Self-Publishing for Business Owners: The Wrong Way

Today, like never before, it’s possible for entrepreneurs to promote themselves and their companies with a self-published book, and many are taking full advantage of the opportunity. The trouble is, what they’re doing is not truly SELF-publishing. The industry has been hijacked, and the unhappy result is that many well-meaning, smart and ambitious business owners are walking around with books that don’t begin to meet professional standards.

It’s understandable that people would be misled. A Google search for “self-publishing” returns page after page of companies, some small and some very large, who offer “do-it-yourself” publishing solutions.

Major newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal in this recent article, correctly emphasize the benefits of self-publishing, but instead of writing a balanced article that includes the tried-and-true way to turn a manuscript into a quality book, they focus only on the cheesy companies who  encourage people to do exactly the opposite.

It should not be a surprise that professional book publishing takes a team of experts. Book editors, book cover designers, book interior designers and others combine their talents to produce a product that makes a terrific first impression, and then keeps that promise with quality information and easy-to-read text inside. What business owner would want any less than that, when a book is being used as a business card or as an introduction to sell consulting services?

Unfortunately, the self-publishing companies encourage clients to design their own book covers, and upload a Word file for the book’s interior. This may seem like perfectly sensible advice to anyone with a computer, until you compare the results to a “real” book.

Here’s an example of a typical self-published book that came to my attention last week. I never met the author of this book, Dave Cooke, but I’m certain he put a tremendous amount of effort into this project, and has high hopes for its success. (If you see this post, Dave, I hope you’ll accept the following analysis as an offering from one business owner to another, as a sincere effort to help.)

First, let’s look at Dave’s cover and compare it to one released by bestselling sales guru, Zig Ziglar. Zig’s images are screen shots from Amazon. See the difference?

The photo on Dave’s cover isn’t bad. It needs a little color adjustment (his face is too red), but otherwise it’s a nice, open pose with attractive negative space around his figure. This negative space could have been used to make Dave look even more friendly and approachable, but instead, it boxes him in, not once, but twice with the blue corners. Then the photo is placed on an olive drab background. With a rainbow of colors to choose from, why olive drab?

The type faces used on Dave’s cover are old fashioned, and the use of all caps with a drop shadow gives the cover a homemade look. (Designers use drop shadows, too, but usually in a more subtle way, so that they are barely noticeable.) The dark blue text on the olive background is difficult to read. The “Sales Cooke” play on the author’s name is clever, and since the cooking theme is carried throughout the text, it’s appropriate. But using it four times (title, apron, author name, and subtitle) is a wee bit overwhelming.

Now look at the Zig Ziglar cover design. Zig isn’t in a box. He’s there in the room with you. His dark suit causes him to almost, but not quite, blend into the dark background of the cover. His picture is small, which leaves maximum space for the title and subtitle.  The typography on this cover is top notch, and the subtle ornamentation gently guides the eye from title to subtitle. The use of caps and small caps says “first class” and the author’s name in a wide red band at the bottom anchors the design.

Now let’s compare the interiors of both books. Dave’s chapter opener is on the left, Zig’s is on the right:

Dave’s chapter opener is rather dull. The chapter number and title start high on the page, and barely stand out from the text below. It would be easy to miss the fact that this is, indeed, a chapter opener, and not just another page of text. Dave’s text is set ragged right instead of  justified, which is one mark of a self-published book. The gaps on the right side are huge. Much of this is due to the inadequacy of Word for the job.

Zig’s chapter opener is much more eye-catching and attractive. The chapter number is small and placed at the upper right hand side of the page. The chapter title is large and the chapter subtitle is smaller and italic, with a line above to divide the two. White space is used beautifully in this design. The space between the chapter number and the title is slightly smaller than the space between the chapter subtitle and the beginning of the text, so it looks open and airy, but with a purpose. The text is justified, and it begins with a drop cap. The first subhead toward the bottom is beautifully set in slightly letterspaced text for an overall classy appearance. There’s no doubt that this is the beginning of a chapter.

Now let’s compare two more interior pages:

At the top of Dave’s page on the left, look at the downward angle of the text in the first paragraph. The sidebar below is much too dark, and the type is practically crashing into the edges of the box. You can’t see it here, but this sidebar continues on the next page, and on to a third page for a few lines. A book designer would have started the sidebar at the top of the page above, and made the text fit on two facing pages. A book designer would also make the gray background much lighter for POD printing, due to the limitations of the equipment.

Zig’s interior page is much cleaner and more organized. Even though his sidebar text is much smaller than Dave’s, and not a direct comparison, the text wraps around it in an interesting way, to keep the reader engaged.

Not visible in the above examples are the typos in Dave’s text, or editing that leaves quite a lot to be desired. All in all, this book doesn’t make Dave look like a professional consultant,  even though the advice in the book is very good. That’s a shame, and I’m sure it’s not what Dave intended.

Dave was misled by a company that didn’t want him to “go away” once he found them. They lied and told him he could do everything himself, rather than encourage him to search for the right experts to help with his book design. Why? Because those experts would have told Dave to run away and never look back; that there are better, more profitable ways to self-publish.

Every designer and editor I know is frustrated about this situation. We’re not sure how to make ourselves heard against the overwhelming noise produced by the self-publishing companies, but we’re working on it. If you’d like to  help, please share this post.

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

You Can Relax About Your Book Cover Design

I’m starting to get the hang of this social media thing…really.

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about cover design: http://1106design.com/why-crowdsourcing-book-cover-design-is-a-bad-idea/

This morning, my WordPress dashboard revealed that “Ellie”,  an author I never met, found the post useful, and she went on to express her own worries about her upcoming book cover.  http://theliteraturediary.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/a-designer-for-my-book-cover/ Here’s an excerpt (emphasis added in red):

• I know what I want, well I think I do. I know from experience that when I have set an idea in my mind in terms of design it has turned out to be awful. I think for me I never see the complete picture, it is always a little blurry around the edges.
• I have looked at past book covers listed within an archive. I have considered the ones that work for me, the ones that jump off the page. For me personally, it is the most simple designs, with plain texts, and bold colour.
• So how do I translate that to a designer? I have been in touch with one, we are very much at the preliminary stage. As in, we are arranging to talk soon.
• Tell me also, what covers appeal to you? The more feedback I get, the more I can work out in my mind what I want.

These worries, expressed in one form or another, are very familiar to cover designers. Most authors who sign up for our services understand that a book cover is very important. Since book cover design is usually new to them, they often feel stress about the subject, just like Ellie. They want to do what’s right, and they’re not sure what “right” is. From there, their thoughts naturally turn to what they want.

In this post, I’d like to tell Ellie, and any other author who happens to be reading, “Relax, we’ve got you covered.”

Above, Ellie articulates two misconceptions:

1. That a book cover should reflect what the author likes; and

2. That the author has to tell the designer what to do.

Grab a cup of tea and sit back. You don’t have to worry about either of these things. Here’s why:

1. A book cover isn’t about what the author likes. A book cover is all about what the prospective buyer likes.  The interior of the book is about the author. The exterior of the book (front cover, back cover, and spine) is all about the buyer. When author and designer remain focused on that fact, all the pressure goes away. Which leads us to item 2:

2. The author doesn’t have to tell the designer what to do. So, how can the designer know what buyers like? Well, we’re not psychic, and we don’t guess. We talk to you about your book, research the competition, and let the market tell us. The best way to discover what buyers like is to look at what they are buying. This is easier to do than ever before, right from our desktop.

Most authors I talk with would really like to sell as many books as possible, or  alternatively, produce a top-quality book that will help them sell their expertise to others.  To get there, it’s important to work with a book designer who does more than browse for images and fonts. A  big picture view is not only more accurate, it’s more relaxing, and more likely to result in a book cover design that appeals to the greatest number of buyers.

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

Children’s Book Author Asks: What Am I Leaving Out?

I’ve been corresponding this week with a children’s book author on the SPAN website: http://www.spannet.org (SPAN is an excellent resource for self-publishers.) The discussion started as a comment on my blog post there, “A Book Cover Is Everything” (http://www.spannet.org/profiles/blogs/a-book-cover-is-everything) and it touched on several topics that every self-publisher must address. The conversation has become a prime example of where many self-publishers go horribly wrong. I don’t believe that any author sets out to fail when self-publishing a book, but it happens far too often because the author is working with incorrect or incomplete information, or because the author resists correct information when it is offered.

For the record, even though I haven’t seen the manuscript yet, I think this book could have “legs” in a variety of markets. I truly hope this author heeds reliable advice, whether from me or someone else, because he’s clearly heading in the wrong direction, and my heart already aches for him. Here’s our conversation:

Author: My problem I have is my title — I find it catchy, but it doesn’t convey well what the purpose of my non-fiction book is all about.  A dilemma!

Me: Catchy isn’t enough. A title must be specific…a promise to the reader, telling them what your book is about. It’s tough (maybe impossible) for an author to take a step back into the mind of someone who has never seen or heard of the book before. Why not post your title here and test it with me?

Author: Here’s the title: Jack’s Fish Bones. Of course, you can’t figure out from the title that it’s actually a book that teaches children how to read, and write in Chinese.  On my mock-up I follow that with ‘A fun step-by-step guide for writing and reading Chinese.’  But that will have to move to the back cover. See the dilemma?

Me: I think your subtitle must be on the front, in this case. Without it,  your book sounds like any other children’s story. Remember, not everyone will read the description online or turn the book over to find out otherwise.  You told me in your message that the book teaches children, but your title and subtitle don’t say that. I  recommend working with a professional title consultant for this book, so that every word on your front cover speaks directly to the folks most likely to buy your book, and tells them what it is about.

Author: I think you’re right. I might re-title it ‘Jack and Ivy and the Mysterious Chinese Code’ or something of that nature. But I like short and catchy titles.

Me: Just my opinion, but that may be too long, and it sounds more like a novel.

Author: I will just have to let the name issue percolate in my brain for a while. I still have to connect with someone to do the illustrations — maybe in the process of doing that part of the book something will leap out at me.

Me: Yes, there are so many decisions to be made to launch any book. I wrote a blog post about children’s book illustrations that may be helpful: http://1106design.com/finding-an-illustrator-for-your-childrens-book/ Have a nice weekend! (In this post, I recommended a good site to find qualified children’s book illustrators, and explained why why a book designer should be hired BEFORE an illustrator is retained. I wrote this post because authors often bring terrible illustrations to designers, to the detriment of the final product. )

Author: Thanks for the tip — I had already checked Society of Children’s Book Illustrators, but got tired of searching through the gazillions of illustrators, ha!  (Will find time to look again). Since I’m a newbie, my book production idea is simple. I have made Word files which contain clip art. I convert these into PDFs, and voila! that’s my book! So my next step is, I find an illustrator with the right style, who creates and converts their original art work into ‘clip art’ which I can pull into my Word files. For me identifying exactly how many pieces and what to draw is no problem – it’s already by and large in the draft.  I negotiate on a price per piece, delivery dates, payment terms, etc.  Easy! Of course, this all may sound very naive to anyone with some real experience like yourself in the book publishing business.  Any comments?  What am I leaving out? Thanks, Michele.

So ended our conversation (at least as of this moment).

What is he leaving out? I’m not sure where to begin, but let’s start with this:

It’s amazing to me how many self-publishers judge their own work in isolation and not against the competition in the real world.  Even a casual trip to a bookstore will reveal that the  children’s book section is filled with top-quality books. If this author took his mockup to said bookstore, and objectively compared his efforts with any book on the shelf, I’m certain he would immediately see the difference.

It might be helpful to describe how a “real” publisher achieves this difference. First, they’ll research the market to determine if there is a demand for the book and how strong that demand might be. Part of this research involves a look at competitive titles and how well they are selling. If, and only if there is a demand, will a publisher move to the next step: determine the costs to professionally write, edit, illustrate, design, and market the book. Once these expenses are tallied, the question becomes, “can this book be sold at a price point that will attract consumers?” If not, the project ends right there. If so, the wheels are set in motion, and when the final product finally hits the store shelves, it is a masterpiece. More importantly, it is what buyers have come to expect when they shop for children’s books.

This process is far different than that taken by most self-publishers, as my conversation so far with this author reveals. Stay tuned.

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

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