Last fall and winter, we entered Book Design Made Simple in some independent publishing book award contests. In mid-April, we got word that our book had won gold at the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards. Nine days later, we won another gold medal, this time at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
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The value of an editor
Dear reader, let me repeat something that you’ve probably heard before: Nobody likes a poorly written book. It doesn’t matter if the message of the book is valid or even excellent or groundbreaking. If it is not well written and constructed, people will not read it.
So please get yourself an editor. Try to find one who has experience in your general topic (science or romance, for instance), or in your form of writing (short stories, screenplay, novel). Ask for samples of work they have edited. Naturally the pieces should be readable and error-free. You’ll find editorial resources at the end of this article. [Read more…]
Awards
Book Design Made Simple wins triple GOLD medals in Writing/Publishing category, including Book of the Year!
Book of the Year 2016, Independent Publishers of New England
Book of the Year—The Independent Publishers of New England is a support group for all kinds of authors and publishers in the region. Each year books are judged in various categories by independent librarians and designers. At the annual conference in 2016, Book Design Made Simple won the Informational Nonfiction category as well as Book of the Year for its valuable contribution to the publishing industry in general and all members of IPNE specifically. See the complete list of 2016 award winners.
Winner, 2017 New England Book Show
Committee Pick—Run by Bookbuilders of Boston, the New England Book Show is the oldest in the country, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2017. It is mainly a design and production contest, with fierce competition among New England publishers large and small. Winning in this show is a great honor.
Gold Medal Winner, IPPY Awards
Writing/Publishing Category—The Independent Publisher Book Awards (the “IPPYs”) bring recognition to the exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles published each year. See the complete list of 2016 award winners.
Gold Medal Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Writing/Publishing Category—The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest Not-for-Profit book awards program for indie authors and independent publishers. It was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books. See the complete list of 2016 award winners.
Silver Medal Winner, Foreword Review’s INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards
Reference Category—Each year, Foreword Reviews shines a light on a select group of indie publishers, university presses, and self-published authors whose work stands out from the crowd. Book Design Made Simple has been recognized as a Silver Medalist in the 18th annual Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards. See the complete list of 2015 award winners.
Finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards
Writing/Publishing Category—The National Indie Excellence Awards recognizes self-publishers and small and independent presses that go the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect. Established in 2007, the NIEA competition is judged by independent experts from all aspects of the indie book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters. See the complete list of 2016 award winners.
Next:
Buy the book online or at your local bookstore.
Read about the authors, Glenna and Fiona.
Learn from our Video tutorials about InDesign.
Explore our Blog for book design and self-publishing tips.
Visit our Resources section for book design and self-publishing links.
Check out our Media Kit.
Typesetting math in InDesign
Have you ever tried to typeset any kind of math and driven yourself almost mad? And have you ended up setting each part of the equation in a different type frame, then piecing it all together and grouping it? I confess that I have done both. But with a little perseverance I figured out a way to do it properly in InDesign, and I’m hoping that this article will prevent you from suffering as long and as hard as I did. [Read more…]
Developing an eye for good design
In Book Design Made Simple, we have given you samples and instructions that serve as foundations for your own book designs. And if you follow them, you can be certain that you have produced something very good. But are you confident about your work? Do you think it looks good? Do you wonder if anyone else will think it’s good? Do you worry that if you come up with ideas of your own they might be “bad”? [Read more…]
Contents
Book Design Made Simple includes 73 chapters plus a glossary of design and printing terms and a comprehensive index. And we’ve added more than 400 images to make the steps you’ll take easy to master.
Part I: Getting Started
1 From Word to InDesign 1
2 Windows versus Mac 4
3 Leasing InDesign 5
4 A quick tour of InDesign 12
5 Choosing your trim size 20
6 Planning your pages 23
7 Creating your document 28
8 Placing your manuscript 44
9 Optimizing your text 50
Part II: Creating Your Styles
10 Creating your paragraph styles 56
11 Creating your character styles 80
12 Reversing or undoing mistakes 86
Part III: Formatting Your Pages
13 Applying your character styles 88
14 Formatting your pages 94
15 Adding folios and running heads 110
16 Printing pages 113
Part IV: Designing Your Pages
17 Changing your page design 118
18 Using parent (previously called master) pages 119
19 Changing your trim size 121
20 Changing your margins 123
21 Changing your main typeface 129
22 Setting type size and leading 135
23 Setting up your baseline grid 138
24 Designing chapter and part openings 142
25 Designing headings 184
26 Desiging other elements 194
27 Designing folios and running heads 218
28 Designing your front matter 222
29 Designing your back matter 246
Part V: Adding Shapes & Color
30 Working with shapes 256
31 Working with color 257
32 Using Layers for shapes 264
33 Using the Shape Tools 266
34 Using the Drawing Tools 268
35 Using the Stroke panel 272
36 Putting objects into groups 274
37 Adding a document bleed 275
38 Using object styles 276
39 Using a library 278
Part VI: Adding Images
40 Preparing to add images 282
41 Getting permission to use images 283
42 Organizing your images 285
43 Placing and positioning images 287
44 Adding captions and text wraps 294
45 Packaging your book 300
46 Optimizing your images 301
Part VII: Typesetting
47 Planning your final pass 320
48 Page count for offset printing 321
49 Adding, deleting, and moving text, pages, and styles 327
50 Typesetting tips and tricks 336
51 Improving your page layout 356
52 Creating and applying chapter parent (master) pages 362
53 Final proofreading corrections 366
54 Adding your index 368
Part VIII: Designing Your Cover
55 Researching your target market 376
56 Starting your front cover design 379
57 A few design principles 389
58 Creating a color palette 394
59 Polishing your front cover 397
60 Choosing your book’s binding 407
61 Using a printer’s cover template 411
62 Creating your own cover template 413
63 Planning your back cover 422
64 Designing your back cover 425
65 Designing your spine 437
66 Designing extras for hardcovers 441
67 Printing color cover proofs 444
Part IX: Preparing to Publish
68 Obtaining and assigning ISBNs 446
69 Setting your book’s retail price 450
70 Obtaining a bar code 451
71 Packaging for your printer 452
72 Uploading to your printer 461
73 EBook editions: EPUB and MOBI 463
References
Glossary 471
Keyboard shortcuts 477
The self-publishing process 478
Bibliography 480
Index 481
About the authors 499
A Note about ebooks:
Book Design Made Simple covers all the ins and outs of preparing books for printing. We also give pointers on how to think ahead for ebook conversion. We do not, however, tell you how to produce an ebook yourself as there are lots of excellent books already written on this subject.
Next:
Buy the book online or at your local bookstore.
Read about the authors, Glenna and Fiona.
Learn from our Video tutorials about InDesign.
Explore our Blog for book design and self-publishing tips.
Visit our Resources section for book design and self-publishing links.
Check out our Media Kit.