What is Book Design?

What is Book Design?

Book Design, according to Wikipedia, is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various elements of a book into one coherent whole

To put it more simply,

1. Every Book has a Book Design
   1. Whether it is consciously thought out and laid out
   2. Whether someone just put everything together without thinking about design
   3. Not thinking about Book Design, and not doing Book Design, is also a Design Decision
2. Book Design is taking your book’s style and words and layout and design and making it a complete, beautiful thing
3. A Book with good Book Design is like a dinner meal that has been set up elegantly and beautifully
   1. Whereas, a book without Book Design is just a heap of food all piled onto one large plate without any thought or effort
4.  Book Design is a combination of The Context and The Details
   1. The Context is what the book is about and who it is written for
      1. A coffee table book of travel photos has a very different context from a Historical Fiction Novel
      2. Both of those books have a very different context from a children’s alphabet book
      3. Every type of book has a different context, and requires a different Book Design framework/mindset
   2. The Details are what design elements you choose within that context
      1. For the coffee table book it could include things such as what the layout will be, where the photos would be (versus where the text is), the spacing around photos, what structure the chapters would be in, the cover and back cover, and so forth
5. Your words have to go into a physical or digital book in some ‘form’. There has to be a layout and style and design to how the bare words are transformed into ‘a book’
   1. That, is Book Design

Book Design is critically important, and mostly misunderstood

Every book, including each book you have ever written or will ever write, has a Book Design

It’s your choice whether you understand Book Design and use it as an advantage, or whether you ignore it and lose the benefits that good Book Design brings to your book

What all is covered under Book Design?

Book Design covers

1. Structure
   1. Front Matter – this is everything that appears before the first chapter of your book
      1. The Wikipedia page on Book Design has a good write up on the elements i.e.
      2. Half Title – a page that has just the book title
      3. Frontispiece – an ornamental page meant to face the title page
      4. Title Page – the main title page with the book title and author name
      5. Colophon – technical information such as copyright, edition information, publisher details
      6. Dedication Page – whoever the author dedicates the book to
      7. Epigraph – a phrase or poem or quote to set things up for your story
      8. Table of Contents – the table of contents for the book which includes a list of the book’s chapters
      9. Foreword – a foreword to the book. Usually written by someone other than the author
      10. Preface – the Author talking about how the book came into being
      11. Acknowledgements – Author thanking the people who helped create the book
      12. Introduction – an introduction to the book
      13. Prologue – an opening to the story
      14. Please note that most of these sections are optional
   2. Body Matter – this is your actual book
      1. The main book is usually organized into chapters
         1. Sometimes it is also organized into volumes
      2. The Body Matter is, basically, your book
   3. Back Matter – this is everything that appears after the core book
      1. The elements of Back Matter include
      2. Epilogue – this is a follow up to the book, to bring closure to the story
      3. Afterword – much like the foreword, this can be written by the author or someone other than the author. It includes some details on how the book was conceived
      4. Conclusion – a conclusion to the story
      5. Postscript
      6. Appendix – a supplementary section that explains and details aspects of the main book
      7. Glossary – a glossary of important words used in the book
      8. Bibliography – cites all the books used in researching and writing the book
      9. Index – a reference to where terms used in the book can be found (on which pages of the book)
      10. Colophon
      11. Again, all these elements are optional
2. Typesetting
   1. Page layout – how the pages are laid out
   2. Print Space – the part of the page that is used for the text
   3. Use of White space – how white space is used
   4. Many other aspects
3. Cover
   1. Front Cover – the front cover of the book. Usually the book title, the author name, and an image
   2. Back Cover – the back cover of the book. Usually a book description or blurb, the author photograph, and testimonials or recommendations
   3. Spine – the spine of the book. Very important as often in book stores and book shelves and libraries, only the spine is visible
4. Binding
   1. Hardcovers
   2. Paperbacks
   3. Special cases
5. Additional Elements

All of the above elements are covered under Book Design

Why Book Design is Critically Important

Book design is critically important for the following reasons

1. The more well thought out the Book Design, the more impact the book’s story will have
2. The more beautiful the Book Design, the more of a visual impact you will have on the reader
3. The intelligent use of White Space makes it easier on the eyes. Means your readers can be more comfortable when reading. They enjoy the story more
4. Proper typesetting and page layout makes the structure of the book more impactful, and keeps the reader in the exact flow you want the reader to be in
5. Good Book Design will increase how much the reader enjoys the book. That increases the chances of the reader leaving a good review
   1. It also increases the chances of the reader buying your other books
6. Bad Book Design, on the other hand, will take away from the reader’s enjoyment of the book
   1. It might go as far as causing the reader to not finish the book
   2. This is especially true if the page layout and typesetting make it hard to read
7. Exceptional Book Design, if you can achieve it, will elevate your book to art
   1. If your writing is also at a very high level, this will make your book close to a masterpiece
   2. Please Note: This cannot be achieved by exceptional book design alone. The writing must also be exceptional

Book Design is something you should start thinking about, as soon as you start thinking about writing your book. Book Design has a huge impact on your success and on your readers’ reading experience

Do Authors need to care about Book Design?

Yes

Firstly, as the previous section discusses, Book Design is critically important. Good Design

1. Ensures your book has more impact
2. Makes sure Readers have a better reading experience, which increases the chances that they will leave a good review and buy your other books
3. Has a lot of influence on how readers think of your book, what they think of your book, and how much they enjoy your book

Secondly, Book Design is part of the book. As an author you will go through phases

1. Phase I where you think you’ve written the story and it’s perfect
2. Phase II where you realize you have to do rewrites to make the story flow better and have more impact
3. Phase III where you realize you need to have your work edited and proof read to have higher quality
4. Phase IV where you realize you need a beautiful cover to make the book sell better, and that your book page and author profile must be well thought out
5. Phase V where you realize that your Book Design needs to be well done
6. Phases VI to X which we will discuss in a separate post

Most successful self published authors have gotten to the stage where they realize the importance of Phase III and Phase IV

Phase V is something most self published authors are either unaware or, or are just beginning to realize

Thirdly, Book Design is something you can control

1. You can control every aspect of your Book Design
2. You can create whatever impact you desire
3. No one can interfere with your Book Design

In a world (Books & Publishing) where it is so hard to have control over your destiny,

What you write, how well you write it, and what your book design is,

are three things you have complete control over

Should you hire someone to do Book Design?

The answer depends on how much money you have

1. If you have no money at all, then you should do the following
   1. Read up a bit on book design at good places like The Book Designer blog
   2. Read up on Typesetting, page layouts
   3. Find some good examples of Book Design
   4. Try to replicate the aspects you can understand
   5. One of the most important things is to think from the twin perspectives of
      1. What makes reading the book easier for the reader
      2. What makes the impact of the book more powerful, in the way you want it to have impact
2. If you have a small to medium amount of money, then the following
   1. Hire a good typesetter and ebook formatter, if you are focused on your ebook
      1. If you are focused on your physical book then a good medium budget book formatter and typesetter
   2. Make sure to convey a very clear idea of what you are aiming for
      1. Please also make sure to not interfere in their work, and not micromanage
   3. Try and create the best designed book you can with your limited budget
   4. Very Important Note: Book Design should only come after Editing and Cover Design
      1. While is it critically important, it is not as important as Editing and Cover Design
3. If you have a lot of money, then you should look at getting a top book designer
   1. Again, hiring a world class editor and hiring a world class cover designer takes precedence over hiring a world class book designer

Basically, you should get the best Book Designer you can afford. While keeping in mind that editing and cover design are higher priority

What aspects of Book Design are the most important?

By far the most important aspect is how the overall Book Design comes together. Everything must be congruent. It must be a complete whole which creates the impact that you want it to create. Hopefully something that strengthens the delivery and impact of the story you have written

After that, rather surprisingly, is a very mundane thing. You must make sure the book’s page layout and use of white space is such that it is easy on the eyes to read, and easy to go through. If you don’t use proper paragraph spacing, and a comfy page layout, and it becomes hard for readers to read your book. Then it won’t matter how good your book is

If you have the above two elements sorted out, then you can start looking at everything else in pretty much any order you like