What Authors Need to Know about Book Production

by Cecile Kaufman

The success of your book design and production depends to some extent on the materials that you deliver to the designer. These are some general guidelines.

Start with the Trim Size

The first thing your book designer needs to know, before beginning the design, is what the size of your book will be. Just as you would not buy the materials to build a shed without first deciding how big it should be, so does your designer need to know what page size she will be working with before beginning the design. There are standard book sizes; for instance, a typical trade paperback book would be 6 inches × 9 inches or 5.5 inches × 8.5 inches. Because some book printers can print more efficiently at one of these sizes than at the other, you will also want to choose your printer right at the beginning of the process. Also, if you want to get a quote from a printer, have your designer do so before you create your book, because you will need to know the trim size.

Raster and Vector

If you have images in your book each one will  be either a raster image or a vector image. Raster images are made up of tiny squares (pixels), and the resolution of a raster image is measured in pixels per inch (ppi) or dots per inch (dpi). These images are typically photographs or illustrations that have been scanned. Although there may be some leeway, depending on the image and how it will be printed, a general rule of thumb is that  raster images need to be 300 ppi or dpi at the size at which they will be printed or larger. The size is important: larger is always acceptable, but smaller is not. This is because you cannot enlarge a raster image very much before it begins to look pixelated (jagged, broken into small squares).

Vector graphics, on the other hand, are made up of points and paths determined by an algorithm. These images can be enlarged without loss of quality. Usually vector graphics that are used in print publishing will have the extension .eps. Fonts are also vector graphics.

If you are submitting scans of type or line art, for instance, a newspaper article with just type, that scan should be between 600 and 2400 dpi, and saved as “bitmap.” Although the scan is a representation of type, it is still a rasterized image, just as a photo would be, and if it is to look as crisp as real vector type would look, it needs to have additional resolution.

Name Your Files Intentionally

A consistent and understandable convention for naming files is very helpful and is the easiest way to avoid having images placed in the wrong places. A typical naming scheme would be to number the images, using three digits, like this:

greatbook_006.tif

greatbook_007.tif

greatbook_008.tif

greatbook_009.tif

greatbook_010.tif

greatbook_011.tif

greatbook_012.tif

In this way, when importing images into the page layout program, the designer will see a list that is in order, and can easily pick the correct number from the list. In the manuscript Word file, there should be a corresponding note to indicate approximately where the image should be placed, such as “insert ‘greatbook_006.tif ’ about here.”

Style Your File

Style your Word document: give each paragraph a paragraph style, or have your copy editor do so. You do not want your designer to be deciding whether an element should be a first-level heading or second-level heading, That decision is one you or your editor should make. If you are using Word, select the text, and choose the style from the drop-down menu to apply it.

Stick to the Stages

Developmental editing comes before copyediting, which always comes before layout. Design also comes before layout, and design changes usually should not be made after layout has begun. Making many copyediting changes after the pages have been laid out will incur extra costs and takes more time; it also increases the risk of mistakes especially in books which have many images (because significant changes will cause reflow of the text). Proofreading comes after the pages are laid out. Making changes after the proofreading stage should be done very carefully and someone should check the surrounding pages to make sure no text has reflowed.

The Cleaner the Manuscript . . .

In general the cleaner the manuscript is at the beginning, the cleaner it will be at each of the following stages, and the smoother the production process will be. If you understand these basics of book production then you  will have a head start on a successfully produced book.

Cecile Kaufman is a graphic designer, editor, project manager, and print buyer with over twenty years experience in publishing and commercial graphic arts. In 1999 she founded X-Height Studio, which specializes in publication design and offers full publishing services from concept to final printed product. The studio has provided print design and production, editorial services, project management, and print buying services for a wide range of clients. 

http://www.x-heightstudio.com

Life is Short, Readers are Waiting

A Case for Self-Publishing

by Christopher Noël

        You hold in your hands a completed manuscript which deserves to connect with its readership. Two divergent paths to this goal lie before you: the path of traditional publishing and the path of independent publishing—also known as self-publishing.

        The first path promises prestige and, potentially, a cash advance…if you can find an agent who loves your book, if she can find an editor who loves your book, and if that editor can convince others at the publishing house—especially the sales force—that your book will make money, or that the company can absorb a loss for the sake of art. This path to publication usually takes years between agent search and first printed copy arriving in the mail. Meanwhile, the clock ticks and you get older and older.

      The second path lying before you offers a quick trip: copies of your book will reach readers in a few weeks and you can move forward with your life. Of course, the trade-off is that in this scenario you are genuinely independent, in ways both good and bad. The downside is that you renounce that heady prestige, as well as the robust distribution and marketing machine of a publishing house, and you must grapple instead with the lingering stigma that comes with self-publishing, with going it alone and sending your work out into the world without the stamp of approval conferred by the legacy publishing industry.

      So let’s look at this stigma, element by element.

1.      It stems in part from the notion that writers are paying to have their own books printed. This reputation is a hold-over from the “vanity press” days of yore, the analog days, whereas we now live in the digital age; therefore—and here I use the example I favor, a platform called CreateSpace—you pay nothing, either up front or down the road, as long as you handle the print-ready formatting of the manuscript yourself and provide your own cover art.

2.      Conservative detractors seem to think that a gate-keeper must stand between artist and audience, ensuring the worthiness of the former. Well, hot news flash: artists and writers have been chipping away at and transcending this middle man for many years now. Think of the music industry, where bands and solo performers have been successfully shunning and sidestepping conventional industry labels for more than a decade, releasing their work directly to their fans by means of “independent labels”—that is, their own labels. Take the example of bloggers, too. What are they but self-publishers? Fifteen years ago, those in the know looked down their noses at these poor creatures who apparently could not get their work accepted within “legitimate” journalistic venues. But don’t look now—bloggers virtually rule the world. Those who release their own books independently are the bloggers of the book-publishing world. And YouTube allows countless artists, entertainers, and journalists to connect directly with their various audiences. Commentator Cenk Uygur, for instance, left the world of corporate news at MSNBC to found his own outlet, The Young Turks, which has now amassed two and a half billion YouTube views, even as MSNBC continues to languish in ratings purgatory.

3.      The stigma against independent publishing suffers from a severe, ahistorical blind spot—or is it a willful forgetting of the past? I recognize that this point will seem to clash with the above image of the current-day reactionaries having “fallen behind the curve of history,” but the truth is that both dynamics are in play: contemporary options are outstripping the corporate modalities of recent years and our new groundswell of authorial autonomy resonates with that of a century ago and more. Before the publishing industry had developed and consolidated power, authors who could afford to (yes, it cost money back then) often had their own works printed up and made available to readers—geniuses including Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, Gertrude Stein, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Beatrix Potter, and a multitude of other enduring literary figures. That is, we are now circling back to a time when authors felt at liberty to make and distribute books without stigma.

       The only trouble is that many in the world of traditional publishing (and in the ancillary ranks of bookstores and reviewers) have fallen behind the curve of history and still cling to that outmoded and regressive “gate-keeper” archetype. Why not let art sink or swim thanks to its intrinsic quality rather than to the imprimatur of a company? When you boil the case down, after all, what is an editor? An editor is an English major who got a job. And marketers? They are not even English majors.

     Fortunately, today’s dramatic reboot of Virginia Woolf’s operating system enjoys a fresh digital form, a form far more nimble and writer-friendly than any that has ever existed before. Here are three enormous advantages of the system we now find at our easy disposal:

1.    If one wishes to add or subtract material or to remove typos, one can simply rework and upload the book’s interior file, which will then go “live” within hours. Compare this to the past; who among us has not cringed at glaring mistakes in conventionally published books, glitches that were not and will never be fixed because of the prohibitive expense of doing so within the old regime?  In short, in the new regime, you retain open-ended control over your work. 

2.    Kissing the middle man good-bye gives us royalties that are much more generous; CreateSpace, for instance, pays the writer an average 33% of the list price, as opposed to the typical 7.5%-12% still paid by publishing houses. Over the past two months, my titles have earned me less than a thousand dollars—a modest amount for sure, but these payments will keep accruing year after year after year, as will readership.

3.    That’s because such books will never go out of print. Never. The method used to produce books is called print-on-demand, which means that copies are printed only as orders come in. No more inventories backlogged and moldering in warehouses, only to be shredded once the title falls out of print in order to make room for succeeding crates. Since it costs today’s digital platforms nothing to keep authors’ files active as ebooks and ready to be transformed into shiny paperbacks at a moment’s notice, there exists zero pressure for any book to become unavailable. I remember that when I published books with Knopf and Random House, in the 1980s and 1990s, their “shelf life” seemed to last just about as long as my meager advance money.

      One important caveat, however. This completed manuscript you hold in your hands? It better be “completed” indeed, because before you decide to forge ahead and release it to the world, you are your own excellent gate-keeper—you and your circle of trusted advisors. Yes, the digital revolution allows us to fix errors post-publication, but don’t forget that smart readers will have caught them before you did and will have judged your writing accordingly. Make sure the book is definitely good enough before hitting UPLOAD.

     A friend of mine worked on a novel for ten years, until it was more than good enough; I can attest to that. For the next five years, she endured the endless rounds of agents who “loved the book” and editors who “loved the book” but were not quite able to “raise the passion in-house” to put it over the top. Finally, my friend had to give up on the traditional route.

     That was in 2005. I wish I could report that she then set proudly forth on the route to self-empowerment and that her beautiful novel has lived and breathed in the world for the past decade. Instead, held hostage by convention, she kept it in the dark, where it remains today. Though they will never know it, thousands of readers are much the poorer for her decision.

     

Christopher Noël’s two most recent books, which he released the instant they were ready, are The Girl who Spoke with Giants (a novel) and The Mind of Sasquatch and the Secret to Their Success (a theory).  He is also a freelance editor:  www.ChristopherNoel.Info

         

Top Seven Reasons to Self-Publish

When Selby ink was founded 17 years ago publishing a book followed a routine process: You started by calling agents and editors who most likely told you to send them a query letter. Next step was usually a book proposal (if they were interested), plus a few sample chapters. Then the waiting game started, usually ending with disappointment. On the other hand, the option to self-publish was there, but it had a certain stigma…like your book wasn’t good enough for a “real publisher”. And eBooks were unknown!

When we see the sales figures for a self-published book like Still Alice we realize that times have changed. Today self-publishing is not only popular, but often it’s the preferred publishing path of many respected authors. As long as your book is professionally produced, with an eye-catching cover and compelling content, you can directly compete with any bestselling author.

Thinking about publishing your book soon? Here are my seven best reasons to self-publish your book:

1. Timing: Traditional publishers work on a long production cycle, they often plan a year to a year and a half—or even longer—to get a book out. As a self-publisher you can do it in a fraction of that time. It’s your material, your career move - you can take control of when you want to publish.

2. You Just Might Strike It Rich: Self-publishing offers the potential for huge profits. No longer do you have to be satisfied with the meager 5 to 15 percent royalty that commercial publishers dole out. When you use creativity, persistence, and sound business sense, money is there to be made. Most publishers require their authors to do their own promotion, why not self-publish and earn a 40 – 400% margin? If your book becomes a hit, publishers will come calling and give you the upper hand in negotiations.

Even without being a huge hit self-published authors can create a springboard to traditional publishing. As publicists we have helped many of our authors get their book published by traditional publishers. Once the marketability of your book has been proven, they may be eager to take it off your hands.

3. Ownership: Self-publishing can be the road to your independence. Do you dream of being your own boss? Do you desire more personal freedom? You can turn that dream into reality. Here is a dynamic, proven way to shape your own destiny. It is an answer not only for city folks but also for urban escapees seeking to prosper in paradise.

As a self-publisher, you own all rights to your book, whereas a traditional publisher would likely own the rights. If they lose interest in your book, you cannot print additional copies unless you purchase those rights back. Traditional publishers often require you to purchase your book from them to do any promotion you choose to do for your book. As your own publisher you print as many books as you need.

4. Niche: Traditional publishers may not take an interest in your book if it is topic-specific. They may feel the demand is not great enough to warrant a large press run. However, your book may fill a niche that has not been met, and you can “test the waters” with short-run printing.

5. Locality: Books about local or regional topics are generally produced by local authors in short-run quantities. Large publishers may decline publishing these books because of their limited sales potential.

6. Control: Self-publishing gives you the final say on the direction of your book. Your book reflects your vision and not someone else's. You can personally guide every step, or hire professionals to be on your team. You can choose the cover you like, the typeface, and the title you want. You maintain absolute control over your own book.

7. Legacy: And last but not least - sharing what you have learned, building your career, or leaving a family legacy are admirable motives.

Today when you self-publish you can create your own publishing company that provides you with a tax shelter, and a way to establish your material in a more professional manner. You are never stuck doing “it” all alone. There are great professionals to guide you, and dozens of “how-to” books to educate you in the process of publishing your own book. With all of these reasons to self-publish what is stopping you now? Will 2015 be a very good year to make your mark with your own book?

Mari Selby founded Selby ink in 1998 after working for a small publisher where she was successful in improving their sales from 20,000 books to over 100,000 books in one year. Prior to being a publicist Mari was a family therapist in private practice for almost 20 years.  http://www.selbyink.com

© July, 2015 Mari Selby

Why your self published book isn't getting reviews

PUTTING YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD
How do we put this delicately?... 

--We have nothing against self published or small press publications.  Unfortunately though, there are a number of the aforementioned who are giving the rest of you a bad name.

When you submit your book for an award or for review, it goes without saying that you need to put your best foot forward.  That means, first and foremost, no typographical errors.  Sadly, we review a great number of books which are simply fabulous . . . with one exception.  - Too many typographical or grammatical errors. 

Hey, we’re all human.  Even the best known publishing houses occasionally let a typo or two slip.  - But when you’re talking a significant number of typos, well that’s just not something we can overlook.

We are in the business of helping put readers in touch with excellence in literature.  We’re also in the business of helping you, as an author, gain recognition for your work.  We do this by offering free reviews and through our Literary Classics Seal of Approval and Awards programs.

But in order to offer free reviews, we must use our time efficiently.  Therefore, when we consider a book for review, we will continue reading your book as long as we can, before we discover too many typographical or grammatical errors.  You may ask: ‘how many is too many?’  Well the short answer is - one!  Your book should be in top-notch shape.  Occasionally, if we are ‘wowed’ by a book, we may choose to ignore the first error.  But you don’t want to push your luck.  In fairness to our readers who are trusting us to identify the best books based upon our recommendations, we cannot, in good faith, recommend a book which is riddled with errors. 

Another area of weakness which we see all too often is a poorly developed story.  One of the greatest challenges an author faces, is the difficulty of translating his/her thoughts onto paper.  What may be glaringly obvious to you, may not be so clear to the reader.  Unfortunately, if a book is lacking in plot, or motivation, or is simply too hard to follow, your reader will most likely lose interest.

It is our recommendation that before your book is ever submitted to a publisher, you have a professional critique and a professional edit performed of your manuscript (in that order) from a credible source. 

Article re-posted with permission from Literary Classics Book Awards and Reviewswww.clcawards.org