Word, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Scribus … there are lots of ways to lay out a book and opinions run deep. No matter which tool you use, there are a few things you can do to consistently produce professional books. Start with a template. Most of the big printers provide templates for at least some formats. Createspace [read more]
Book Design
Indie Author hits a million sales
Amazon announced today that indie author John Locke has sold a million copies of his book, making him the eighth author to achieve that mark, and the first indie to do so. At one point Amanda Hocking seemed poised to be the first indie to mark that accomplishment, but some speculate that her lucrative commercial [read more]
POD: The Big Three
There are three main resources for print on demand publication: Lulu, CreateSpace, and Lightning Source. We evaluate the pros and cons of each. Lulu Lulu was the first realistic option for self-publishing via POD. Like CreateSpace there are no set up fees, and the per-book costs are similar. Lulu offers a few additional options for [read more]
What about Calibre?
Calibre is a great tool for readers to manage ebook libraries, convert non-DRM files from one format to another, and to read books. It functions very well for this purpose, and can convert a huge variety of file formats, such as creating an epub from your pdf file. Because it’s easy, well known, and often [read more]
The Golden Rectangle and book sizes
When designing a book for print on demand (POD), one of the first decisions is the book size. For some books like a sci-fi paperback this may be easy — conforming to industry standards would be sensible. We all know what a paperback fiction book is ‘supposed’ to feel like. But I was faced with [read more]
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