book layout

Why and How to Create a Hardcover Book

Book-Layout

The most common choice for self-publishers when releasing a new title or edition is either an ebook or a paperback version of their title: the production is fast and inexpensive, if done through a Print-on-Demand (POD) service company.
It requires only the expense for a professional book lay-outer or a software program if you are skilled and patient.

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Why a Hardcover Version of Your Book?
A hardcover or hardback is a book, bound with a thick protective cover, with usually a paper dust jacket over the main cover.  The aim of hardcover books is protection and durability.   These books are mainly for long-term use.  The paper used is long-lasting acid-free type.  This paper has a pH value of 7 (neutral) which makes it highly durable.  The pages are stitched and glued to the spine.

There are situations when it is better to have a hard cover version available, such as for a special gift, or when you are approaching TV stations or magazine/newspaper editors due to an interview or a review of your book.

If you want to sell books to libraries, then it’s almost a requirement to have a hardcover version – or it is at least a good selling point.  And with good reason: library books go through dozens, if not hundreds of hands.

If you are writing book series, you can “bundle” them, obtain a new ISBN, and create a hardcover version out of two or three paperbacks.

Photo books, also often called coffee table books, would look ridiculous in paperback. They are almost always created as hardcover books.

Last but not least, the margins for hardcovers are much higher than for paperbacks. While the print- and binding costs might be a bit higher (mostly 30 – 40%) the recommended retail prices are almost always double the price of a paperback.
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Considerations

  • Is your book likely to be popular and used as a reference work or will it likely become a bestseller? Then choose hardback first.
  • Is your book testing the waters, a first off print run, a specialist topic? Choose softcover first.
  • Are you trying to keep down the costs of your print run? If so, choose softcover print first.
  • What are your readers likely to prefer?
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Who Offers Hardcover Books in Small Quantities?

Certainly book printers. However, the costs are prohibitive if you are only ordering a dozen books.  Printing larger amounts of hardcovers makes only sense if an author has already hundreds or thousands of books – maybe through a crowd funding campaign.
You might work with IngramSpark for the creation and distribution of your paperbacks.  For example if you are fed up with CreateSpace, or if you want a better distribution channel than CS offers.

As you can find out with the help of IngramSparks’ Print and Shipping Calculator, in many cases you will earn double the revenue with a hardcover book, even if you deduct the wholesale discount for retailers and bookstores.
Start with small print runs, to make sure you are not left with surplus stock.  Announce your hardcover version before you place your print order, and set it up on Amazon, Apple, and other online retailers for pre-order – possible at Amazon three  months and at Apple iBooks twelve months in advance.
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Marketing Benefits of Hardcover Books

A prime reason to produce a hardback edition is to use them as delightful gifts at any special events in your calendar.  It’s a great way to add a second launch for your title, if a paperback was your first book edition.  Build up momentum for your work once again.  It not only shows you are serious, and invested in your work, but it is also a way to attract new readers, who are drawn to fabulous titles.  It does not need to go as far as David Barringer writes, “The marketing of hardcover books has gone hard-core consumerist, tricking out books into luxury objects and personality accessories”.

Having a hardback edition of your title set up and enabled for distribution on your IngramSpark account also allows bookstores more choice in which format to stock your book in. With the launch of ipage®, bookstores now have more opportunity to order from Ingram’s catalogue of over 14 million titles, and with free shipping on orders going to a UK address, they benefit from ordering directly from Ingram.

The Economist wrote: “Some recent releases have sold more copies in hardback than paperback, as paperback readers turn to e-books.  Some in the industry think that e-books may eventually replace paperbacks.  But many are confident that the sturdy hardback will endure.”

Hardcover books are really worth considering!

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The Important Last Pages of Your eBook

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ebook-Layout

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Short Excerpt from our upcoming book: 111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free
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Not only is the content of your e-book crucial to win long-term readers, but the very last pages are equally important – not only to say thank-you for purchasing and reading your title but to invite your readers for more books, reviews etc.
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Leverage Your e-Book Layout
Take advantage of hyperlinks.  An e-book is simply a specialized web page.  Use your e-book for “free advertising” of your other books, of your Social Media sites, to gather email newsletter sign ups and book reviews.
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Set up the following pages, right after the books’ last page:

  • Review Links: Give your readers a reason to leave positive reviews and to recommend the book to others. Once readers have finished the last page and like your book, they are more inclined to leave an immediate book review.
  • Set up an opt-in link for your newsletter / mailing list
  • Link to all your Social Media sites, for example to your:
  • Amazon author page and all your book online retailers
  • GoodReads.com and other book communities
  • Your own website and blog
  • Google+
  • Twitter.com
  • Pinterest.com
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    If there are buttons already set up for Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. on your website, just click on them, copy the URL out of the address bar on the bottom of your page, and create the link.
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Make it Easy for Reviewers
Amazon uses their own identifier for ebooks—ASIN—which means you have to wait until after the book is definitely published on the Kindle Store to create a link.  As soon as your book is uploaded, you can use your books Amazon page, and link to “Post your review”.

Building these links is just a matter of copy/paste. If you are not familiar with HTML, ask your e-book formatter or your web designer to do it.  It’s worth the small effort – and a great chance to make the next sale, get reviews, new fans who rave about your book and followers on your Social Media sites.

You can certainly use logos or sharing buttons. How this works is described by David Kudler for HTML-based ePub files and here for Word and Smashwords.

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Retweet Buttons
People are naturally inclined to share content they find valuable. It shows to their followers that they are someone worth following because of the useful information they share, making them a valuable contributor to the social networks. Encouraging your readers to share your book’s content in social media also extends the reach of it to people outside of your direct network.

A special retweet button allows any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account.  And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to your e-book.  Retweet buttons allow any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account.  And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to the original landing page where your document resides.
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Retweet Buttons: Step by Step Explained
Create a small graphic (a blue bird on the graphic gives a visual signal to Twitter users) you can place it in your manuscript.  Place the retweet image in more than one location of your future book.  So, where do you want to send readers? Certainly to your books’ sales page!  Use a link shortener, such as bit.ly, as the original Amazon link is too long.  Create a short recommendation text to accompany the link.

Acrobat Pro will allow you to create hot-links inside your e-book file.  Use the “Link Tool” in Acrobat Pro (under the advanced editing menu), locate the retweet buttons you added into your file and create a clickable link for each retweet graphic.
To keep the link type invisible, highlight style to ‘None’ and select ‘Open a web page’ as the link action.
Then hit the ‘Next’ button. You will be prompted to enter your special URL.
Now repeat the process for all the retweet buttons you have in your e-book manuscript.  More tips, for example how to do it in InDesign, can be found in this article by Marissa Treece.
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Once you created all these URL’s, add these pages to the end of the book:

  • List of your previous books with sales page URL’s
  • Acknowledgements
  • “About the author” or bio
  • Bibliography
  • Index Links (for non-fiction books)

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Remember: The first page sells your book. The last page sells your next book!
Setting up your book layout in the same professional way as trade publishers do and leveraging the fact that you can easily incorporate links, re-tweet buttons, sign-up forms and review encouragements in your e-book will bring you many more new readers for your books!
These tips are best for e-books because readers can directly follow the links. However, in printed books you can ask for reviews, refer to your website, social media channels, or invite readers to your newsletter as well.  Just quote the exact link path.

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If you would like to get a mentor and our support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day!  Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting / Book Marketing for your success: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

To learn more about professional book marketing and publishing, please read also “Book Marketing on a Shoestring
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UAVL3LE

Our email newsletters with free insider tips are sent out once a month. To sign up, just go to the form on the right site of each blog post.

How to Prep Your e-Book for Maximum Success

Book Promotion: Leverage Your e-Book Layout
Apart from your manuscript content, what should your print book or your e-book contain?  And how can you promote your current and your former books to new readers and customers?  How to encourage book reviews and sign-ups for email newsletters?
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Book-Layout

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Traditionally the first page of print books are set up according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The front matter pages get lowercase Roman numerals instead of regular Arabic page numbers – however only in print books – e-books don’t use page numbers. Read more about print book layout here in this blog article.
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The books’ first pages are set up in this sequence:

  • half-title page
  • series title
  • title page
  • copyright page
  • dedications
  • a quote or epigraph
  • Table of Contents (TOC)
  • list of illustrations
  • list of tables
  • the foreword
  • preface
  • acknowledgements
  • introduction

Only the title page and copyright page are mandatory – also for e-books.

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Look Inside

When people use the “Look Inside” feature, especially in e-books, those traditional front matter / first book pages could easily take up half of the feature. So you better move everything but the title page, copyright page, and the Table of Content (TOC) to the last pages of the book.
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Copyright
The copyright page is essential as many e-book retailers won’t accept an ebook for sale unless it includes the copyright page. It should consist of: Copyright [Year] Author name, e.g. ‘Copyright 2012 Allen Miller’ or ‘© 2012 Allen Miller’.  Quite a few of the content in a printed book’s copyright page is irrelevant to an e-book.
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Table of Contents (TOC)
Chapter entries in the content listing should be hyperlinked so that users can go straight to the start of a chapter from the TOC. Distributors, such as Amazon will insist that you do this or they won’t accept your e-book. It improves the quality and usability of your e-book.  Don’t include page numbers from your printed edition – it doesn’t make sense in an e-book.  Due to a variety of eReaders, tablets and even computer screens where e-books are read – and even more due to the font size an e-book reader may choose – page numbers are useless.
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Take Advantage of Hyperlinks
An e-book is simply a specialized web page. Capitalize this fact for some “free advertising” of your other books, of your Social Media sites, to gather email newsletter sign ups and book reviews.
.

Set up the following pages, right after the books’ last page:

  • Review Links: Give your readers a reasons to leave positive reviews and to recommend the book to others. Once readers have finished the last page and like your book, they are more inclined to leave an immediate book review.
  • Set up an opt-in link for your newsletter / mailing list
  • Link to all your Social Media sites, for example to:
  • Amazon author page and all your book online retailers
  • GoodReads.com and other book communities
  • Your own website and blog
  • Google+
  • Twitter.com
  • Pinterest.com
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If there are buttons already set up for Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. on your website, just click on them, copy the URL out of the address bar on the bottom of your page, and create the link.
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Make it Easy for Reviewers
Amazon uses their own identifier for ebooks—ASIN—which means you have to wait until after the book is definitely published on the Kindle Store to create a link. As soon as your book is uploaded, you can use your books Amazon page, for example http://www.amazon.com/your-title-ebook/dp/B00000ABC/  and link to     “Post your own review”.

Building these links is just a matter of copy/paste. If you are not familiar with HTML, ask your e-book formatter or your web designer to do it. It’s worth the small effort – and a great chance to make the next sale, get reviews, new fans who rave about your book and followers on your Social Media sites.

You can certainly use logos or sharing buttons.  How this works is described by David Kudler here for HTML-based ePub files and here for Word and Smashwords.

.

Retweet Buttons
People are naturally inclined to share content they find valuable. It shows to their followers that they are someone worth following because of the useful information they share, making them a valuable contributor to the social networks. Encouraging your readers to share your book’s content in social media also extends the reach of it to people outside of your direct network.

A special retweet button allows any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account.  And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to your e-book. Retweet buttons allow any reader to easily post a tweet into his or her Twitter account. And it’s not just any tweet, but one that’s prefabricated by you and links back to the original landing page where your document resides.
.

Retweet Buttons: Step by Step Explained
Create a small graphic (a blue bird on the graphic gives a visual signal to Twitter users) you can place it in your manuscript. Place the retweet image in more than one location of your future book.

  • So where do you want to send readers? Certainly to your books’ sales page!
  • Use a link shortener, such as bit.ly, as the original Amazon link is too long.
  • Create a short recommendation text to accompany the link.
  • Avoid hashtags or replace them with %23, so instead of #reading, use %23reading.
  • Acrobat Pro will allow you to create hot-links inside your e-book file.
  • Use the “Link Tool” in Acrobat Pro (under the advance editing menu), locate the retweet buttons you added into your file and create a clickable link for each retweet graphic.
  • To keep the link type invisible, highlight style to ‘None’ and select ‘Open a web page’ as the link action.
  • Then hit the ‘Next’ button.  You will be prompted to enter your special URL.
  • Now repeat the process for all the retweet buttons you have in your e-book manuscript.

More tips, for example how to do it in InDesign, can be found in this article by Marissa Treece.

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The Last Pages of Your Book
Once you created all these URL’s, you may then add these pages to the end of the book:

  • List of your previous books with sales page URL’s
  • Acknowledgements
  • “About the author” or bio
  • Bibliography
  • Index Links (for non-fiction books)
    .

Remember: The first page sells your book. The last page sells your next book!
Setting up your book layout in the same professional way as trade publishers do and leveraging the fact that you can incorporate links, re-tweet buttons, sign-up forms and review encouragements in your e-book will bring you many more new readers for your books!

.

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

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7 Book Layout Errors You Will Want to Avoid

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Joel Friedlander wrote a great article “7 Formatting Errors That Make Your Book Look Unprofessional”, helping self-publishing authors to get to know the in- and outs of book layout. This is not the only useful post, a whole cornucopia of advice for authors who want to create print books can be found on www.TheBookDesigner.com, Joel’s website.  He asks: “Although our books may be self-published, we sure don’t want them to look sub-par, do we?”

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Books Should Look Like from Traditional Publishers

Writers certainly try to launch their books without the long delays or the uncertainty if they get a traditional publisher contract. The best way to have a great book layout is through a professional.  However, some authors don’t want to use a book lay-outer, or don’t want to fork out the costs involved.  Another way to solve a lot of these print book formatting problems while also getting a well-designed, industry-standard book, is to use a book template.  Joel Friedlander created this fantastic solution. Find out more and see the available designs at: BookDesignTemplates.com.

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More and more writers are taking advantage of the new tools of Print-on-Demand and create and publish their own books.  Authors becoming “do-it-yourself” book lay-outers need to avoid an amateurish look of their books.
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Joel Friedlanders List of Errors to Avoid
“Some of the errors I see when reviewing self-published books are very easy to correct, if you only know how:”

  1. Putting page numbers on blank pages.
    Blank pages have no text or images on them, and that means they should be truly blank.
  2. Using running heads on chapter opening pages or blank pages.
    Just like page numbers, running heads (the type at the top of a page that shows the book title, author name, or chapter title) have no place on a blank page, just leave them off so the pages are truly blank.
  3. Using “rag-right” typesetting.
    This means that the left and right margins of your page are straight and all lines except the last line in a paragraph are all the same length. This is what your readers expect to see in your book, so make sure you give it to them.
  4. Double spacing between sentences.
    Only one space between sentences.
  5. Using both indented AND block style spaces between paragraphs.
    If you add spaces between your paragraphs, make sure you don’t also indent the first line.
  6. Putting the odd numbered pages on the left.
    When you open a book, it just makes sense that the first page is page number 1, and that has to be a right-hand page. This rule is absolute, and you should never, ever number your pages with even numbers on right-hand pages.
  7. Making super small margins to save pages.
    CreateSpace and other print-on-demand services charge based on number of pages. But that’s no reason to shortchange your readers by making your page margins too small just to save money. Small margins will make your book hard to hold and difficult to read, never a good result.

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He adds: “Paying attention to these details of book formatting will help ensure that your books look and work the way they are supposed to. Your readers will thank you for that, and it’s your readers you should keep in mind throughout the publishing process.”

My advice:  Just visit a bookstore and browse through traditional book titles, or check out the first pages of Amazon print books and you will likely not find any of these seven errors listed by Joel Friedlander. Making it right from the beginning will save you an amazing amount of time and frustration, and your reputation as a self-publisher.
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Understanding Fonts & Typography
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/understanding-fonts-typography/

Understanding Book Layouts and Page Margins
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2013/08/book-layouts-page-margins/

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,100 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: book page layout, Cover & Book Design, design errors, font, pagination, Publishing, self-publishing, The Book Designer, typography

Your Books First and Maybe Only Impression

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Book-Cover

First Impression: A great cover!

REMEMBER:  You never get a second chance for a first good impression!  Your books’ title and its appearance is the first, and perhaps only impression you make on a prospective reader.  A great image on your book cover will undoubtedly catch your reader’s imagination, wondering what lies beyond it. A fantastic opportunity to draw readers in.
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Not that an appealing cover means automatically a great book, but a book that is accurately and even interestingly represented by its cover, is more likely to catch the eye of someone who is going to enjoy reading it.  Interesting covers are going to get more time on shelf-displays, online and off-line.  We are a visual culture; naturally that is going to influence our book-buying habits.
A stunning book cover is one of the best marketing tools for any writer!
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Bali Rai wrote in one of his blogs:  ”In 2002, as one of the judges on the Guardian’s Teenage prize, I remember a book called Thursday’s Child by Sonya Hartnett.  It’s a simple yet wonderful story of 1930′s Depression-era Australia, and it went on to win the award. However, it was not my choice for winner, simply because I thought the cover illustration would deter people from reading it. It was drab and old-fashioned in my opinion and had I not been reading and judging the book, it would have put me off completely.”
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Here are some points you should discuss with your designer.

  • Use bold or complementary colors
  • Use light on dark for dramatic effects (if it fits to your book content)
  • Test the cover in thumbnail size to make sure it looks good at Amazon’s website
  • Use not more than different two fonts in total
  • Use not too wide vertical spaces between lines of text
  • Use few shadow, bevel, gradient or glow – keep it subtle
  • Align the cover text – centre, left or right
  • Place text on plain background to stand out
  • Use the same fonts for all your books and readers will be able to identify them easily
  • People read left to right, top to bottom. Position your elements in appropriate levels of importance.
  • Never, ever, use a white background for your book! White on white is barely visible and on websites your book will not stick out, as the sites’ background are almost always white.

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E-books are bought online, usually displayed on a page with many other books. Therefore clarity, simplicity, brightness and information must jump off the screen.  A simple and arresting graphic element and bold clear text for the title and the authors’ name must be easy to read on the tiny online image.
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A book that is brilliantly written, but lacks a good quality cover design will remain unnoticed and undiscovered.  It is absolutely crucial to have a book cover that grabs the attention of readers and book buyers and shows the heart and the soul of the book in one single image

Read more:

Lousy Book Covers
http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/

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“23 Creative Book Cover Designs and their Story” is a showcase of creative book cover designs, indicating the typefaces used for the title or text:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story
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Joel Friedlander wrote a great blog about brilliant book titles in one of his blogs:
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/06/how-to-write-book-titles-for-people-robotsJoel
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“40 Extraordinary Photoshop Text Effects” shows detailed tutorials, how to create amazing book title effects, step by step and using lots of screen shots.
http://www.problogdesign.com/resources/40-extraordinary-photoshop-text-effects

Fonts for book titles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
http://www.dafont.com/themes.php
http://www.1001freefonts.com
http://www.identifont.com

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,070 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: book cover design, Book Layout, Cover art, e-book cover, font for book cover, ook cover as marketing tool, You never get a second chance, Your title and its appearance

The Best and the Worst Book Covers

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Interesting book covers are getting more exposure on shelf-displays, both online and off-line. We are a very visual culture, which influences our book-buying habits. A stunning book cover is one of the best marketing tools for any writer!  And you will never have a second chance to make a first good impression with your book – online and offline!  In the last weeks I have seen so many ugly and boring book covers and lots of beginner errors on self-published books, I just had to write this reminder.
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Chris Robley wrote recently in a blog for BookBaby:

  1. Before someone buys your book, they will probably read your book description, blurbs, bio, and maybe even skim a few pages from chapter one.
  2. Before they can do any of that reading, they will have to pick the book off a shelf, or perhaps click to the book’s page on Amazon, B&N, etc.
  3. And before they are compelled to click a link or pick up a book, they will have to be attracted to your book’s cover (or thumbnail image).

From the moment a person picks up your book, you have about 6 seconds to convince them to buy it. This includes the time they take to look at the back cover and the spine.

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Front Cover Tips
E-books are bought online, usually displayed on a page with many other books. Therefore clarity, simplicity, brightness and information must jump off the screen. Use simple, yet stunning graphic elements and bold clear text for the title and the authors’ name, both must be easy to read on the tiny online image.
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BookCover_last-last-chance

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And Never, Ever:
use the word “by” before your author name. Using the word ”by” screams DIY self-published.
use a white background for your book! White on white is barely visible and on websites your
book will not stick out, as the sites’ background are almost always white.
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BookCover_eat-pray-love-elizabeth-gilbert
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Back Cover Design
Book Layout Designer Joel Friedlaender posted in a great blog 7 Secrets to Writing Persuasive
Back Cover Sales Copy http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2013/05/casey-demchak-back-cover-copy
“If your cover is good enough to grab readers, your back cover copy needs to convince them to
buy. For authors who self publish this can be a challenge because writing promotional copy
many not be their area of expertise. Plus, for many authors it’s never easy to “brag” about
themselves and their own work.”
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BookCover_valkyrie-book-cover-design-think

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Visit a Bookstore
Check out all the books that are similar to yours. Place your book (or a mock-up) between these.
Does it look better? Is the spine eye-catching? Ask other patrons what they think about every
book, but don’t tell which one is yours. Listen to their opinion. Place your book on the first table in
the bookstore where the NY Times bestsellers are placed. Does your book cover really stand
out?  Has any of the bestsellers the word “by …. author name” on the front cover? For sure not!
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BookCover

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Book Cover Size:
Check if there are specific or popular sizes in the genre your book is in. And do all these
BEFORE your book is ready to print. Later changes only confuse readers and they are very
costly.
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Discuss these Points with Your Cover Designer:

  • Use bold or complementary colors
  • Use light on dark for dramatic effects (if it fits to your book content)
  • Test the cover in thumbnail size to make sure it looks good at Amazon’s website
  • Use not more than different two fonts in total
  • Use not too wide vertical spaces between lines of text
  • Use few shadow, bevel, gradient or glow – keep it subtle
  • Align the cover text – centre, left or right
  • Place text on plain background to stand out
  • Let the front cover design flow into the book’s spine
  • Use the same fonts for all your books and readers will be able to identify them easily
  • People read left to right, top to bottom. Position your elements in appropriate levels of importance

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Read more:

Lousy Book Covers
http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/
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Inside Random House: The Journey from Manuscript to Book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFUcWguqr7U
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Inside Random House: “The Art of Cover Design”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Z86L25v30
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“23 Creative Book Cover Designs and their Story” is a showcase of creative book cover designs,
indicating the typefaces used for the title or text:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story
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Front and Back Cover Copy for Book Covers
http://www.coverdesignstudio.com/book-cover-copy/
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Joel Friedlander wrote a great blog about brilliant book titles in one of his blogs:
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/06/how-to-write-book-titles-for-people-robotsJoel
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Book Design and Production
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Design-Production-Pete-Masterson/dp/0966981901
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Basics Design Layout, 2nd edition
http://www.amazon.com/Basics-Design-02-Layout-Second/dp/2940411492/
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“40 Extraordinary Photoshop Text Effects”, it shows detailed tutorials, how to create amazing book title effects, step by step and is using lots of screen shots.
http://www.problogdesign.com/resources/40-extraordinary-photoshop-text-effects

Fonts for book titles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
http://www.dafont.com/themes.php
http://www.1001freefonts.com
http://www.identifont.com

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Tagged: back cover, book cover as marketing tool, book cover design, Book Design and Production, Book Layout, Cover art, e-book cover, font for book cover, front cover, how to create amazing book title effects, Joel Friedlaender, top to bottom

Book Cover: You Never Get a Second Chance …

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… for a first good impression!  Always remember : 
Your books’ title and its appearance is the first, and perhaps only impression you make on a prospective reader.  A great image on your book cover will undoubtedly catch your reader’s imagination, wondering what lies beyond it. A fantastic opportunity to draw readers in.

Not that an appealing cover means automatically a great book, but a book that is accurately and even interestingly represented by its cover, is more likely to catch the eye of someone who is going to enjoy reading it.  Interesting covers are going to get more time on shelf-displays, online and off-line.  We are a visual culture; naturally that is going to influence our book-buying habits.
A stunning book cover is one of the best marketing tools for any writer!
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Bali Rai wrote in one of his blogs:  ”In 2002, as one of the judges on the Guardian’s Teenage prize, I remember a book called Thursday’s Child by Sonya Hartnett.  It’s a simple yet wonderful story of 1930′s Depression-era Australia, and it went on to win the award. However, it was not my choice for winner, simply because I thought the cover illustration would deter people from reading it. It was drab and old-fashioned in my opinion and had I not been reading and judging the book, it would have put me off completely.”
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Here are some points you should discuss with your designer.

  • Use bold or complementary colors
  • Use light on dark for dramatic effects (if it fits to your book content)
  • Test the cover in thumbnail size to make sure it looks good at Amazon’s website
  • Use not more than different two fonts in total
  • Use not too wide vertical spaces between lines of text
  • Use few shadow, bevel, gradient or glow – keep it subtle
  • Align the cover text – centre, left or right
  • Place text on plain background to stand out
  • Use the same fonts for all your books and readers will be able to identify them easily
  • People read left to right, top to bottom. Position your elements in appropriate levels of importance.
  • Never, ever, use a white background for your book! White on white is barely visible and on websites your book will not stick out, as the sites’ background are almost always white.

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E-books are bought online, usually displayed on a page with many other books. Therefore clarity, simplicity, brightness and information must jump off the screen.  A simple and arresting graphic element and bold clear text for the title and the authors’ name must be easy to read on the tiny online image.
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A book that is brilliantly written, but lacks a good quality cover design will remain unnoticed and undiscovered.  It is absolutely crucial to have a book cover that grabs the attention of readers and book buyers and shows the heart and the soul of the book in one single image

Read more:

Lousy Book Covers
http://lousybookcovers.tumblr.com/

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“23 Creative Book Cover Designs and their Story” is a showcase of creative book cover designs, indicating the typefaces used for the title or text:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story
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Joel Friedlander wrote a great blog about brilliant book titles in one of his blogs:
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/06/how-to-write-book-titles-for-people-robotsJoel
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“40 Extraordinary Photoshop Text Effects” shows detailed tutorials, how to create amazing book title effects, step by step and using lots of screen shots.
http://www.problogdesign.com/resources/40-extraordinary-photoshop-text-effects

Fonts for book titles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
http://www.dafont.com/themes.php
http://www.1001freefonts.com
http://www.identifont.com

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 960 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+
http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

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Tagged: book cover as marketing tool, book cover design, Book Layout, book shelves, Cover art, e-book cover, font for book cover, front cover, People read left to right, top to bottom, You never get a second chance, Your title and its appearance

Manuscript Finished? Tips for Pre-Book-Production

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Layout-Print

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I saw a brilliant poster at a print shop / book designer, which said:  Pick Any Two, I Pick One
It was a triangle and on each tip had these words:  Money – Quality – Time/Speed

Always keep this in mind when you hire freelancer / employees or subcontractors, such as editors, book and cover designers. You get what you pay for… Don’t shop for the cheapest, rather the best partners.
We give you here just an overview whats involved in book production, there are many other tasks that are covered in a great blue print, compiled in Joel Friedlander’s really helpful blog articles
Start with his article: Why Self-Published Books look Self-Published
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The Editing process:
Even though many authors are talented writers and even spectacular at grammar, they should never be the book editor of their own project. You might have logged long hours going through your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, read, write, delete, re-write, re-read, delete… Then, after carefully reviewing the spelling and grammar and fact-checking the document, you may have even handed the manuscript over to your your former English teacher and every member of your writing group, however none of this is equal to a professional edit.

Contact editors whose sites inspire confidence and ask about their work process, rates, time frames, and any other information you need to know. Request a sample edit from the respondents you like. Samples are often free, and around five 250-word pages.
The editing process is not meant to offend you or detract from all of the perfecting you have already done. Rather, an edit is meant to increase the quality and success of your book, regardless of subject or genre.
Choose an editor on the basis of compatibility and how well the results of his or her editing appeals to you. ask for references, but learning about the editor’s background shows you how long he or she has been in the business. It also gives an idea of how many and which types of clients have actually trusted him or her to edit.  There are several steps involved in editing and professional trade publishers often employ special editors for each of these steps:

  • Line editing
  • Content Editing
  • Copy Editing
  • Proof Reading
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The Book Cover and Title

The correct title can really help to ensure the success of your project. Or not… A great cover will raise the attention of potential readers.  And yes, books are judged by their covers.

  • It must be easy to understand and speak.
  • It should ideally be less than 32 characters.
  • You must be able to purchase the exact URL for the title.
  • Buy your Author name domain also.
  • The title should clearly demonstrate to readers what they will discover in this eBook.

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Cover Design

  • Keep the design clean.
  • Use a focal point to orient the user
  • Make sure people can read it without glasses.
  • Make the design match the content.

For Print:

  • Use the spine properly.
  • Include a photo of the author.
  • The largest font size is used on the information that is most important

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Joel Friedlander has a great blog post series about book layout 
mistakes to avoidYou can learn almost everything about book design by following Joel Friedlander’s blogs and by reading his books, to be found at www.TheBookDesigner.com.  Technical information can be obtained at Basic Book Design http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Book_Design for answers to your basic book design questions.

Pre-Publishing Services:

Editing:
Suzanne Nussay, M.A., 
Editing, Writing and Constulting Services
snussey@sympatico.ca

Lisa Costantino Editing Services
http://www.lisacostantino.com/

Susan Uttendorfsky Adirondack Editing
www.adirondackediting.com

Daniel Kenyon Editing
http://danielkenyon.wordpress.com

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Cover design inspiration:

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/creative-book-cover-story/
http://faceoutbooks.com/ (print book covers)
http://causticcovercritic.blogspot.ca/
http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/
http://bookdesigner.com/53972/book-covers/
http://bookcovers.creativindie.com/cover-samples/

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Book cover designers I can personally recommend:

Anitra Jay http://www.anitrajay.com/page:designs
Laura Wright LaRoche http://www.llpix.com
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e-Book Formatting

Another important step in creating an e-book that should be done by real professionals,
here are two proven e-book designers:

http://e-bookbuilders.com

http://ebookarchitects.com
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After going through the pre-production stages – the editorial and design part – your next step will be distribution of your new book, covered in the next blog post. However, while your book is at the pre-publishing service providers, don’t forget to actively market your upcoming book! Prepare your author pages on Goodreads and Amazon, starts Goodreads Giveaways, if you have an ISBN and planned a print book.  Get as many pre-orders and reviews as possible, plan and invite all your potential readers to your book launch – virtual and in person.

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With 30 years experience in both, print and now e-publishing, we can provide you with many more tips, background information and support – additional to the huge amount of promotion you get in our online and off-line seminars.  http://www.111Publishing.com/seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: blueprint for book production, book designers, book editing, Book Layout, book production, e-Book-Builders, pre-book-production, self-publishing tips, where to find an editor or book cover designer

Mystery of Book Cover Design & Layout

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Book-Design

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In a former blog: “Becoming Your Own Publisher” the book production process, you can find lots of tips and links for your book layout, cover and formatting process.  Many new authors are complaining about the pre-print process at CreateSpace, other POD service companies or the printing company they use for larger quantities of paperbacks and books. They are suddenly confronted with fonts, typography, page and other book layout requirements. However, not only for printed books, but also for e-books it is essential to know a bit about the possibilities and rules.
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To familiarize yourself with this (often) completely new field, read Joel Friedlander’s beginner
articles

Understanding Fonts & Typography
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/understanding-fonts-typography/

Understanding Book Layouts and Page Margins
http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2013/08/book-layouts-page-margins/
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Joel Friedlander explains the basic building blocks that books are made of, and the typography:
type fonts and they way they are arranged on the page. He says: “There are so many tiny details
and decisions that go into formatting a book that you pretty much have to be someone who enjoys
working on that scale to appreciate book design. It may involve differences of a hundredth of an
inch one way or the other. That’s true for the decisions you make about margins, too.”
He cautions for example that “the “minimum” margin of .25″ that CreateSpace refers to is too small for most books. This margin measurement is meant to create a “safe area” so that nothing on your page is in danger of getting trimmed off.”
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Michael N. Marcus explains why book margins are so important: “One of my basic rules of thumb
is that the a book’s outside margins must be large enough to comfortably fit human thumbs without
covering up any text. It’s really annoying to have to constantly re-position pages while reading
through a book.” His blog is another great reading for new author-publishers how book-layout works. He also wrote a great cautionary book “How to NOT Get Screwed by a Self-Publishing Company“.
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Want to read and learn more about book design? If you are a writer working with a publisher (large or small) or if you are a small or first time publisher, these books will help you understand the book production process and the principles of good cover and interior book design.

Book Design and Production
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Design-Production-Pete-Masterson/dp/0966981901

Basics Design Layout, 2nd edition
http://www.amazon.com/Basics-Design-02-Layout-Second/dp/2940411492/

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-Book-PR.com/book-promo to advertise your new book, specials or KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 900 of them : ) – if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: book design, Book Layout, e-book formatting, fonts, Joel Friedlander, Margins, Michael N. Marcus, The Book Designer, typography