At the top of the list of the most common book production mistakes is: 1. The book was not edited! You should ALWAYS hire a professional book editor to edit your book. Find someone who specializes in your genre. Don’t ask your child’s English teacher! An expert editor will comb through your manuscript and will let you know if you should hire her for content editing, copy editing or both. To learn the difference, click this link to go to my blog post that explains the distinction. 2. The book does not have a professional cover design. Your book deserves an eye-catching cover…
Our team recently provided branding and publishing for speaker Brian Dennis. We guided Brian through the process of self-publishing his second book while at the same time created his brand, built his website and designed his marketing toolkit within a 4 month period. The expedited schedule was precipitated on an important upcoming speaking opportunity for Brian. My publishing team members edited his book, designed the book interior, finished the cover, converted it into an ebook and uploaded the files to Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Apple within 3 months. Meanwhile, other members of my team created his brand and marketing toolkit with a new…
This month my friend, client and colleague Joe Sabah graciously contributed this article on how to create book titles. Sometimes independent and self-publishers struggle with this process, and Joe has offered some helpful tips. Even though this article was written in 2006, it is very applicable today. Why does one book become a best seller while another flops? Consider this title: Inside the Ropes. A coffee table book priced at $40 with hardly any sales. Before we go on, what do you think Inside the Ropes is about? First answer from many people would be Boxing. When the author was asked “What’s it about?”…
This month I’m shining the spotlight on a recent client project, and to explain how to make a memoir paint an exceptional picture of someone’s life. Gene Rhodes wrote a comprehensive memoir of his dad, Billy Rhodes—an adventurous spirit who passed at a relatively young age. Gene meticulously compiled his dad’s diary, letters, old photos, documents, hand written notes and log books into a 320-page record of Billy’s life. Gene came to us in 2011 for help with laying out the book interior, designing the cover and to learn how to make a memoir rise above others through excellent design and production techniques….
Self-publishers: If you’ve written a book, you may want to consider creating a CD or DVD with audio, video or e-media content to add value to your self-published book. Then you can leverage your content and double your price AND your profits on Amazon! First, you will need to open an Amazon Advantage account. This is a consignment program where Amazon requests copies of your product based on current and anticipated customer demand. It works like this: you mail copies of your product to Amazon; when a customer makes a purchase, Amazon’s fulfillment department ships it out directly to the…
Successful sought-after speakers usually have a book to back their brand, expertise and credibility in their chosen fields. A book provides an additional revenue stream, increased publicity, and can be used as a hook for invitations to media events and speaking gigs. In this day and age of Amazon and POD printing, most speakers will self-publish. But if you self-publish, it is crucial to produce a quality product from the inside out, because your image, brand and book sales depend on it. So, how do you design a book cover that sells? Savvy speakers will seek out experts to guide…
I would like to show you an example of the book cover design process by revealing a series of cover comps (ideas) we did for one of our client’s books. Nature’s Wisdom in the Workplace: Managing Energy in Today’s Health Care Organizations was published by Synergy Press, and authored by Sharon Cox, Jo Manion and Diane Miller. The Design Brief First we spoke with the client to get a list of information regarding the target market and book specifications. The design brief outlines the parameters for the style, colors, imagery and typography our designer needed to incorporate into the book cover design process: 6″ x…
Shown below are a few covers our team recently designed for our clients. We strive to create unique eye-catching book covers with attention-grabbing graphics and compelling titles and subtitles. To reach the right target market we need to understand what intrigues and interests those folks. By using carefully chosen keywords and appropriate fonts in the title, selecting symbolic colors and imagery, and using the right style of photos and/or graphics we can create the most effective message for each specific target market. As a result, each book cover appeals to the right audience. The following 2 books are for managers, leaders and directors…
Five of our clients won won book awards at the 2013 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards banquet held on May 18th. Here are the 5 award-winning books we designed. Noted below are the team members who have participated in the production of each book. John Hall is all smiles with a copy of his book and his award certificate. John’s book Do What You Can! won 3rd place in the “Self-Help” category. Several team members participated in the production of his book: Barbara McNichol edited the book, I came up with the cover concept, Kerrie Lian designed the cover and interior, Helena Mariposa proofread…
Have you ever wondered if a book cover design portrays the message of the contents? More importantly, does YOUR book cover capture the essence of your manuscript? Does your cover design speak to the target market you’re trying to reach? Is it attractive, eye-catching or compelling enough for a prospective buyer to take a closer look? Do you know what to look for when critiquing a cover design? Kerrie Lian, the senior designer on my team recently created the cover of the first book in a series for a new client, Tom Matt. Tom asked Kerrie if she liked what she created….