book design & production

“In most people’s vocabulary, ‘design’ means veneer. It is interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” Steve Jobs

why invest in good design

Every well written book deserves a thoughtful design. Frankly, even poorly written books benefit from good design.

I’m not talking about “making it pretty” or “jooshing” it up. I’m talking about the myriad of decisions that a good book designer makes—page size, paper weight, font selection, photo treatment, colors, graphic themes, visual metaphors and motifs, the position of all these elements on the page—that invites a reader into the book, conveys a sense of time and place and emotional tone, and helps them navigate through the book. Thoughtful, carefully-executed graphic design makes the reader feel both excited and secure, eager to begin the journey into your book. Amateur efforts generate confusion and anxiety, turning potential readers away, or causing a subliminal irritation that will eventually cause them to put the book down and turn their attention to something else.

An experienced designer knows how to work with printers and binders—how to choose the appropriate vendors for the project, how to prepare the files, how to “speak their language” in order to understand and resolve the issues that inevitably crop up as our technical options get more complex.

how it works

questions–questions–questions
I start by asking lots of questions: What kind of book is it? Is it set in a particular time period or place? What is the overall “look and feel” you want to convey? What distinctive elements are there within this material? Who is the intended audience? What constraints are there on size? What kind of binding is appropriate? How many copies will be printed? What is the budget?

initial book design
After this initial inquiry and upon receiving the manuscript, photos, and other memorabilia and images from you, I develop an initial book design and present it to you for approval. This includes representative sample pages as well as a book dummy indicating all the different types of pages and an approximate idea of how many there will be. You’ll see a chapter opening spread, a text-only page spread within a chapter, and a page spread with photographs. The number of review and revision cycles at this stage depends on the design level you choose [see below] and at the end, you’ll sign off that you approve this design and we move on.

cover design
Cover design is closely entwined with book design; it may proceed simultaneously, it may be done first or it may evolve out of the interior design. As with the book design, the number of design alternatives, review and revision cycles depends on the design level you have chosen and, at the end, you will sign off that you approve the cover design and we move on. Unlike the book interior, the cover is pretty much wrapped up at this point.

photos & memorabilia
Now the actual book layout begins. Photos and memorabilia are scanned. [Whenever possible I prefer to do the scanning myself.] If appropriate, we may search for additional images for the story from online sources such as the Library of Congress or stock photo archives. Copyright permissions are secured for use of the images.

Again, depending upon the level of design service you have chosen, we may start with far more images than will eventually end up in the book [see digital archiving for more on this]. Images are optimized—colors enhanced and tones adjusted—for the specific final output we have chosen for this book and minor retouching applied. Photos requiring significant repair or restoration will be identified and you will decide if you want to incur an additional charge for having this work done. Any special framing or border treatments will be applied at this time.

additional graphic elements
During our initial design phase, we would have developed a list of any special graphic elements that will be included, such as family trees, timelines, graphic motifs, etc. This is the phase in which we would obtain or create these elements.

manuscript & other copy
It’s your responsibility to deliver a final manuscript that has been approved and proofread. You would also deliver captions and credits for all the photos, all the front material, an index if that’s part of the project, text for the front and back cover [and flaps, if the book will have a dust jacket]. I’ll give you guidelines for formatting the material—they’re pretty easy to follow—and for indicating the relationship of photos to the text.

page layout & review
Now it’s all up to me. I’ll take your manuscript, the photos, the other graphic elements, shake them and stir them and lay them out on the page just as the final book will appear. Sometimes I may prepare a pagination review copy so we can see exactly where each page break occurs and make adjustments to improve readability and coherence.

Then you’ll get a review copy. This is a final chance to look over the entire book as it will be delivered to the printer. Built into every design level is at least one hour of author corrections/minor alterations: misspellings, punctuation errors, minor text changes, that might have been missed previously. [It happens. To everyone. Believe me.] It’s also a chance to double-check that the right photos are in the right place with the right captions.

I’ll make the changes identified in the first review and give you back a final review copy. Your approval of this final review copy moves us onto the final phase.

printing & binding
During the initial book design phase, we nailed down the printing specifications and decided who would do the printing and binding, what paper we’d be using, what type of binding, etc. Now we finalize our specifications and obtain the final costs from the printer based on the total number of pages in the book and the number of copies to be printed and bound. [Depending upon the level of design you have chosen, the selected printer/binder may be built into the package.]

After receiving your final sign-off that the book is ready to go to the printer, I’ll prepare the digital files according to the printer’s requirements and send them on their way. The printer will then send both of us a printer’s proof of the book interior and the cover. We’ll review it together and, if there are any technical issues that need to be resolved, I’ll work with the printer to resolve them.

Then the books are printed, bound and shipped and it’s time for you to celebrate a monumental accomplishment.

pricing options

I do my best design at every price point. It’s not the quality or thoughtfulness of the design that changes or my attention to the little details that, when not tended to scream “amateur” and when present become virtually invisible. Pricing differences are based on the complexity of the project, the amount of variables in terms of different types of text and images, the number of design and printing options explored, the number of book and cover design options presented, and the number of review and revision cycles.

Yes, the total number of pages and images are a factor, but the difference between a 100-page book and a 200-page book or between 50 and 100 photos is far less significant than the number of review and revisions cycles.

These pricing options cover the design fee only. The actual costs for printing and binding books is extra and is usually paid by you directly to the printer. Although brokering printing with a subsequent markup is a perfectly legitimate trade practice among many book designers, it is not something I currently do. In the options below, I have indicated a range of the per unit cost you might expect at various price points.

While the explosion of digital production options is a good thing in many ways, it introduces so many variables and surprises and potentials for mistakes, misunderstandings, and disappointments. To reduce those variables to a more manageable level, I work with a handful of reliable printers and binders. They offer a range of services and, because I have worked with them over time, we have refined our process to be able to produce the best possible book at the appropriate price point. In order to be able to offer an economical package, the Basic and Standard packages have limited printing and binding options.

included in every package

  • a thorough client briefing session culminating in a design brief and a preliminary print specification document
  • a choice of page sizes, paper weights, and cover options
  • full color covers, including the author’s photo on the back as well as back cover copy such as an excerpt, book synopsis, testimonials, author bio
  • a choice of design themes
  • a variety of page types, including title page, publication information page, and optional preface, acknowledgements, and dedication pages
  • design concept presented with sample page layouts for chapter openings and chapter spreads with and without photos, a book dummy indicating all the different page types, and cover treatment
  • forms and checklists to simplify handing off your text files and images for scanning and placement
  • attention to fine typographic details for chapter headings, subheadings, body text, captions, page numbers, running heads, rules and dingbats to add graphic emphasis
  • high resolution scanning of photos and memorabilia, minor retouching of images and optimizing for the specified output device
  • online review copy of the designed book and cover and, after approving that review, a hardcopy printer’s proof of the book and cover on the selected paper from the specified output devices
  • one DVD containing the original scans & the optimized version used for printing
  • coordination with the printer/binder throughout the process

basic design package $2,000

A number of clients have asked for an entry-level offering, so here it is. This is not a typical “template” book, although it is a template process. That means more limited options but the same high level of design and attention to detail as the higher-priced packages.

  • Choice of three page sizes in portrait orientation
  • Choice of four bindings
  • Choice of two paper grades
  • Full color cover; black & white interior
  • Choice of three themes: vintage, traditional, contemporary. Within the theme, designer chooses fonts based on content of book.
  • Up to 80 pages; additional pages may be added for an additional per page fee. Page types include chapter opening spread, text only spreads, photo spreads and optional dedication and preface/introduction/forward pages
  • Straightforward text: chapter headings, one level of subheading, body text and captions
  • Up to 50 photos scanned and optimized for printing and delivered to you on DVD. Additional photos may be added for an additional per image fee
  • Photos are treated with a simple keyline and caption and placed full-size at opening of every chapter, then one or two per page within the chapters
  • Cover design coordinated with theme; includes title, subtitle, byline, back cover copy and author photo
  • Use of fine typographic embellishments, including drop caps, dingbats, running heads, adjustments for widows and orphans
  • One hour of author alterations; further changes available at an hourly fee

Printing costs for books in the Basic Design package range from less than $10 to around $30 each depending on the binding type, paper, and total quantity ordered.

standard design package starting at $3,000

The Standard Design package, like the Basic Design, is built upon one of three design themes, but allows for more options to create a more individualized look and feel. I could show you three Standard books of the same page size and even the same theme and they would still have a different look and feel because I choose the fonts, the various navigation elements such as chapter headings, page numbers, running heads, initial caps, rules, dingbats, photo treatments, etc., based on your particular manuscript content. This package includes everything in the Basic Design, plus two of the following options. Additional options can be added for $500 each.

  • A choice of more page sizes, an expanded range of paper choices, and the addition of landscape and square formats
  • Full color interior
  • The addition of one client-provided image or graphic motif to the front cover
  • Custom designed page backgrounds for photo pages – including optional full bleeds
  • Choice of photo edge treatments, including photo corners
  • Table of contents and index [text of index provided by client]

Printing costs for books in the Standard Design package range from $10 to $50  each depending on the binding type, paper, and total quantity ordered.

custom design starting at $4,500

The options open up significantly in a Custom Design. There are no restrictions on page size, binding, or paper choices. Offset printing becomes an option. The previous themes are still available as a starting point, as is a new theme: Creative. It is possible to start the design from scratch for a totally customized book. The type of text and graphic elements included is unlimited, the number of design, printing and binding options to be explored opens up, as does the number of review and revision cycles. A detailed project plan and cost estimate is prepared for your approval before work begins and adjustments may be made to accommodate additional requests during the process.

Printing costs for books in the Custom Design package may run from less than $10 to well over $100 each depending on the binding type, paper, printing process and total quantity ordered.

premium design starting at $10,000

The main difference between Custom and Premium Design is that the final product here is envisioned to be of the highest production quality: some refer to these as “coffee table books” or “artist’s books”. They are printed on offset presses or on high-end, color-managed digital systems using high-end papers and more elaborate binding techniques. The individual page designs are often complex, requiring an extreme, some may say, obsessive degree of attention to detail on every page. A detailed project plan and cost estimate is prepared for your approval before work begins and adjustments may be made to accommodate additional requests during the process.

Printing costs for books in the Premium Design package often range from under $50 to hundreds of dollars each depending on the binding type, paper, printing process and total quantity ordered. Such books might include original artwork, hand binding, custom slip-covers and other presentation options.

what if I can’t afford you?

You’ll often hear me say “all the cost is in the first book.” That means that the effort, and cost, of writing and designing the book is the same whether you print one or one thousand. And the professional fee for developing the manuscript—interviewing, transcribing, editing, reviewing, revising—usually exceeds the cost of design by a factor of 4 or more. Nonetheless, there are times when even the Basic Design package is beyond the budget for a particular project. In that case, check out my learning resources page for some do-it-yourself options or my one-to-one mentoring service to help you think about other options.