Book Design Made Simple

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Crop marks and other printer’s marks

January 8, 2023 By Glenna Collett 1 Comment

Purple image with crop marks in corner.Crop marks and other printer’s marks appear in the PDFs you send to the printer. In Book Design Made Simple, we mention crop marks exactly once and never define what they are, so we think it’s about time that we did so.

Simply put, crop marks are chop marks—they indicate where the printer will chop around the edges of the stack of printed pages to make them the correct size, and a nice, neat package for binding. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: book binding, book printing

Advanced live index features in InDesign

November 7, 2022 By Fiona Raven Leave a Comment

Live index showing advanced features.InDesign’s live index includes some great advanced features: you can add italics to the index, add bold page numbers for illustrations, and even create a live index across several documents using InDesign’s Book feature.

Be sure to first read our earlier blog post, Create a live index in InDesign, to learn the basics of creating a live index. [Read more…]

Filed Under: InDesign Tagged With: Book feature, index, paragraph styles, typesetting

Create a live index in InDesign

September 12, 2022 By Fiona Raven 3 Comments

Start a live index in InDesignIt’s easy to create a live index for your book in InDesign, and there’s a major benefit to doing so: If you move any of your text, the index markers stay with the text and the index automatically updates!

In Book Design Made Simple, we explain how to create paragraph styles for indexes, how to import an index from Word, and how to typeset an index. Here, we’ll explain the simplest way to create a live index in InDesign.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: InDesign Tagged With: index, typesetting

Book endpapers: A gallery of ideas

July 11, 2022 By Glenna Collett 3 Comments

collage of endpaper artBook endpapers (also called endsheets) are probably the least noticed part of a hardcover book. But the endpapers are literally what hold the pages and the cover together. And they can add value to your book if you use them well.

If you’re publishing a paperback, take a look at the examples in this article for ideas anyway; you’ll find that the same principles can apply. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Design Tagged With: book binding, book printing, children's books, color

Writing in InDesign: Why and how

May 9, 2022 By Glenna Collett 7 Comments

Writing in InDesign opening graphic.Back when Fiona started Book Design Made Simple, she decided that writing in InDesign would be easiest. (After all, it was her native habitat.) And now one of our readers has admitted to doing the same. So we thought we’d explore the various reasons why anyone would want to write in a layout program. For us it worked perfectly. How about you? [Read more…]

Filed Under: InDesign Tagged With: editing, InDesign updates, paragraph styles

Designing a book spine

March 7, 2022 By Glenna Collett 1 Comment

book spine examplesFront covers attract and back covers sell—we’ve said it before. At the same time, a book spine should broadcast.

Most books in stores and libraries are shelved with their spines facing out. If a book has a great title and a well-designed spine, it’ll attract a lot more eyes than its neighbor on the shelf. So here’s how to accomplish that for your book. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Cover Design Tagged With: book marketing, color, text frames

What type size should I use?

January 10, 2022 By Glenna Collett 2 Comments

Graphic showing type sizes for book genres.In Book Design Made Simple, we suggest type sizes that should work in most situations for adult readers. But there are so many other situations! What about children’s books? What about large type books? Reference books? In this article we’ll suggest solutions for these kinds of books. And we’ll only discuss printed books; with ebooks, the reader can enlarge or reduce the type size to whatever works for them. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Page Design Tagged With: children's books, paragraph styles, typesetting

Navigating Amazon KDP ads and keywords

November 9, 2021 By Erika Sharma 1 Comment

Researching Amazon KDP keywords, showing glasses and a notebook.The advent of the internet has changed the landscape of books. Self-publishing is getting easier all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The biggest hurdle you’ll face as an online bookseller is marketing. Every self-publishing author in 2021 needs to know how to do keyword research! We’ll explain the basics of Amazon KDP ads and then show you how to find the most effective Amazon KDP keywords that will sell your books. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book marketing

Amazon updates for book authors

November 8, 2021 By Fiona Raven Leave a Comment

Amazon update showing detail of A+Content.Trying to keep up with Amazon updates? So are we! There’ve been a few changes lately, so we’re discussing them here to keep you up to date. The main Amazon updates for book authors are: 1) EPUBs are replacing MOBIs for reflowable Kindle ebooks, 2) hardcover binding is now an option, and 3) A+ Content is available for your book’s product page on Amazon. Let’s break it down for you.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book binding, book marketing, ebooks, ISBN

What does a children’s book editor do?

August 31, 2021 By Brooke Vitale 4 Comments

Children's picture books laid out for display.Line edit, developmental edit, copy edit, proofread … there are enough editorial services to make a new author’s head spin. Which can be a real problem for an author who is planning to self-publish a book! And when it comes to publishing a children’s picture book, it can get even more confusing. Why? Because an editor really plays many roles in the children’s book publishing process.

Yes, editors finesse language. But it is also the editor’s job to know the target market, help with book design, and act as an art director. The truth is, not all children’s book editors are created equal. And an author who is self-publishing a children’s picture book may not find an editor who will fill all those roles. But it is still important to understand: what does a children’s book editor do? So let’s take a look! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: editing, images

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  • Book Design (25)
    • Book Cover Design (8)
    • Book Page Design (11)
  • InDesign (18)
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Recent Posts

  • Crop marks and other printer’s marks January 8, 2023
  • Advanced live index features in InDesign November 7, 2022
  • Create a live index in InDesign September 12, 2022
  • Book endpapers: A gallery of ideas July 11, 2022
  • Writing in InDesign: Why and how May 9, 2022
  • Designing a book spine March 7, 2022
  • What type size should I use? January 10, 2022

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