Don’t Cut Corners
By Jerry D. Simmons | August 9th, 2006 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
The worse thing you can do when publishing your book is attempt to get away cheaply, my suggestion is that you not cut corners. We all understand the need for saving money, but doing a cover, interior production, paper quality, and especially editing as inexpensively as possible will more than likely result in poor sales.
Let’s forget the writing for a moment and stick with the look or package of your book. Just as the way you dress and present yourself in public makes impressions on people, the look of your book can reflect on the content. If an impression is made that this is a cheap book, regardless of how good the writing, your sales will reflect that fact. Perception is reality in publishing.
Publishers spend enormous amounts of time getting the look right, that means the cover and interior layout need to look like a major New York publisher did it. Trust me, the look of a book can make or break sales. I’m not ignoring price, but for this discussion let’s stick to the package.
Retail bookstores should be your laboratory, if you want to know what a book should look like, visit your local store and browse. Open up a book and study how the pages are laid out, where chapters begin and end, what kind of paper is being used, even so far as which side of the pages are even and odd numbered (think about it).
Check the binding on a book, open flat and close again and again to see if you feel loosening or excessive cracking. If so, this could spell trouble. If you are considering a printer, ask for samples of their books and che
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