It Takes More Than a Great Cover to Sell a Book

Most first-time self publishers understand the importance of a professionally-designed cover, but then some make a very big mistake and attempt to produce their book interior in a word-processing program. Read more

On Book Design and Tacos

In this morning’s Arizona Republic, I happened across the obituary of Glen W. Bell, Jr., the founder of Taco Bell. Referenced in the article were three of Bell’s 60 “recipes for success” that were developed over decades:

(1) You build a business one customer at a time;

(2) Find the right product, then find a way to mass-produce it;

(3) An innovative product will set you apart.

It occurred to me that these three statements perfectly illustrate everything that’s right about working with an individual book designer, and everything that’s wrong with working with a “POD publisher.”

All good graphic design, including book design, involves a surprising amount of collaboration between the designer and the client.  On book covers, there’s just no substitute for offering concepts, receiving client feedback, and adjusting those concepts, sometimes many times, to arrive at exactly the right solution for the job. And when it comes to book interiors, there’s just no substitute for the fine typesetting produced by professional page layout software in the hands of an experienced designer who knows how to finesse the settings for beautiful results. And no substitute for the professional proofreading that follows.

To say that book designers work hard to build their businesses one client at a time, while offering innovative products that will set their client’s product apart, is an understatement.

Which brings me to the Bell’s second “recipe” for success above, “Find the right product, then find a way to mass-produce it.”

POD publishers are mass-producers of books. They are very successful, and that’s the problem. THEY are very successful…their authors are not. By their own reported numbers, the average author who works with one of these firms sells 50 copies of their book. Why?

Because good books can’t be mass-produced, even when very big companies offer the tools to do so to unwitting authors who have not educated themselves about the proper way to go about it. Cover design software and Word templates will never produce the same results as an experienced designer, no matter how fervently the author may wish it to be so.

Bell succeeded beyond his wildest dreams mass-producing tacos. But I live in Phoenix and I can tell you that a Taco Bell taco bears no resemblance whatever to a REAL taco. And subsidy-published books designed and formatted by inexperienced authors are no better than than low-grade ground beef compared to a carefully edited, designed, typeset, and proofread book.

With books, as with tacos, progress isn’t always real, and it isn’t always good.

What do you want to know? What topics should we explore together? How can we help you along your publishing journey? Everyone here at 1106 Design wants to help. Post your comment here or email us at office@1106design.com

Michele DeFilippo, owner, 1106 Design

The Nightmare of Crowdsourcing

Stephen King himself couldn’t write a more horrific story if he tried. Imagine yourself in the following situation…and then imagine that it’s not a nightmare at all. You are actually awake and you’re not going to be able to shrug this away… Read more

Comparing Book Design Services

All service providers, book designers included, are challenged by the way clients “shop” for our services, so why is this so, and what can be done about it? Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 9

In this last installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll get into professional typesetting territory. These are the things that separate amateur-looking typesetting from top-notch graphic design. Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 8

In this installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll deal with hyphens. What’s the big deal about hyphens, anyway? Well, for starters, they can seriously impede reading comprehension if you don’t control them. Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 7

In this installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll discuss the space between words, the space between letters, the width of letters. If you’re starting to reconsider your decision to typeset a book, don’t worry. Book designers live for this sort of thing. Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 6

In this installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll discuss some of the finer points of typography. You may be asking right now, “You mean after five posts about typesetting, there’s even more?” Oh, yes indeed. Right about now, book designers are just warming up. Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 5

In this next installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll discuss the book block. What the heck is a book block? It’s what makes a book look like a book, and probably the shortest path to madness ever devised by man. Read more

How to Typeset a Book: Part 4

In this installment of How to Typeset a Book, we’ll discuss choosing the correct type size. What’s the correct type size to use in a book? In most cases, probably smaller than you think. Not 12-point. Well maybe, in some cases. What? You expected this to be easy? Read more

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