How to plan a book
How to plan a book and create a style.
How to plan a book creating the vision and following s process. Investigate books with similar subject matter. Compare the manufacturing quality, design, type of binding, page count, dimensions, and retail price. Can you charge more or less than other books? The more books you print means the lower the unit cost.
When thinking about the book plan, consider the type and style of book that you are publishing. A novel for example, may be the easiest book to plan. It is mostly text, and perhaps simple black and white line drawings, or a few photos. The real consideration is the cover. It needs to convey the right message to sell books.
Another example, a cookbook, can be simple or complex in design. It will have formatted recipes and possibly charts. A cookbook needs a unique style. There are many food-related subjects to write about, including cuisine, wine, and diet. The cookbook cover is just as important as for a
novel. Photos of food must look delicious, so that the reader wants to buy the book.
Have a vision in mind. Look for inspiration for better book design as creativity can take a book to the next level. Better design can sell more books.
Quick Tips
- Get a book printing quote before you finalize a plan. Dimensions might be adjusted to reduce cost. Could the book be made larger for the same printing cost? Is shipping cost affected?
- Select typefaces, use of color, and page layout. This includes master pages, paragraph styles, and the color palette in CMYK.
- Images need to be in CMYK, not RGB. They should be at 300 ppi and at the size they will be when printed, or larger.
- Add an extra 0.125 inch or 3-millimeter bleed.
- Work from the manuscript in a Microsoft Word document. Image names should be referenced when working with text.
