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The ABC’s of Happiness (Not for Children) is the lastest featured book of those I have worked on over the past 12 months.

This book was unique and fun to work on. The drawings in the book are some of the most beautiful I have seen in any book I have worked on or seen in other books, for that matter. They are colorful, vibrant and just fun to look at.

Working with Mark Yablonovich on this book was a true labor of love – Mark and his team were maticulous and spent many hours making sure each illustration and its text and captions were just right.

While this is a “fun” book — as the title states – it is not for children. It is a good-humored, adult-themed book that uses cartoons and rhymes to encourage readers to express themselves and deal with life’s situations. The book goes through the letters of the alphabet from A through Z with pictures, captions and rhyming text on the left-hand pages and a “worksheet” on the right-hand pages that prompt the reader to “Stretch Your Mind”, “Move that Pen” and “Change Your Life.”

This book would make an awesome gift for any one on your list who has a great sense of humor and doesn’t mind something “off the beaten path.”

A bit about the authors/illustratrator:

MARK YABLONOVICH graduated from Harvard Law School and built one of California’s top employment class action law firms. He then pursued his passion for bringing meditation to the workplace and now leads meditation and stress reduction seminars for organizations across the United States.

JULIET KASKA is one of the nation’s premiere fitness experts. She has been featured on The Dr. Phil Show, Good Morning America, Extra Hollywood, Vogue, Shape, SELF, W, Los Angeles Magazine, Weddings, US Weekly and People.

SCOT RITCHIE is an award-winning illustrator who has been drawing and writing for over 20 years. He has worked with everybody from The Wall St. Journal to the National Film Board of Canada.

You can view a few sample pages of the interior design/content at the top of this post and read more about the book and its creators when you visit the site at:

ABCs of Happiness

Today begins a NEW FEATURE of JustYourType.biz book design and book typesetting!

I would like to begin to feature some of the wonderful, new and exciting books I have worked on throughout the year — both from the design aspect and to give you an idea of the types of books I work on and perhaps pique your interest in one or two

I want to start today with a book that I am very proud to have designed and also had a lot of fun with the book design and typesetting, which is always nice!

The title of the book is “Jeremiah Bloom and the Amulet of Osiron” by Stephen Wren.

Here’s a little bit about the book:

Fifteen year old Jeremiah Bloom is forced, through poverty, to Gordington Square, a shipping town with a horrifying two-hundred year history of mysterious murders and ships lost at sea. After his father’s boat is lost, Jeremiah takes a job as the flamboyant Captain Van Russel’s cabin boy aboard the Nante, a ship bound for battle and evil. With the help of the Secret Society of Osiron, Jeremiah may fulfill a murdered navy man’s last ghostly wish–to save Gordington and banish the undead pirates to Abaddon, the Realm of the Dead–if he manages to stay alive…

And a bit about the Author:

Stephen Wren is a Registered Respiratory Therapist by education, a member of the SCBWI, and has always had a love for writing. In addition to creating middle-grade and YA fantasy novels, he also serves as the director of TN Paranormal and the radio producer for a paranormal talk radio program. He lives with his family in Tennessee.

This book would make a great Christmas gift for any one on your list who loves adventure and the paranormal…

You can view a few sample pages of the interior design/content at the top of this post and watch the book’s trailer at:

Jeremiah Bloom Book Trailer

This is one of the most common questions I am asked, still to this day.

A client has created their manuscript in Word.

They have bolded and italicized and put in headings and sometimes page numbers and running heads.

They have even pasted pictures into their Word document and tell me, “All it needs is a little clean up and it’s ready to go to print. Right?”

Wrong.

Books are professionally typeset in InDesign or Quark Xpress.

The Word document becomes extinct once it is imported into one of these page layout programs.

I will use inDesign to mean “professional page layout program” for simplicity’s sake.

—

Why can’t I just fix up the Word Doc and make a book?

I work in inDesign.

inDesign gives me the ability to set up master pages, paragraph and character style sheets, control things like kerning, tracking, widows and orphans, hi res graphic placement and manipulation and so much more.

A picture pasted into Word is just a “screen representation.” it is no longer a graphic. And – it’s often a screen shot or low resolution (72 dpi RGB) image when it needs to be a HIGH RES, grayscale or CMYK tif or eps image separate from the document itself.

The pictures are then “linked” when they are placed into the inDesign layout and the fonts and pictures are “collected” and the document is run through a pre-flight program to check for missing fonts, it checks resolution and type of graphics and all that good stuff that printers need in order to use the final “printer-ready PDF file” to print from.

Preparing a Word document is a very important step for the typesetter and something I will cover in an upcoming Blog Entry very soon.

Sue

JustYourType.biz book design and book typesetting

I imagine this question is often on the minds of authors and publishers alike.
With our generation of online-everything I am sure it can be a quite daunting experience to jump into a sea of unknowns and trust them not only with your masterpiece, your life’s work or dream, but to do a fantastic job in making your book the best it can be and –to trust them with your payment.

A Good Book Designer and Typesetter will:

1– Ask you a lot of questions like:
a. what is the trim size of your book?
b. how will the book be bound?
c. do you have a cover designed yet, and if so, may I see it?
d. what is your proposed to-print deadline?
e. when will you have your final clean manuscript ready for the typesetter?
f. is your book in black in only or also color?
g. does your book have many pictures, photos, charts or tables?
h. how many pages is your manuscript?

and so on…

2 — Give you a quote based on the above questions and let you know what it will cost if original scope of work changes.

3 — Have an OUTSTANDING portfolio and list of client testimonials and references — check them out!

4 — Have a website with at least a valid phone number and a decent layout and logo

5 –Work closely with you every single step of the way to help you get from manuscript to printed material

6 –Work with your cover designer as needed to ensure correct spine size

7 — Present you with Sample Page designs before the entire book is typeset so there are no surprises when you see full proof.

7 — Keep you posted on the progress of the book and alert you IMMEDIATELY with any delays or questions about the book’s layout

8 — Meet your deadlines or beat them

9 — Listen to your feedback upfront so you have a produce you can proudly showcase

10 — Be someone you would gladly recommend to colleagues and friends!

Finding a good book designer and typesetter isn’t an easy process – I say this from experience even though I am a book designer and typesetter with more than 25 years experience and over 100 happy clients in the past 4 years.

As my business has been growing, I have been contemplating finding a good typesetter myself to help me with any overflow work or straight up typesetting so I can focus on the design, the customer service, follow up and running of my business.

To date, I haven’t had much luck. Most book designers either charge too much for my budget or don’t have the experience and eye for detail that I require to do a top notch job for my clients.

I put 110% into every book I work on — I take deadlines very seriously and I understand budgets.

Contact me if you want a person who not only knows how to get the job done, but has a great time doing it!

Happy Booking

Sue
http://www.JustYourType.biz

This one is a tough topic since ALL my books are my favorite books but every now and then, one sticks out so much, I feel it needs to be shared.

I work on books of all kinds, from children’s books to memoirs to business and self-help books and even text books and I put my all into each and every book I work on.

However, I don’t get to read much of anything I typeset because I am looking at fonts, leading, hyphenation, page headers, widows and orphans, picture placement, etc.

Once in awhile, there are certain elements in the book, such as pull quotes or side bars that cause my eye to pause and I catch a few lines here and there.

There is a book I worked on recently written by MJ Brant, “When Every Day Matters” that is such a beautiful book it brought tears to my eyes as Iwould happen upon some of the memories and Letters to Katie that MJ has scattered throughout the book.

“When Every Day Matters” is a book written by MJ, a loving mom, whose daughter Katie died at the young age of 28 after suffering from a brain tumor for 10 years.

Here is one such excerpt that I as a mom, can relate to. My own daughter at age 10 was diagnosed with severe Scoliosis and when through brain-corrective surgery and two major spinal reconstructive surgeries and I was just out of my mind with worry while at the same time knew I had to be the “stability” in her soon-to-be chaotic, in-and-out-of-hospitals life.

—-MJ writes:

“I prayed, “If you let Katie live I promise I will do anything
you want me to do. I will never complain about anything anymore.
I will be a good wife, a wonderful person to everyone
that I meet.” No novena went unsaid. That is pretty typical in
a situation such as ours. Dick stuck to the facts and called the
most highly recommended pediatric neurosurgeon on the list,
Dr. Fred Epstein, who asked us to send him all information,
scans, and MRI’s. Two days later Dr. Epstein called Dick back.
“Mr. Brant,” he said, “I have analyzed the before and after surgical
MRI’s and scans. I can do better. Please bring Katie up and
let’s talk about it.”
———-

There are many more passages and writings that I think any parent or loved one will not only relate to, but be so very moved by Mary Jane’s heart-pouring account of her daughter’s illness.

Here is a link to MJ’s book if you would like to know more.
http://www.wheneverydaymatters.com/

Sue
http://www.JustYourType.biz

While you’re in there….” and “Is it possible…?”
These are two of the most common things I hear while working on a book design and layout.

I will tackle them one at a time.

The first one usually comes up near the completion of a book.

Let’s say the client as already approved the design samples I presented (this is the 3 to 5 day process mentioned in a prior post), has presented me with final Word manuscript and I have written the tags and formatted the entire book drom title page through the index.

The client proofs the PDF and sees a few glitches and asks me to fix my mistakes — or just, a glitch – a font that didn’t format, a missing para break, etc. That’s easy enough.

Here comes the tricky part.

The client also sees content changes he or she wants to make — sometimes a line or two and sometimes quite extensive.

This is where the “While you’re in there fixing the stray dot on page 46, can you change the copy on pages 14, 45, 67, 127, 177, 222 and 333 as well?” comes in.

Well………………………

Sure, of course I can change the copy on those pages.

But one step is left out of this equation:
“How much will it cost and how much time will it add if I ask you to change content of the already-typeet book?

Now we’re talking the same language, I can give the cost for my time and a turnaround date.

When the client leaves out that critical question, it’s often a bit “sticky” for me to have to interject time and money into a project that most likely already had a late start at the gate to begin with. (This is just the nature of the biz)

But this is a step, a process, and a part of doing business that I must do.

I usually state these terms at the start of the project very clearly but sometimes that gets lost in the excitement of getting a book ready for print – and it really is a very exciting process and can be overwhelming
for a new and self-publisher.

In any case, most often the client is understanding and friendly about it and either has me do the additional work and accepts the charges and timeframe or he/she decides to leave things status quo. There are a few exceptions but I will save that for another post of its own!

Now, onto the second most common thing I hear: “Is is possible to…?”

This is one I can hear at any time during the book pre-press stage.

Let’s say the client and I have come up with a design for the page layout – the headers, footers, front matter, fonts, leading, margins, Parts and Chapter Treatment, I have supplied samples pages, they are approved and I am knee-deep into the middle of formatting and typesetting the book – say about page 148 of a 300 page book.

I get a call or email from the client asking, “Is it possible to change the font and subheading for the book?”

Well………………………

Sure, of course it’s possible, but let’s consider what that means in terms of time, cost and overall work:

1. — The font and subheaders affect how many words fit on a page and how the type will flow line to line, page to page and chapter to chapter.

2 — It can determine if the chapter ends on a right hand page or a left hand page. If a chapter ends on a right hand page, I usually put in a blank left hand page to “push” the new Chapter to a right-hand page. If we are to change the font and the subheaders, this could throw that off and change the page flow, the chapter starts, the Table of Contents numbers and the running headers that usually have the chapter title in them.

So what is the bottom line here?

At this stage, since the book design was approved and the next stage is well underway, this means re-doing all of the work done to that point in the book and it must be billed for and the time built into the overall timeframe for producing the printer-ready files.

Let’s say the book is fully typeset, title page thru appendices.

The client reviews the PDF and asks, “Is it possible for me to add some photos to six of the ten chapters?”

Well……………………

Sure, of course it is possible.

See #’s 1 and 2 and substitute the words font and subheaders with the word photos and you have your answer on what it will involve.

Oh, and just to clarify, I am not complaining, I am explaining — I absolutely LOVE my work, I love books, and my clients are a joy.

Remember – there’s almost nothing that can’t be done — just remember to ask, “How much would it cost and how much time will it add..” along with your request.

Have a day like no other!

How Long Does It Take To “Make a Book?”

I got a phone call the other day from a potential client who called to ask me that. My answer was as follows:

Getting a manuscript ready for the printer takes roughly 3 to 4 weeks on average, here’s why:

The first step is to get all the details such as page trim size, type and amount of graphics, type of binding and for me to review sample manuscript to make sure it’s prepared correctly (I will cover this topic on another post.)

Once I review manuscript I can present a quote for approval and set out payment terms.

I then go to work on presenting Sample Page Designs for the client’s review. Here’s where the book “comes alive” and out of the Word Document and into a professional layout program such as Quark Xpress and InDeisgn.

I design the book by doing the following: choosing which fonts to use, how to handle Parts and Chapter treatment, picture placement, sizing and caption treatment, front matter and any back matter. I choose size, leading, margins. I create a book to be both functional AND attractive.

I usually ask for 3 to 5 business days to present Sample Page Designs.

The next few days are usually spent tweaking the design and getting all the elements’ attributes determined long before the book is actually typeset so we don’t run into any snags during or after I lay out the book.

Once the design is approved, i ask for 7 to 10 business days to format the book from title page to index, if one is provided. (I will cover Indexes in a later post as well)
Laying out the book comprises of my writing paragraph and character specs and applying them to the manuscript once I “pour” it into Quark or Indesign. I make one pass to format the text; another pass to tweak my formatting, looking for any bad line or page breaks; another pass to manually put in the running headers as they correspond to a chapter name; yes another pass to set up the table of contents and then finally a last past to give it the “once over” to look for any styling I may have missed or pictures that may have moved or any other “glitches” in the layout.

That brings us up to about 15 to 18 working days which is roughly 3 weeks time.

I then present First Proof PDF for the client’s review and from that point on it’s a matter of how much “clean up” edits there are and how fast the client can get those back to me – I usually offer 48 hour or less time to do that part.

Once the client signs off on the final PDF proof, I create a HI RES PDF file for the pinter using their specifications.

And there you have it — in a nutshell.
When I got done explaining this to my potential client, he said “well whatdaya know? That’s exactly what this books says it takes to do I book and i thought to myself, NO WAY could it take 3 to 4 weeks. I am going to call JustYourType.biz and ask them how long it takes.”
—Sue
—Sue

Ok, I officially have a blog and I am going to make a point to write in it weekly if not more often. I invite all comments and posts related to book design, book typesetting, typography and anything you want to share about your book publishing experiences and love of books.
Let me start by saying that I fell in love with books before the age of four. I remember this because you had to be four years old to get your first Library card in the little town I grew up in back in NY state. I remember waiting very IMpatiently for my fourth Birthday to arrive so I could run down to the Library, present my Birth Certificate and get my very own Library card.
What a proud day that was! I proceeded to try and work my way through the entire bottom floor of the Library – children’s and young adult reader books and darn near got through it. I remember slowing wayyyyyyy down when I got to the section of Plays – particularly Shakespeare – not exactly fast or easy reading for a young girl!
To this day, books are friends of mine — I own quite a lot of them and absolutely LOVE what I do – designing and typesetting beautiful books for all of my clients.
–Sue

I wanted to share this news with all my family, friends, colleagues, clients and fellow book lovers:One of my book designs won the 2008 IPPY GOLD MEDAL award and the 2008 Axiom Business Books award. The book is “Think Like a CEO” and I worked on this book for author Mark Kuta in 2007 – we are both thrilled to have such received such high honor!

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