A book is a book, some might say, but no two books have the same design considerations — and that goes for the same book when designed for different mediums! A book that will be laid out in ink and slotted on a shelf will not have the same design considerations as one stored on… Continue reading Ebooks VS Print: What’s The Difference?
Tag: book design
What Is Frontmatter, & How Do I Set It Up In My Book?
You might've heard of books having a backmatter before; glossaries, appendixes, author biography pages, so on and so forth. Most people encounter this term thanks to their textbooks in school. But once you get into the publishing industry, you learn that books have a frontmatter at the beginning too. It's just easier to skim past… Continue reading What Is Frontmatter, & How Do I Set It Up In My Book?
Six Font Tips For Typesetting Your Novel
I've mentioned before that readability and aesthetic are two of the most crucial aspects of good book design. Readability enables your story to smoothly serve it's proper, practical function for the reader, while an on-point aesthetic gives you a marketing advantage. A key factor in both of these aspects lies in the text, and the… Continue reading Six Font Tips For Typesetting Your Novel
How To Communicate With A Cover Designer
Last week, we discussed how you should prepare to contact a book designer. So this week, we're talking about cover design! While pretty much anybody can create a cover to their book with any art program that came pre-installed on their computer, readers do judge books by their covers when they're deciding what to read.… Continue reading How To Communicate With A Cover Designer
How To Communicate With A Book Designer
While the term “self-publishing” includes the word self, not every part of the process has to be done on your own. Sometimes, you can pay a professional to help you with things you're not ready or able to do on your own — like editing, marketing, or in this case, book design. And if you're… Continue reading How To Communicate With A Book Designer
How To Create A Copyright Page
So you're a new author, ready to self-publish, raring to go. Nothing can stop you! You're fully prepared to format this book with your own two hands in the program of your choice, and bask in the glow of accomplishment afterward. Then you glance at another book's copyright page for reference and suddenly, you are… Continue reading How To Create A Copyright Page
Free Alternatives To Adobe Programs
As a dedicated indie creator, I highly value everyone having access to art and design programs, regardless of one's economic circumstances. As such, I'm putting together a list of free programs you can use in lieu of more expensive ones. I've already talked about some of these when discussing software for making print books and… Continue reading Free Alternatives To Adobe Programs
Which Software Is Best For Typesetting Your Ebook?
A few weeks ago, I discussed which programs you can use to typeset a print book, but what about ebooks? Can you use the same software for those? The short answer is that yes, you could, but you probably shouldn't. The typesetting needs of an ebook are drastically different from from a print book.* Print… Continue reading Which Software Is Best For Typesetting Your Ebook?
Which Software Is Best For Typesetting Your Paperback?
(Foreword note; this article is about typesetting a book for physical copy. Ebooks play by different rules, and I'll be covering them next week!) As a typesetter, you need a lot of tools. The ability to kern and lead precisely, an eye for widows and orphans, the ability to add drop caps, so on and… Continue reading Which Software Is Best For Typesetting Your Paperback?
Book Design: What Is A Masterpage?
Last week, I released an article on book design basics, and I realized a few hours afterward that I'd forgotten to bring up a tool that I personally wish I'd learned sooner as an amateur book designer; and that tool is the masterpage. So what is a masterpage? Basically, a masterpage is a page that… Continue reading Book Design: What Is A Masterpage?
J.L. Heeren 