With word-processing being what it is today, the job of preparing your manuscript may not be as complicated as you might imagine. However, it remains the area of self-publishing, I believe, where we authors most need to pay for professional help.

My biggest regret from my own self-publishing experiences is that I was too stingy to pay for professional proofreading support (well, I was trying to stick to my budget...). I did pay for typesetting help, but I didn’t pick up errors in the proofreading of the final typeset product, because – frankly – I was too close to the text by now. I had read the words thousands of times over: my eyes and brain had had enough!

CHOOSING A TITLE

Your title has to attract the attention of your potential reader. If it is a non-fiction book, the potential reader has to recognise, by the title, that the book will be valuable to them, whether it be informative or entertaining. If it is a novel or collection of poetry the title has an even harder job.

Market-test your title. For example, for many months I was convinced that my book Britain’s Hot Potato! should be called The Complete Dinner Party Guide to Europe. But I had a dinner party and asked my selected friends for comments and ideas (market-test with friends whose opinions you value: this is key!). By the end of the evening I had accepted that I needed to go back to the drawing board.

However, for another of my books, a women’s novel called The Bored Wife’s Manual, I have steadfastly refused to consider changing the title. (I got the idea for the title way back in 1999 and from the title idea the story grew. Since then I’ve seen a plethora of novels published with non-fiction sounding titles, which has only convinced me more that my own title is a good one.)

So be prepared to reconsider your title. Ask friends for feedback, leave it, come back to it, change it. But remember that it’s your book. Sometimes if you have such a strong hunch that it’s right that you can’t be argued with, you might need to trust your instincts.

Finally, use an internet search engine and Amazon to check whether your desired title is already in use. And remember that if there are hundreds of similar sounding titles your book will get lost amongst them.

FRONT COVER DESIGN

It’s a cliché but true to say that the front cover is the window to your book! (Sometimes, if it’s squashed on a bookshelf, only the spine is the window to your book – hence the importance of your chosen title.)

Before you commence work on the design you need to decide how many colours you will include. Printers will give quotes for full colour (four colours), three colours, two, or one. A full-colour cover will be more expensive. (Note that white is not counted as a colour. So if you wanted your cover designed using the colours green, black and white, this would be a two-colour print process.)

Colour is selected using Pantone, which is a registered name for a colour matching system. Before you choose a colour/s for your book cover, ask your designer or printer if you can look at their Pantone colour guide. The array of colours might confuse you even more, but you’ll be able to use the guide to see what similar or opposing colours look like next to each other, and generally get a feel for what you like and don’t like.

If you’re using a design professional, every time you ask them to alter your draft design it will cost money. Don’t get carried away by the fun of it all (and I think it’s terrific fun!): stick to your budget. Remember to tell your design professional what your budget is from the outset.

Because I don’t require permission from anyone else to include them, the sample covers that follow are all my own. All three were the result of collaboration with a designer. To keep costs down I did considerable thinking before handing the design over. I set a brief. I provided a rough sketch of my initial idea. I had a shortlist of fonts I liked and a general idea of colours I wanted. I had a strong idea of what I didn’t want (this helps also!).

Note the brevity of the briefs in the examples that follow. Don’t be put off hiring a design professional because you don’t feel confident enough to even give them a brief. A brief might be five bullet-points long. That will be enough to start the creative process that you and your designer will play off each other.

From this moment on, start being critical of every book cover you see. What do you like about my covers on the following pages? What don’t you like? Design is a subjective field. What some people like, others will not.

If your book is a novel, your cover should try to evoke the mood or atmosphere of your story. An alternative is to have your cover convey a sense of time or place. Your cover image shouldn’t tell the whole story, but should give a tempting taste of what your story is about.

Consider also what your colour design will look like when it’s reproduced in black and white. You may want to do so yourself to keep costs down on promotional material, or others may photocopy and pass on colour images of the cover you send them. Some colours and designs reproduce better in black and white than others.

Example design brief: Britain’s Hot Potato!

• Book must stand out from crowd: unusual size and bright colour.
• Must not look too boring/must not have academic, economic, or serious tone.
• Use cartoon on cover to emphasis that book is light-hearted.
• Stress book’s impartiality.
• Include quote to highlight book’s humorous element.

• To keep costs down cover will be in two-colour only, so design will need to be bold and simple. (Note that white isn’t counted as a colour. You can’t see it here but I chose a bright ‘pumpkin yellow’ to contrast with the black and white: not everyone’s cup of tea, but it has worked very well for this particular book.)

Example design brief: Jamie’s Genies

• Cover image to portray computer and internet aspect of book rather than any traditional ‘genie’ images,
• Crisp, contemporary feel.
• Colour choice: blues, purples, to provide a ‘mystical’ tone?
• Include prominent strap line about wishes, trouble, danger.
• Incorporate background/subtle image of html code – link to internet theme of book?

Example design brief: The Bored Wife’s Manual

This cover is still a work in progress (mainly because I have not yet committed to self-publishing this novel), but it provides another example of the design process in relation to the brief I decided on.

• Overall design theme to reflect ‘manual’ aspect of title – brown paper file or lined notebook?
• Scribbles on notebook to hint at turmoil of main character: confusion, guilt, getting in trouble.
• Strap line to reflect that book is about everyday wives rather than ‘addicts to self-help courses’.
• Stay away from traditional ‘chic-lit’ colours (no pink!).
• Don’t want main cover colour to be white (just a personal preference).

A final point on front cover design. If you’re stuck for ideas, or don’t know where to begin, browse in your book’s genre listings on Amazon for ten minutes or so. The cover designs will be so vastly different, one of them might spark your imagination. The variety on display will also remind you that design is subjective. So don’t expect everyone to like your design when it’s finished!

BACK COVER DESIGN

You need to pay as much attention to the design of your back cover as you do the front. The back cover needs to provide potential readers with all the vital information they need to make a decision: will they buy your book? Your back cover should provide:

Headline

One or two prominent sentences that will grab the attention of potential buyers. (Don’t use the book’s title; they have already seen that on the front cover.)

A brief summary of your book

Keep it concise. For example, ‘A thrilling adventure story where courage must overcome betrayal and gut-wrenching danger’. Or, ‘The history of Wellhead village: from 1066 to the present day’.

The selling hook

If yours is a non-fiction book, you must highlight the benefits the reader will get from buying your book. For example, detailed information, expert opinion, an improved ability of some sort (bake better cakes, write better stories, perform better in job interviews etc.), a belly full of laughs, a new insight into an old or new issue, and so on. If it is a novel, you must attempt to convince the potential buyer that, basically, the story is fabulous and simply has to be read.

This is no small task to ask of one solitary paragraph. Spend some considered time choosing a select number of adjectives. Make sure the adjectives are appropriate to the category of book you are trying to promote. (For example, if it’s a suspense thriller you’re not going to include the words ‘tear-jerker’.) Look on the back of some of your favourite novels. You will see that questions are often employed to get the reader’s attention.

Reviewer comments

Make some up until such time as you have some to use. If your book has a humour element you can extend this to your review quotations. If this isn’t your style, or you can’t be flippant with your quotations, you will have to either secure some with more credence or leave them out altogether.

An alternative to review quotations is to include a general comment. ‘An intense and gripping novel from an exciting new author’. Or, ‘The most comprehensive guide to jam making available today!’ Don’t worry about blowing your own trumpet: you can’t be too modest when it comes to writing your book’s back cover.

ISBN and barcode

Your printer should be able to generate a barcode from your ISBN. Your barcode and ISBN should be placed in a bottom corner.

Price and publisher information

This should be placed above or beneath the barcode.

Author information

If your book is a non-fiction book, you should include any credential’s you have that might establish you as an expert on your topic. If your book is a novel it is common to include only your previous works. Unless these are likely to be recognised it is best to omit author information from the back cover. (You can include it in the book’s front or back matter – see Chapter 6 on typesetting.)

THE BOOK’S SPINE

You will need to include the book’s spine in the PDF file from which the front and back covers are printed – the front, back and spine images will create one integral page for printing purposes. The spine should include only the title, the author’s name, and the publisher.

Use the largest font you can for the author and title; your book’s spine must be legible when squashed between other books on a bookshelf. You will need to confirm your book’s thickness before the spine image can be finalised. If your designer can’t do it (a good one should have no trouble), or if you aren’t using a designer, you will need to ask your printer to help you.

BOOK SIZE

Some modern book sizes used today are:

• C format paperback or classic hardback (Demy octavo) 216mm × 138mm
• B format paperback 198mm × 129mm
• A format paperback 175mm × 111mm.

If you are publishing a novel you should produce either a B format or A format paperback, depending on what it is and what your perceived market is. Visit a bookshop with a ruler. You will soon see that the size of your novel is an important indicator to both booksellers and readers as to the type of novel it is: literary, trade (general public), or mass market – what we commonly refer to as a beach or airport read for example.

Additional modern book sizes used are:

• Royal octavo: 234mm × 156mm
• Crown quarto: 246mm × 189mm
• Pinched crown quarto: 246mm × 171mm.

This book is 234mm × 153mm (unsewn Royal).

You will have more choice if you are publishing a non-fiction book. For example, the growth of the ‘little book’ format can be seen in bookshops everywhere, and many humour and gift category books are now printed in a non-standard size, to make them stand out from the crowd.

I chose to print Britain’s Hot Potato! in a non-standard size for this very reason. I chose the size used for the American edition of another of my books, 178mm × 127mm. Because American publishers use this size I knew it wouldn’t be completely alien to UK booksellers. I also just liked it – which is important after all – and finally, I knew the size would still allow me to fit two copies of the book in an A5 Jiffy bag for posting.

You need to consider such practicalities when choosing your book sizes. Will bookshops be able to stack and display your book on their standardised shelf sizes? Will you get multiple copies of your book into standard box and envelope sizes for storage and postage? Is it a size your target readers will feel comfortable holding?

ENSURING EDITORIAL QUALITY

Before you progress to the typesetting stage you need to be satisfied that your manuscript is of an editorial quality you are happy with. Has it been fully proofread? Has anyone other than yourself proofread it? (On this point, don’t expect your friends and family to proofread your book for you. If they offer, fine, but don’t expect them to have done a professional job of it.) Have you taken any advice regarding the editorial style? If you decide you need some help, you have various options available to you – the gold and silver options if you like.

More appropriate for fiction work, the first option is to pay for a complete editorial assessment of your work. Somebody will comment on your style of writing, your characters, your plot -everything really – as well as mark up errors. Be prepared to be told that some of your novel should be re-written. There is no point paying for a critical assessment of your work if you will not be prepared to take on board comments and suggestions. Costs vary, but you should expect to pay around £300-£400 for an average-length novel.

Another option is to have a professional proofreader read your book. A proofreader will mark up errors but not comment on the overall style of your work, as an editor would.

The Society for Editors & Proofreaders (SfEP) has a directory of accredited members. You will also find a detailed list of editorial, literary and production services in The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, as well as under ‘editorial services’ on The Bookseller online directory (www.thebookseller.com). Your designer and/or printer may also be able to recommend editors and proofreaders they work with regularly.

Society for Editors & Proofreaders
1 Putney Bridge Approach
Fulham
London
SW6 3JD
Tel: 020 7736 3278
Email: administration@sfep.org.uk
www.sfeporg.uk

ILLUSTRATIONS

You can source illustrations and photos for your book relatively easily. The Picture Research Association has lists of photo libraries and freelance picture researchers. Similarly the Association of Illustrators has a directory of illustrators, and agencies. Costs will vary significantly, so it might be worth speaking to an agency first to discuss what you might get for your budget.

The Picture Research Association
Email: chair®picture-research . org.uk
www.picture-research.org.uk

The Association of Illustrators
2nd floor, Back Building
150 Curtain Road
London EC2A 3AR
Tel: 020 7613 4328
Email: info@theaoi.co.uk
www.theaoi.com