A bit of miscellany today: Get the “Out” Out When did the word “out” invade the rest of our verbs? It’s everywhere, and deserves to be eliminated. Some examples: Tweet out Report out When did this sneak in? “Out” in these contexts adds nothing, since the idea of “sending it out” is inherent in both […]
Samples of 2-Column Book Layout
Here’s a question from reader Pat B.: Hi Joel, Are there any rules of thumb for deciding whether text on a wide-format page should be printed in one or two columns? And if you go with two, are there guidelines for determining the optimal space between the columns? Thanks, Pat I’m not sure if there […]
5 Questions on the Book Production and Marketing Matrix
It can be a challenge to explain to new authors that they need to consider their marketing plans before making arrangements for book design and production. They want to know why they can’t just publish the book they want to publish and worry about the rest of it later? After all, many new authors have […]
110 Type Ornaments to Use in Your Book (Plus a Free Download)
Using type ornaments in your book design can add a pleasing pictorial element to your typographic pages. Depending on the tone you’re trying to establish with your design, there’s likely to be a choice of ornaments that will complement the other choices you’ve made when selecting fonts and the overall design direction for the book. […]
Project Focus: Long and Complex Books Demand Attention to Detail
Two recent projects have reminded me of just how much attention book designers have to pay to details. With a complex book, every detail counts. What makes a book “complex”? It could be very long manuscripts, books with footnotes, endnotes, annotations, massive amounts of front matter and back matter, separate text streams, lots of tabular […]
“I Hate That!” Book Design Pet Peeves
This is a story about bad book design decisions, and how to avoid them. Jill and I visited Copperfield’s Books in Sebastapol this afternoon. Copperfield’s is a small chain of independent bookstores here in California, and a favorite place to browse their curated selection. As an aside, when you consider all the books that are […]
New! The Book Blueprint: Expert Advice for Creating Industry-Standard Print Books
Announcing the publication of The Book Blueprint, Expert Advice for Creating Industry-Standard Print Books
Learn About the Color of Type Pages in Book Design
Examples of book pages typeset in various fonts to demonstrate the variations in the overall color of your book page.
A Quick Look at the Fine Art of Book Spine Design
Although there are fewer bookstores every year, and a smaller percentage of books being bought in those bookstores, physical retailers still accounted for huge book sales every year. And even though more people search online for books, the actual number of people who look for books in bookstores has continued to increase every year. For […]
The Epic Saga of WriteWell Journals: Book Production Success
The last time I visited what seems like a somewhat quixotic journey to try to create the ultimate writer’s journal, I was still waiting to see if my dream would become a reality. Here’s what I wrote a few months ago: In fact, today I’m waiting to get yet more samples, and this time, I […]
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