If you print one thousand copies of your book, the addition of ten black-and-white photographs will add approximately $50 to $100 to the total cost of printing. That’s a small price to pay in order to dress up your work.
Color photographs are more expensive, as they require four runs through the press. This explains why color reproductions are often found in the middle of a book, clustered in one signature.
There are no books in the author's experience that explain to the novice photographer how to take adequate photographs for reproduction in a book. Available titles either are too technical or fail to provide specific information according to one’s individual interests and camera capabilities.
Read what’s available in local bookstores and libraries, then experiment until your photographs are adequate. The following guidelines may assist you.
Save Sample Photos from Magazines
Photos in magazines are usually done by professionals, who take hundreds in order to arrive at the “perfect picture.” Cut out and save magazine photos that are good examples of what you wish to appear in your own book. (Do not reproduce these photographs without permission, however.)
By studying magazine photos, you will notice the arrangement of backgrounds, clothing, facial expressions, body angles, and other details that may be worth duplicating. Place these photos in a three-ring binder and take them with you during photo sessions.
Take Instant Photos First
Take test shots of your subject with an instant-photo camera. This permits you to test accurately lighting, background, angle, and so on at the site of the photo session until the right effect is obtained. Otherwise, a second photo session will be necessary when none of your prints proves adequate.
Since you will probably reproduce black-and-white photographs in your book, you will need a Polaroid camera that takes black-and-white photographs. Polaroid no longer markets inexpensive cameras that use black-and-white film, so it may be necessary to pick up a used model at a swap meet, secondhand store, or pawn shop.
When you’re satisfied with the lighting and pose of your subject, switch to a quality camera for fine photos. If you can find a camera that provides a larger negative than 35 millimeters, use it. Unless you’re a camera buff, it may be difficult to take 35mm shots from which clear 8-by-10-inch blowups can be made.
Use a Tripod
Using a tripod or other form of stationary support for your camera will give the photos you take anew clarity they haven’t had before. This is especially important if your camera is a 35 mm.
Photographs—How to Enhance Your Book 99 Find Solid Backgrounds
By choosing a solid background, you can highlight your subject. Generally, select darker backgrounds, as light backgrounds tend to darken a subject excessively. This is why white shirts are not suggested when making a TV appearance.
Backgrounds are crucial to a good photograph. Review the best photographs in magazines for their manipulation of backgrounds.
What Time of Day Is Best for Outdoor Photos?
The most attractive shading normally occurs during the early morning hours or in the late afternoon. At the middle of the day, shadows are harsh and the brighter sun makes it more difficult to shoot acceptable photos.
During the spring and fall, the best hours are 8:00 A.M. to 9:30 A.M. and 3:30 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. Optimum summer hours would be slightly earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon, Winter hours would be later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon.
When your subject is a person, plan in advance for a good photograph. Have the person bring several outfits, both light and dark. If possible, take Polaroid shots of these outfits before they leave home to ensure that proper clothing is taken to the photo site. You should also plan to spend at least two hours at the photo session. It takes this long to determine proper background, body angle, facial expression, props, and lighting for the subject.
Body Angles
Generally, take photos of people at 45-degree angles, as frontal shots are seldom attractive. You will also find that many people have vastly different profiles and that one side is often far superior to the other.
For a full-length photo, ask the subject to stand with one leg slightly behind the other in order to create a tapering effect. This tends to slim a person.
Shadow Half the Face
Basic photography demands that a photo be balanced. The most flattering photos of faces are those in which half the face is within a subtle shadow. As you can imagine, it takes time to position the body at an attractive angle that still permits the face to be properly shadowed.
Make People Smile
Individuals always look better in photos when they're smiling. You don’t want a glum face staring at your readers.
Quite often, you’ll find people who prefer not to smile for photographs. Don’t give up on these people. Keep changing profiles and facial expressions until everyone is happy.
Props
Don't take a photo of someone standing there looking back at you. Find a prop for them to hold. Give them something to do. Use trees to lean on, hang from, or even sit in—they’re great props. The prop or pose should relate to their appearance in the book, of course.
Closeness Distorts
When you’re closer than ten feet to your subject, the closeness may result in distortion of the portion of the subject’s body nearest the camera. Experiment when it is necessary to take close-up shots. If your photo is sharp, it can always be blown up to the desired proportion.
If you live in a state that collects a sales tax, have you obtained a “resale” number yet? Present this number to the photo lab and other suppliers to avoid paying unnecessary sales taxes.
A photo lab may even give you a healthy discount (as much as 25 percent) when you present your business card and plan to do a considerable amount of business. Ask if they offer a discount to companies.
When your film is developed and printed in an automated shop (most are nowadays), a number of prints may be delivered too dark or light. Don’t hesitate to ask for additional prints in such cases. There should be no charge. If you’ve taken your film to the photo counter of a chain store, however, such personal service will normally not be available.
Order prints the same approximate sizes that they will be reproduced in your book. Not only will this tell you exactly how the photos will appear, it may also save you some expense at the printer. Remember, reducing darkens and enlarging lightens. Chapter 25 describes how to prepare both color and black-and-white photos for your printer.
Exterior Design, or Designing Strong Covers
A book cover is a marketing tool. If you intend to sell your book through retail outlets, you must design its covers, both front and back, for maximum sales potential.
15
Before designing your book covers, visit a few libraries and bookstores. Study successful covers. Don’t look at the latest bestsellers. Concentrate your attention on those books that are still selling years after they were first published. Among others, check the following titles:
Cellulite: Those Lumps, Bumps, and Bulges You Couldn’t Lose Before Sugar Blues Our Bodies, Ourselves Fit or Fat
The Complete Book of Running
The rich pink background for the attractive figure on the Cellulite cover makes it stand out in any group. Sugar Blues is enticing because the title is set in the same style as that found on traditional Coca-Cola bottles. Our Bodies, Ourselves not only has a catchy title; the cover photo of a group of marching women draws the eye. Fit or Fat is a lesson in simplicity, both in title choice and design.
The Running book by James Fixx has a classic cover. The original design called for a full-length photo of a runner in green and yellow colors—an uncomely combination. Fortunately, a high-level executive at the publishers noticed this potential disaster at the last minute and sent it back to the design department. It was decided to feature James Fixx’s legs, using a dark red background. The result was magnificent, and the book quickly became a bestseller.
Does Your Title Sell?
James Fixx planned to give his book a long-winded title:
The Lazy Athlete’s Look Younger, Be Thinner, Feel Better, and Live Longer Running Book,
This was fourteen words in length, almost exceeding the recommended average word count for nonfiction sentences. Fixx’s initial choice may have been influenced by his twenty-year stint as a magazine editor. What makes a good title for a magazine article doesn’t always make a good book title. Reason prevailed, of course, before The Complete Book of Running was published.
The best-selling diet book of 1981 was almost entitled The Pineapple Diet Book. Again, a promotion-minded editor changed this to The Beverly Hills Diet Book. It was a clever change because many people picture California women as healthy, robust, and sleek.
Other excellent titles are:
Looking Out for Number #1 How to Avoid Probate The Save Your Life Diet Book
If your title doesn’t have a nice ring to it, go back to the drawing board and use your imagination. The title must grab the attention of the bookstore browser.
Should You Use a Subtitle?
Unless you have selected a strong title such as Sugar Blues, you should definitely use a subtitle. Not only can you better catch the reviewer’s eye; you can also describe the contents of your book in greater detail.
It’s not necessary to list a lengthy subtitle as part of the official title of your book. It can be paraphrased inside the book and on order forms.
Ask friends to suggest titles and subtitles. Gather as many as you can. When you’ve narrowed your choices to a few, ask bookstore managers which they prefer. In the end, you must make the final decision, but consider all alternatives first.
Titling a Reference Book
If yours is a basic reference book, it's a good idea to begin your title with the one word that best describes its subject. This word can then be followed by a descriptive subtitle. Why should you do this? So book buyers can find your book in book indexes.
For example: a bookstore customer wants to purchase a book on the subject of investment bonds. Finding no book on this subject on the bookstore’s shelves, a clerk, after looking in Subject Guide to Books in Print may check Books in Print— Titles, a thick reference listing all the books that are currently in print. Upon looking up the word “Bonds,” the only book listed that has a title beginning with this word is Bonds: How to Double Your Money Quickly and Safely (by the author).
In fact, there are more than ten other books available on this subject, but they are hidden in a maze of other titles within the above reference. Their titles contain the word "Bonds/' but not at the beginning.
Exterior Design, or Designing Strong Covers 105 Is Your Title Legible at Ten Feet?
People strolling down a bookstore aisle should be able to read your book’s title at a glance—whether the book is face out or spine out.
If you want to check how your book will stack up against the competition, place your planned cover on a table with several other books, then step back and see how it looks compared to other titles. Does your title stand out? Is it easily read at ten feet?
Do not capitalize all the letters of your title unless it is a short one-word title, or you are sure your design will stand out. There are three different cases:
1. upper case ... all capitals;
2. lower case ... all uncapitalized letters;
3. upper and lower case ... only the first letter of each word capitalized.
The best case for most titles is upper and lower case, which is the most readable and familiar. If you are unsure which case to use, make samples of each and place them ten feet away.
The lettering for your title should also be in a bold typeface. Use the thickest lettering that space and legibility permit.
How Prominent Should Your Name Be?
If you were as well known as James Michener, your name could dominate your book covers. Until you are well known, however, give your title prominence.
This is not to say that your name should not be easily recognized on the book cover. Your name should be somewhat less bold than the title. By sheer exposure and repetition, your name can help sell books, too.
106 How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book Should You Change Your Name?
Which sounds better? Robert Stevenson or Robert Louis Stevenson? Edgar Poe or Edgar Allan Poe? Ruth Hill or Ruth Beebe Hill? James Cooper or James Fenimore Cooper? If your name also benefits by the insertion of a middle name, then by all means use it in your pen-name. It will distinguish you from others with similar first and last names, in addition to improving the rhythm of your name.
A number of writers simply change their names. Pearl Grey became Zane Grey. Samuel Langhome Clemens chose Mark Twain. If you do not like your name, or feel another would be of more benefit to your writing career, then change it. In most cases, however, your choice of subject matter will be much more important to your book’s success than your choice of pen-name.
Placing Name of Foreword's Author on Cover
If you are fortunate enough to have an authority in your field as the author of your foreword, certainly state this fact on the cover of your book. It will enhance the book’s credibility as well as its sale potential.
Placing Your Publishing Company’s Name on the Cover
If you’ve selected a strong name for your publishing company, place it on your cover, too. For the author’s first self-published book in the field of health, “California Health Publications” was selected. The word “California” is a selling point in itself. This choice resulted in frequent requests for the publisher’s catalog. The author’s second self-published book was about investment bonds, for which “California Financial Publications” was selected. Both of these names were placed on the front covers of the books. How to select a publishing company name is discussed further in Chapter 17.
Exterior Design, or Designing Strong Covers 107 Promotional Copy on Your Cover
If your nonfiction book is the “best reference” in its field, state this on your cover. Or state that it is ‘ ‘A Complete Reference." When space is available, list a few major benefits to the book buyer on your cover. It is common to place excerpts from reviews on a book cover. With only a softbound edition, you must await a second printing. If you have a hardbound edition, you can simply print up more dust jackets with your reviews.
Should Your Book’s Price Be Printed on the Cover?
The price of your book can be placed on its front cover, spine, back cover, or on an inside flap of the book. However, it’s suggested that you not place a price anywhere on the outside of the book with its first printing.
Quite often, you’ll either underprice your book, thereby limiting its profit potential, or overprice it and inhibit sales.
When the author’s first book was printed, its softbound price was initially fixed at $7,95. Upon release, Nutri-Books, the largest book wholesaler to health food stores, felt that $7.95 was too high and wouldn’t order the book. A month later, the softbound price was lowered to $5.95 to encourage bookstore sates. At the new price, Nutri-Books began ordering and selling the book in volume.
If the $7.95 price had been printed on the outside of the book, it would not have been possible to adjust the price. So, until you've tested the market, be flexible about pricing.
Placing color on your cover may involve an extra few hundred dollars. It’s worth it if your book becomes more noticeable on bookstore shelves, or on the desks of reviewers. This section will discuss how you can add color to the cover inexpensively.
108 How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book What Is the Best Color?
Red and its variations are the best eye-catchers for a book cover. This is evident on the covers of the Cellulite and Running books. If you cannot use a red tone in the background, then incorporate this color in your title.
White is also helpful in creating strong contrasts. If you use a white background, lettering will stand out better. Or on a dark background, use white lettering. It works both ways.
A Two-Colored Cover ... Or a Duotone
By running your cover through the press a second time, you can add a different color. This will increase the cost of your cover by 50 percent. If you select the two colors carefully, they can be blended during the printing of the cover to create a third color.
Another technique of printing two colors to create the effect of additional color is the use of duotones. A duotone requires two runs through the press. The first run applies the darker shade (often black ink), and the second run applies the lighter shading.
A Three-Color Cover ... Or a Line Screen
A three-color cover will cost almost double what a single-color cover will cost, as it requires three separate runs through the press. Chapter 25 discusses the procedure for printing in multiple colors.
If you wish to vary the colors on your cover, consider using a line screen. A line screen can be used to print two or more shades of the same color. These are inexpensive to print, as they require only a single run through the press.
While the printing costs for a line screen are more economical than printing three separate colors, this may require the assistance of a graphic designer. A black-and-white line drawing must be made for the 100 percent line screen, plus ruby-liths (or overlays) for the remaining line screens.
A Four-Color Cover
A four-color cover is the equivalent of a color photograph or full-color drawing. If you intend to place four separate colors on your cover, consider using a photograph instead of a drawing.
It is seldom necessary to print four colors on a book cover. The expense of such a cover can approach $1,000. This includes:
1. the creation of the artwork, or taking of the photograph;
2. the making of color separations for photographs; and
3. the printing of the cover.
See Chapters 13, 14, and 25 if you intend to print in four colors.
Advance Reading Copies For Reviewers
In designing your cover, be sure to allow space for the addition of “advance review copy” data. Advance review copies are referred to as ARCs in the balance of the book. Data for ARC covers include:
1. the phrase "Advance Reading Copy—Not for Sale”;
2. a publication date; and
3. suggested retail prices for the editions of your book.
When your book arrives at review sources, it must not look as if it’s self-published. It must appear as professional as any advance review copy released by a major publisher. If it doesn’t, you greatly lessen its chance for review. It was a Library Journal review of the author's first book that motivated
a major publisher to purchase the reprint rights. This review also resulted in library sales of seven thousand copies.
ARC data can be printed on the first fifty to two hundred covers of your book; then the press can be stopped to scrape this wording off the printing plate. It takes only a minute to stop the press and remove the wording. Your printer may not even charge for this service. The maximum charge for printing ARC data on two hundred covers should not exceed $50.
Setting a Publication Date
Your publication date must be at least four full months after you have printed and bound books in hand. This is necessary so you can mail ARCs to reviewers for trade magazines. This much lead-time is required for these publications to receive your ARC, forward it to their reviewer, have the reviewer read and write a review, and then have the review printed.
Actually, most major publishers release their books well ahead of stated publication dates. Publishers Weekly covered this subject on September 25, 1981, in an article entitled “Do Pub Dates Mean Anything Anymore?” They answered their own question with the article’s subtitle:
Under the onslaught of publicity, author tours, book club choices, and reviewers and booksellers who jump the gun—probably not.
If you think your book’s spine is unimportant, stop to consider how most books are displayed in bookstores—spine out. That is all most bookstore patrons are going to see of your book.
The title of your book must be clearly legible. It must stand out among other spines. A long title presents a problem, as the lettering will have to be smaller. This is another reason why your main title should be one word, when possible. Any subtitle can be omitted from the spine or printed in small enough type so that the main title can be easily read at a distance of ten to fifteen feet.
Place your last name on the spine also. Most bookstores arrange book sections alphabetically by the author’s last name. If you omit your last name from the spine, a bookstore clerk may be unable to locate your book.
Review other spines in bookstores before designing your own. Your spine doesn’t have to be beautiful, just easily identified.
Selling Your Book With Its Back Cover
Back covers usually contain reviews and endorsements. Getting these preliminary comments is the first promotion you will do for your book. Contact librarians, professors, other professionals, and authorities in the book’s field for these comments. How to do this is explained in Chapter 34.
When formal reviews from the media are forthcoming, you can substitute these for earlier endorsements, or add to them.
An Author Photo
It is often a good idea to include a photo of yourself. With your photo, provide some background material about yourself, especially information that lends authority to your qualifications to write on your subject.
Repeat the Table of Contents
The most relevant information you can place on the back cover is your books Table of Contents. If book buyers turn your book over, they want to know more about it. What better source than the Table of Contents?
Selecting And Working With A Graphic Designer
While spending thousands of dollars to print a book’s interior, many author-publishers hesitate to spend a few hundred dollars to enhance the exterior of their book. This is foolish, as it is the exterior design that must draw the initial interest of a reader. The book’s interior may receive no attention at all if the cover is nondescript.
Writers often ask arust-friends to help design their books. This may work out, but more often it does not. To produce camera-ready artwork for a book requires a certain amount of technical knowledge. A graphic designer will know exactly what quality is required.
When color work is involved, whether for illustrations or photographs, the aid of a graphic designer is essential. The graphic designer will know:
1. how to make duotones,
2. how to make line screens,
3. where to obtain color separations,
4. how to inspect color keys or a cromalin,
5. how to check rubyliths, and
6. how to prepare needed artwork.
During the preparation of a full-color cover for the author’s Slim book, a graphic designer saved several hundred dollars on the book’s cost. A reliable but reasonable firm was recommended in the making of color separations. Inspection of the color transparency, color separations, proofs, and rubyliths by a professional revealed many potential problems that would have resulted in a poor-quality cover had they not been spotted.
Sharing Royalties
For the author’s first two books, the out-of-pocket expenses of the graphic designer were paid in advance while a 5 percent share of future profits (or royalties) was promised for the labor involved. This worked out quite well for both the author and the graphic designer.
Such an approach may not work with a graphic designer chosen from the Yellow Pages of a telephone directory. The graphic designer of the author’s first two books was a previous acquaintance.
Referrals
If you’ve joined professional groups, the other authors you meet can often recommend graphic designers with whom they’ve had a favorable experience. Authors of self-published books may even be willing to share their knowledge with you about the preparation of artwork. In return, you can offer editing services or share in the expense of mail-order promotions with these authors.
Graphic Design Students
Instructors of college-level graphic design classes may be willing to recommend talented students. Some instructors seek this work for their students. In such instances, the supervision of the instructor is free, and the fee of the student will be far less than that of a professional graphic designer.
If you have the time, enroll in a graphic design class. Check the catalogs of local community colleges and universities.
Working With A Graphic Designer
Be open concerning how much you can afford when discussing the cost of artwork with a graphic designer—do this before any work is done. Graphic designers generally charge by the hour, at rates that may range as high as $40 to $50 per hour.
Pick up a copy of The Graphics Artists’ Guild Handbook, which is available at any art supply store. This lists standard graphic design fees. Be aware, however, that it is usually possible to find someone who will work for less.
It is difficult for a graphic designer to quote a total fee until all your artwork requirements have been reviewed. It may be necessary to have the graphic designer show you a sample of at least one of the illustrations for your book, so both of you can agree on the desired quality and cost of artwork needed.
Provide Detailed Examples
Do not force your graphic designer to guess what you need. Provide good examples of what you wish, either hand-drawn or cut out from magazines and other sources.
If you ask a graphic designer to provide several variations of an illustration for your consideration, be ready to pay for the time required to design these alternatives.
Learn From Your Graphic Designer
While you should submit precise examples of what you wish, also be receptive to suggestions from your graphic designer as to how to give your artwork greater impact.
As previously mentioned, a graphic designer can also suggest ideas to reduce your artwork costs. Do not forget that black-and-white photographs will be far cheaper than hand-drawn artwork, unless you can obtain such artwork free. Photographs will have a better appearance in your book than most hand-drawn artwork as well.
With experience, you may be able to prepare much of your own artwork. Use a graphic designer for technical areas where you do not yet feel competent.
Working with a graphic designer is discussed further in the chapters concerning illustrations and photographs.
Producing Vbur Book
Planning Your Printing and Promotion