For offset printing, 2-color covers can be much more economical than 4-color covers, particularly for short-run books. I discussed two 2-color covers for self-published books in a previous article and explained why these covers are often preferred by publishers. Here I look at two covers done for trade publishers. This first cover was designed for […]
Self-Publishing Review New Guest Post
Henry Baum’s remarkably useful Self-Publishing Review covers the field of self-publishing thoroughly. News, reviews of self-published books, reviews of publisher-services companies, interviews and more make it a great destination for anyone interested in the field. I find myself there once a day, just to check on what’s new. Self-Publishing Review has started a “Guest Post” […]
Independent Bookstores Opening to Self-Published Books?
A lot of the trepidation authors feel when thinking about self-publishing their book seems to come from the retail bookselling community. Trying to pitch your book—from your one-book publishing company—to a chain bookstore buyer is an exercise in futility. And that’s assuming you can actually get to talk to a buyer, which is no easy […]
Self Publishing Basics: How to Create Your ARC Cover
Years ago I used to buy books at a famous bookstore in downtown New York City, in the old book selling district. This bookstore was famous for the range of subjects it carried, its steady inflow of new books, and the lively and sometimes erudite people you could meet browsing the narrow aisles looking for […]
Project Focus: 2-color Cover Design for Self-Publishers
Before the advent of digital printing and print-on-demand production, publishers had no choice but to print on offset presses, and most books today continue to be printed by offset. Book presses are large, noisy, oily pieces of heavy machinery. There are separate parts of the press for each color that will be printed, with separate […]
Self-Publishing Basics: 5 Layout Mistakes that Make You Look Unprofessional
Years ago my wife and I went to a wedding at a very prestigious “club” here in San Francisco. My wife looked gorgeous as always, and I wore a very nice light gray English wool suit that seemed suitably low-key. When we walked in the door I realized that I “hadn’t received the memo” because […]
Project Focus: Interior Design for The Age of Participation
One of the first books I produced for Berrett-Koehler Publishers in San Francisco was The Age of Participation by Patricia McLagan and Christo Nel. The overarching framework of the story of the movement of politics toward participative governance required a theme to hold the parts together yet show their relationship to the whole. These part-opening […]
Mick Rooney’s Reviews of Publishing Services Companies
If you are intending to use a “Publishing Services” company to publish your book (and I’m not suggesting that you should) you owe it to yourself to surf on over to Mick Rooney’s POD, Self Publishing and Independent Publishing blog. The Most Detailed Reviews in the Business Mick doesn’t just grab some copy from a […]
5 Good Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book
Amid all the discussion about self-publishing we can forget that each decision to publish is a specific, unique, and very personal calculation. Hey, there are as many “reasons” to publish a book as there are people to publish them, but some authors are ideally placed to make use of the self-publishing tools available these days. […]
The One Book Every Self-Publisher Should Own
Today we had our monthly meeting of the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). Attendance was good, discussion was lively, and our guest speaker gave an excellent presentation. What struck me today, however, was the one-hour Question and Answer session that occupies the first part of our meetings. “What should be in a press kit […]
