#Books – Those Pesky Details

When I got started writing “seriously” (there’s a topic for another day!), I thought it was pretty straight forward.

You write. You edit. You re-write. After a couple rounds, you submit it to a publishing site (my original intent was always self-publishing), and you’re done. Well, other than basking in the glow of work well done. Easy as relying on time-worn cliches.

Oh, silly, naive boy.

If you self-publish, you know the work is only beginning at that point. Setting marketing aside for a moment (ANOTHER topic for ANOTHER day), there is still a swarm of annoying details that need swatted. They seem trivial at first, but when you see poorly considered choices you understand how important they are.

Some of those pesky details are font, spacing, cover, back cover, synopsis, and formatting. Having read some of my previous (you have read my previous posts, right?) you know I don’t believe in “one size fits all” answers. There are default choices fro all of the questions above. That doesn’t mean they are the right choices. Each is a choice you need to consider for your personal style, the kind of writing you are doing, and how that writing will be presented to the world. Instead, let me offer a few “guiding thoughts” based on my own experience.

Covers – Take a look at the cover styles used by successful books in your genre. Look at the layout, font choice and sizing. Most of these covers are the work of professional designers. That clan will assure you that they are the only possible source for a good cover. I am unconvinced of that as an absolute, but you will know at a glance which covers represent lesser talents. For books requiring simple covers, or if you have a background in design, it is possible to do the cover yourself. But remember, make the wrong choice, and your book is DOA. Making sure you have a quality cover is as important as getting the writing inside right.

Font – When I started out on this journey this question never occurred to me. I used the default font (often Times New Roman) and thought no more on the matter. The problems is, I don’t much like TNR. It’s old fashioned looking. The rule of thumb for fonts are serif fonts for the body of the writing, and sans serif for titles. If you don’t know the difference between the two, stop and look it up right now. Now you have with many, many, many choices. My most common fonts for the body of the work are Georgia or Garamond . The font for the titles and headings vary on the project. Again, choose a font that doesn’t work for your reader (because everything we do, EVERYTHING, must focus on the reader) and your writing will lose them.

Spacing – This was a choice that was easy for me. I dislike single spacing. It looks and feels crowded. I dislike double spacing. That feels like the author is trying to stretch a school essay to the required number of pages. So I go with 1.5 spacing. Turns out it’s a common choice as well.

Back Cover – Wait, there are TWO covers to create? Well, yes and no. If you are looking to offer your work as a paperback you will have to create a back cover. The back cover has unique challenges of its own. Do you use reviews, put the synopsis there, do you use a section of the work itself? Solid color background, a continuation of the front cover design? The advantage of e-books is that they don’t require a back cover. Keep it in mind if you’re looking for a wider range of offerings.

Synopsis – A brief summation of the action of your work. Piece of cake, right? You polished this sucker to within an inch of its life. You’ve lived with the action and characters for months or years. You know exactly what goes on. Yet the synopsis remains one of the hardest parts of the process for many authors. Your work is tens of thousands of words long. Now, distill it down to a couple hundred. Trust me, this may take a while.

Formatting – All the other details of putting the manuscript into whatever form you are using. And it’s not one size fits all here, either. E-books require a certain format that is different from paperbacks. The details are too many and too complex to go into here. My advice is simple though- leave lots of time for this step. The first several works your create will be a process of trial and error. Do it, find an issue, fix it and find a new issue. Frustrating but essential.

If you are submitting to a publisher (book, magazine, web site) they have guidelines for all of these questions. Do what they ask, and study the result. Do you like it? Then copy it as your own style. Or decide that’s not how you want to do it if you self publish a work.

They say the Devil is in the details. I say count on him keeping you busy.

Peace