Book designers usually charge by the page, so you’ll need to estimate your book’s page count. But how can you come up with an accurate estimate by looking at your Word document?

There is no hard and fast formula because it depends on the trim size (page size) of the book, as well as font choice, font size, leading (space between lines of type), margins, and graphics. But here’s a very rough guideline for approximating page count based on various trim sizes. Please note that you can use this guideline to get a ballpark cost estimate from your designer, and then the designer’s final invoice will be based on actual page count.

First, find the character count in Word by going to “Word Count” under the “Tools” menu and looking for “Characters – with spaces.”

Then, figure the estimated page count. Divide your total character count by the characters-per-page number listed below for your chosen trim size:

5″ x 8″ trim = 1,400 characters per page
5.5″ x 8.5″ = 1,800 characters per page
6″ x 9″ = 2,100 characters per page

The best way to set up a Word document is to give each heading a style and name. So from the main heading down to sub-headings, they would be named
A Head
B Head
C Head
D Head
E Head

or something similar.

You can decide what style each heading has. So, for instance:
A Head = 30 pt. Times Bold Centered
B Head = 22 pt. Arial Bold Centered
C Head = 16 pt. Times Bold Left
D Head = 12 pt. Times Bold Italic Left
E Head = 10 pt. Arial Bold All Caps

(Just a quick example)

The point is that you select each heading and give it a style name.

When the typesetter/book designer imports the Word doc into InDesign or Quark, they will give all the headings different styles & fonts. But it will be easy for them to know what level of heading each one is b/c you’ve set up the style names.

So, it’s not important what particular font you use. What’s important is that you give each heading a style name. Without styles in the Word doc, the book designer might typeset the headings at the wrong level. They might confuse a Level C head with a Level D head in the manuscript if they are both in the default “Normal” style, even if they look different.

Using style sheets in Word will save you and the book designer lots of time, and it will ensure that your book is formatted correctly.

Writing, editing, and self-publishing can be such serious undertakings. Treat yourself to a couple of minutes of good-hearted fun by watching this terrific video about the book as new technology.

If the above link doesn’t work, click here: watch video

Richard Hendel says:

Designers are to books what architects are to buildings. Designers write specifications for making books just as architects write them for constructing buildings. Even the most seemingly mundane detail needs to be decided, and it is just these tiny particulars that make a design successful. The parts of the book that are most ignored by readers are the ones that often need the most attention from the designer . . . The author’s words are the heart of book design. To solve the design problem for a book, a designer needs to know both what an author is saying (what a book is about) and how it is being said (the actual words being used).
On Book Design by Richard Hendel, p. 33

When I read Hendel’s words, I am in total agreement and I want to add that the relationship between the designer and the author is important. Not only is the designer working with the nuts and bolts of picas and points and margins and folios (I’ll provide a glossary on this blog soon), but the designer is also interpreting the author’s words visually on the page.

So the self-publishing author and designer must have a rapport, an ability to communicate and understand each other.

How is a book designed? What do book designers think about as they turn manuscripts into printed books?

Award-winning book designer Richard Hendel says:

As omnipresent as books are, few readers are aware of the “invisible” craft of book designing. The task a book designer faces is different from that faced by other designers. The challenge, says Hendel, isn’t to create something different or pretty or clever but to discover how to best serve the author’s words.

I will be responding to concepts discussed in Hendel’s book, On Book Design, in future posts. I’ll also be introducing other resources that have influenced my approach to book design. I hope to make the craft of book design less invisible, so that authors, readers, and publishers will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the books they come in contact with every day.

In the meantime, I invite you to read this review of Hendel’s book:

Richard Hendel Book Review

You’re happily tooling along, setting up marketing gigs while the designer is typesetting your book, when suddenly you realize . . . you need to print review galleys! You didn’t think of that before, and now you need them yesterday. You’re reading the guidelines of the media reviewers, and you discover that you must send them a review copy of your book three months before the release date!

Or you’ve arranged to print the book by a certain deadline. Then an editing issue holds the book up, and you don’t get the manuscript to the designer on time. But you still need the book printed by the same date as originally planned. Do you just send it to the designer and hope they can get it done faster (without charging you a rush fee)?

How the heck does all this work, anyway? What are all the steps involved in producing a book?

Sample Production Schedule PDF
The answer is in the production schedule. You create this with the designer AT THE VERY BEGINNING so there won’t be any surprises. Click on the link right above this paragraph for a sample schedule. This will show you the steps that a self-published book typically goes through, and how long each step typically takes. As the book goes through these steps, the dates are adjusted to reflect the actual timeline so you can see if you’re staying on track.

1. Send the designer some sample chapters (Word files) by email.
They don’t have to be the final edited versions. The designer is only working with layout & page design at this point. You can be working on this while the book is being edited. When your final manuscript is ready, the designer can jump in and typeset it right away b/c you’ve already nailed down the design.

2. Send the designer a few sample images, if you have illustrations or photos in your book.
These should be the highest-resolution versions that you have. It’s OK if the files are large – graphic designers usually have a broadband internet connection.

3. Send the designer an image of your book cover – preferably a PDF. Or ask your cover designer to send the latest version.
Have you ever read a book with a cover that didn’t fit visually with the interior? It’s jarring to the reader, even if they might not consciously know why. Good book design should be in service of the content – your writing – and it should make the bookstore visitor want to pick up your book and buy it. That means making sure the interior belongs with the cover.

OK! Now the fun part. The designer will take your Word files and make them look like book pages. Typically, they will approach your book’s interior design in two different ways, and send you two PDFs. Each approach will be uniquely created for your book. The choice of fonts and the placement of design elements will reflect the tone and writing style of your book. The layout will be inviting to your particular audience.

How long does it take?
Setting up the design for your book can take anywhere from 5–10 days, or longer. It varies widely, depending on how many changes need to be made. After you choose one of the initial design approaches, you and the designer will keep tweaking it until you’re happy.

Turnaround time on the design also depends on how complex your page layout is. These things add to the complexity:
• sidebars
• block quotes
• several levels of headings
• part openers as well as chapter openers
• photos and/or illustrations with captions
• charts or tables
• footnotes

In the next article, we’ll talk about setting up a production schedule for your self-published book.

A recent article in The Guardian says it well:

“The visual language of design – the ability to communicate what the book is about, who it is for – is something publishers are all too aware of, as they watch their books do battle on increasingly cluttered bookshop (and supermarket) shelves, competing for our attention and, let’s face it, our money. Images and typography play as great a part in the mind of a potential book buyer than do endorsements on the jackets, be they blurbs from fellow writers, or a sticker from Richard and Judy.”

Read the rest of the article by Susan Tomaselli here

What is POD?
POD stands for Print On Demand, a digital printing technology that allows you to print one book at a time, or a very low quantity of books. Basically, it’s a high-quality, high-speed copier.

I thought POD referred to an online publisher that I could take my book to . . .
A POD publisher uses the POD printing technology to print one copy of your book at a time. In addition, they offer other services that vary from program to program. Some of them put their imprint on your book, and some of them allow you to publish under your own company name. They offer various design services based on templates. You receive a percentage of the sales of your books. They take care of some aspects of book production that an author may not want to do themselves. In my opinion, though, it is very difficult to make a profit when you enter into an agreement with an online POD publisher. Books produced by POD publishers are not respected in the book industry, and they won’t be reviewed by media reviewers.

Isn’t that what self-publishing is, though?
Authors have been self-publishing for a long time. (Virginia Woolf was a self-publisher). You can self-publish by creating your own team and staying in control of all aspects of the production process. In addition to an editor (which you would also need if you went with a POD publisher) you would hire designers for the cover & interior, possibly an illustrator, a proofreader, and an indexer (if needed). You would pay for the printing (your designers could help you choose a good printer). When you hire professional book designers, your book will look as good if not better than those produced by the big publishers. Although you would need money up front to produce your book, you would reap 100% of the profits. The authors I’ve worked with usually cover their production costs with the first print run, and start making a profit after the first reprint.

Can I use a POD printer if I self-publish this way?
Absolutely! There are many excellent POD printers to choose from. The technology has evolved so that the quality is excellent. Most people can’t tell the difference between a POD-printed book and an offset-printed book. The type is crisp and clean, the paper is good, and the full-color cover looks great. Books produced this way are respected in the industry, and media reviewers will review them. You could print a low quantity of books (maybe 25, 100, or 250, or whatever) and reprint as you needed. This way you’d have no storage costs.

What about marketing?
Either way, you’re in charge of marketing your book. The POD publisher may offer some distribution assistance in their package, but they aren’t going to sell your book for you. In fact, even if a small press or publishing company took your book, you’d still have to do a lot of the marketing. If you join PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, at http://www.pma-online.org/ you will have access to affordable cooperative marketing programs and distribution assistance to help you get into bookstores. You’ll also have many other member benefits and can share info & networking with other self-publishers. An excellent resource for step-by-step info on book publishing and marketing is Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual and his website at http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/

After your designer finishes typesetting your book, they will send you a PDF for the first round of proofing. If your PDF view is set up to show single pages instead of two-page spreads, it will be hard to tell why certain pages are blank. Change the PDF view, and you’ll see that the blank pages are always on the left. They will be totally blank ­— no headers, no footers, no page numbers.

This is because, in most books, the chapters and sections start on the right-hand page. What you’re seeing in your PDF is actually both sides of each page, or both sides of each sheet of paper. The left-hand side, or back side, of the sheet is called the verso page. The right-hand side, or the front of the sheet, is called the recto page.

When we read a book, it’s natural to start a new chapter or section on the right. We don’t even notice the blank verso page before the chapter opener. But on a computer screen, the blank pages in a series of typeset pages is glaringly obvious. Some authors just can’t stand to leave it blank, so they put quotes or little stories on those pages. That’s fine, but it really isn’t necessary; in fact, it’s easier on the eyes to have some white space to break up the text.

The other place you might find blank pages is at the end of your book. This is because the printer lays out the pages in “signatures,” and the book designer needs to add blank pages to create even signatures. A full signature, or “sig,” is 32 pages, a half-sig is 16 pages, and a quarter-sig is 8 pages. (Most printers will allow a 4-page sig, but it increases the printing cost.) Your designer will make sure the page count adds up to a multiple of 8. BTW, this is the total page count of the book, starting from the very first page, not the first numbered page.

So when you proof that PDF, know that the blank pages are intentional. It might look funny on screen, but the printed book will look good.