Traditional publishers concentrate more, as they should, on the known money makers. If you are new or untried, you probably will not get top-drawer attention.

As a self-publisher you can take all the time you need to make sure your book truly represents your message. You control the layout, and cover design. You also incur the costs. Don’t go cheap–first rate graphic designers and editors are worth the added expense. If your book doesn’t sell because you decided to use your neighbor’s fifteen-year-old son who is pretty good on the computer, it will cost you more in the end than if you invest in quality. For example, if the cover doesn’t lure the reader, your book will be ignored. It isn’t just the artwork, the title, cover copy, and choice of materials all must work in harmony.

It is All About You

So, if you want to tell the world about your book, we’ll do what we can to help by publishing a book review. Please send a copy of your book to P.O. Box 521418, Salt Lake City, UT 84152-1418 along with a photograph preferably shot professionally and we will write a review including comments about the book’s presentation. If chosen to appear on our website you will be able to use the review in your other marketing efforts. Your book will not be returned to you and because of time and space not every submitted book will be featured. We intend to choose books that represent the best of the self-published crop. If this description fits your book, by all means send it in and don’t forget to include a cover photo.

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.