So, what is a book producer? Someone asked me recently why I call myself a book designer. “What do you mean?” I asked. “I design books, don’t I? What else should I call myself?” “But you don’t just design books, Joel,”...
On Monday mornings I look over the book design projects I’m working on to get a sense for how the week will shape up. This is a persistent form of optimism I can’t seem to shake. The week never works out the way I think it will, but I keep doing this just...
Text breaks—those places where the author wants to insert a space, but not a new chapter or section—lots of authors use them, and they often create problems for book layout. There are many ways the text break can be used: to give the reader a rest to...
One of the projects I’m working on is a memoir of growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s a very personal but fascinating look at childhood in another time and place, and I’ll talk more about this book when it’s published, but it’s...
