Depending on the printing company you have chosen, your proof may come via the mail as a "Hard Copy" or you may be able to view your proof online in "Electronic Format". Either way, you want to take a detailed look at your proof to make sure that your book looks exactly how you want it to look on bookshelves in stores and libraries.
What are you looking for?
Cover.
Does the cover "bleed" to the edges? What does this mean? There shouldn't be a "White" border around your cover unless that's the way you set it up. Your cover should look as though it "bleeds" off the edge of the paper.
If you have a photo on the cover, does it look pixelated? What does this mean? Your photo shouldn't look like it's made up of a bunch of little squares or pixels. If it does it means that the picture was too small to begin with, and when you tried to enlarge it to the size you wanted it to be on the cover the image was stretched so far that it started breaking down. Does the photo look fuzzy? If it does it means that the resolution (quality) of the photo wasn't high enough to be processed by a high speed professional printer.
Is the title clear? How about your name? What about the text on the back cover? If you are having a hard time reading any of the text on your cover so will potential readers. It looked good on the PDF, so what happened? When documents are processed through a high speed commercial printer certain fonts and colors have a tendency to bleed (blend) into the background they're printed on. You may have to choose a different font, enlarge the font, or pick a different color for your text.
Inside.
Are the pages "placed" how you want them? If you planned on having "teaser" text on the first page when the reader opens the cover and the page is blank, then you will want to go back to manuscript and check for a page or section break, or even a series of enter keys which caused the first page to be blank.
Do your chapters end and begin how you planned them? If you planned on each new chapter starting on the right side of the book and they don't, then again you want to check your manuscript for page/section breaks and an extra enter or two.
You'll also want to double check paragraph spacing to make sure that no paragraphs are "sitting on top" of each other without any blank space between them.
Are your margins even all around your text? You don't want to see your text to close to the binding (spine of the book) which will cause the reader to spread open the pages of the book wide in order to be able to read the words there. You also don't want parts of words or letters cut off on the outer edge of the page either.
Those are the major things to look out for when reviewing your proof! Remember this is the last step before your novel is available for sale to the public, so this is your last chance to make any changes/corrections you deem necessary! After approving your proof, your book is available for retail sales!
Until next time,
Happy Writing/Editing/Leaking/Teasing/Proofing,
G
As always, one-one-one consultations are available no matter where you are in the process of completing your novel, and don't forget the first 30 minutes are Free!
Friday, February 28, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Creating a Buzz for your Novel
What can you do to create a "Buzz" about your novel while you are "assembling" it for the printer?
It's the age of "Social Media"! There is plenty that you can do!
"Leak" Chapters. In the same way that singers/rappers "leak" songs from their upcoming album, you can "leak" chapters from your upcoming novel on any number of sites! Post excerpts (a page or two) from your novel on your Facebook, Google+, or MySpace page for they lend themselves easily to larger posts.
"Tease" Potential Readers. Twitter limits you to 140 characters so post "cliffhanger" questions, along with the title of the novel and it's release date. You can post the cover of your novel with teaser commentary on Instagram and Tumblr.
Design your leaks and teasers to attract the target demographic you had in mind when writing your novel, and if you had a diverse demographic in mind while writing your novel then you will want to create various leaks and teasers with each one designed for a smaller "control group" demographic. For instance, if you are writing a crime suspense romance novel with a target audience of 25 to 55 year old males and females, you would want to leak a romantic scene for the female demographic and an action scene for the male demographic.
As for leaking your cover, you may want to consider "cutting" the cover up into "bite size" pieces instead of leaking the full cover all at once. You could leak one piece a week over several weeks, and then the full cover when you are a week or so away from your release date.
Another way to create a "Buzz" for your novel is to get your audience "attached" to your characters. You can use short descriptions and avatars to depict your characters, and share that information on Social Media sites to get potential readers attached to the characters which will make them want to read the whole novel.
Be sure to use all forms of Social Media when creating a "Buzz" about your novel! I know that may seem overwhelming when you consider how many social media sites there are today, but if you create the "leak" or "teaser" with your Smartphone it will be easy to share without your having to recreate for every site. Applications available for creating these leaks and teasers are Textgram, Justgram, InstaFrame, Photogrid, etc. that have been developed with Instagram in mind, however, if you have set up all of your Social Media sites up on your phone you can share whatever you create in these applications with any of the available sites, as well as, text messaging, email, and instant message applications such as Hangouts and Messenger for Facebook.
Until next time,
Happy Writing/Editing/Leaking/Teasing!
G
One-on-One consultations are available no matter where you are in the process of completing your novel, and it could be just for a specific topic and not the whole process. Also, don't forget that the first 30 minutes are free.
It's the age of "Social Media"! There is plenty that you can do!
"Leak" Chapters. In the same way that singers/rappers "leak" songs from their upcoming album, you can "leak" chapters from your upcoming novel on any number of sites! Post excerpts (a page or two) from your novel on your Facebook, Google+, or MySpace page for they lend themselves easily to larger posts.
"Tease" Potential Readers. Twitter limits you to 140 characters so post "cliffhanger" questions, along with the title of the novel and it's release date. You can post the cover of your novel with teaser commentary on Instagram and Tumblr.
Design your leaks and teasers to attract the target demographic you had in mind when writing your novel, and if you had a diverse demographic in mind while writing your novel then you will want to create various leaks and teasers with each one designed for a smaller "control group" demographic. For instance, if you are writing a crime suspense romance novel with a target audience of 25 to 55 year old males and females, you would want to leak a romantic scene for the female demographic and an action scene for the male demographic.
As for leaking your cover, you may want to consider "cutting" the cover up into "bite size" pieces instead of leaking the full cover all at once. You could leak one piece a week over several weeks, and then the full cover when you are a week or so away from your release date.
Another way to create a "Buzz" for your novel is to get your audience "attached" to your characters. You can use short descriptions and avatars to depict your characters, and share that information on Social Media sites to get potential readers attached to the characters which will make them want to read the whole novel.
Be sure to use all forms of Social Media when creating a "Buzz" about your novel! I know that may seem overwhelming when you consider how many social media sites there are today, but if you create the "leak" or "teaser" with your Smartphone it will be easy to share without your having to recreate for every site. Applications available for creating these leaks and teasers are Textgram, Justgram, InstaFrame, Photogrid, etc. that have been developed with Instagram in mind, however, if you have set up all of your Social Media sites up on your phone you can share whatever you create in these applications with any of the available sites, as well as, text messaging, email, and instant message applications such as Hangouts and Messenger for Facebook.
Until next time,
Happy Writing/Editing/Leaking/Teasing!
G
One-on-One consultations are available no matter where you are in the process of completing your novel, and it could be just for a specific topic and not the whole process. Also, don't forget that the first 30 minutes are free.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Formatting Your Novel
You've completed the editing process, your cover design is complete, and you have purchased your ISBN and bar code, now you must decided on the look for your final product.
Huh? (Is that what you just said?) What size do you want your novel to be? 8x11? 6x9? Large? Smaller? Or somewhere in between?
Once you decide on a size, you have to format your manuscript and cover to fit into those dimensions. How do you format your manuscript?
I'm making the assumption that you have written your manuscript using Microsoft Word, if you have used something different you will have to do some research on how to format the size and margins of the manuscript if you don't already have that knowledge.
In word, you want to click on the "Page Layout" tab. You will see the following options: Margins, Orientation, Size, and few others. Make your margins 1 inch all the way around (top, bottom, left, right) as you will need the spacing for binding, page numbers, and page headers. Most books are printed in Portrait mode, however, if you are writing a children's book you may want to use Landscape. Now for the real work in formatting, Page size. Click on size and a drop down menu will open, more than likely the size you want isn't visible so click on More Paper Sizes. A pop-up window will open, and you can either select one of the "Traditional" paper sizes or you can simply just adjust the width and height settings your desired specifications and click "OK". Word will automatically format your text to fit on the page with within the boundaries you have set. Now you must review your entire manuscript to make sure that each chapter (if your book is broken down this way) starts and ends on a page properly. If by chance you have created "Sections" within your manuscript, you want to very the page numbers as they may have been altered during the formatting process.
Note1: "New Line" operates differently that a "Hard Return" during formatting so be sure to watch for odd spacing between lines and/or paragraphs.
Note2: A "New Line" is created when you hold down the "Shift and Enter" keys at the same time. A "Hard Return" is created when you hit the "Enter" key by itself.
Once your manuscript is formatted exactly how you want to see it in print, save it once as a word document and once as a PDF. To save your document as a PDF, click on the "Windows Logo" button in the upper left-hand corner of Word, hover your mouse over Save As, and then click on PDF or XPS. Adding ".pdf" after the title or your manuscript will save it in PDF format (necessary for the printer and it keeps your manuscript from being "altered" after you have submitted to the printer).
Your manuscript is now formatted exactly how you want it, now you (or your designer) must now format your cover to match the width and height of your manuscript. At this point, only the front and back covers can be formatted to the exact size.
Note3: You won't now the width of your novel's "Spine" until you have submitted your manuscript to the printer and they provide you with the spine dimensions after setting it up in their printer.
Once you get the width of your spine, then that can be formatted with the title and your name. All sections of the cover (front, back, and spine) will then need to be merged together into a single PDF document which will submit to the printer for layout with your manuscript.
Once your manuscript and cover have been formatted and sent to the printer, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the proof of your book is ready. We'll about that in the next blog!
Until next time,
Happy Writing/Editing/Designing/Formatting!
G
Don't forget, I do one-on-one consultations, and the first 30 minutes are free of charge.
Huh? (Is that what you just said?) What size do you want your novel to be? 8x11? 6x9? Large? Smaller? Or somewhere in between?
Once you decide on a size, you have to format your manuscript and cover to fit into those dimensions. How do you format your manuscript?
I'm making the assumption that you have written your manuscript using Microsoft Word, if you have used something different you will have to do some research on how to format the size and margins of the manuscript if you don't already have that knowledge.
In word, you want to click on the "Page Layout" tab. You will see the following options: Margins, Orientation, Size, and few others. Make your margins 1 inch all the way around (top, bottom, left, right) as you will need the spacing for binding, page numbers, and page headers. Most books are printed in Portrait mode, however, if you are writing a children's book you may want to use Landscape. Now for the real work in formatting, Page size. Click on size and a drop down menu will open, more than likely the size you want isn't visible so click on More Paper Sizes. A pop-up window will open, and you can either select one of the "Traditional" paper sizes or you can simply just adjust the width and height settings your desired specifications and click "OK". Word will automatically format your text to fit on the page with within the boundaries you have set. Now you must review your entire manuscript to make sure that each chapter (if your book is broken down this way) starts and ends on a page properly. If by chance you have created "Sections" within your manuscript, you want to very the page numbers as they may have been altered during the formatting process.
Note1: "New Line" operates differently that a "Hard Return" during formatting so be sure to watch for odd spacing between lines and/or paragraphs.
Note2: A "New Line" is created when you hold down the "Shift and Enter" keys at the same time. A "Hard Return" is created when you hit the "Enter" key by itself.
Once your manuscript is formatted exactly how you want to see it in print, save it once as a word document and once as a PDF. To save your document as a PDF, click on the "Windows Logo" button in the upper left-hand corner of Word, hover your mouse over Save As, and then click on PDF or XPS. Adding ".pdf" after the title or your manuscript will save it in PDF format (necessary for the printer and it keeps your manuscript from being "altered" after you have submitted to the printer).
Your manuscript is now formatted exactly how you want it, now you (or your designer) must now format your cover to match the width and height of your manuscript. At this point, only the front and back covers can be formatted to the exact size.
Note3: You won't now the width of your novel's "Spine" until you have submitted your manuscript to the printer and they provide you with the spine dimensions after setting it up in their printer.
Once you get the width of your spine, then that can be formatted with the title and your name. All sections of the cover (front, back, and spine) will then need to be merged together into a single PDF document which will submit to the printer for layout with your manuscript.
Once your manuscript and cover have been formatted and sent to the printer, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the proof of your book is ready. We'll about that in the next blog!
Until next time,
Happy Writing/Editing/Designing/Formatting!
G
Don't forget, I do one-on-one consultations, and the first 30 minutes are free of charge.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Last Round of Editing
Thought you were done editing . . .Nope! Just didn't want to overwhelm you with the editing process.
Recap. The 1st round of editing looked for spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues with your novel. The 2nd round of editing check for consistency of characters and storyline.
So, what is this last round of editing for? Story flow. Does your novel flow flawlessly? Is it readable from start to finish without causing the reader to scratch their head? Does it make the reader want to not put it down because they want to know what's going to happen next?
Yes, all of that is important! All of that is the difference between a great novel and something used to keep the coffee table even on an uneven floor.
Again, you want someone with editing experience to complete this round of editing so that you get the necessary feedback to make your novel great!
Once this last round of editing is complete, you have acquired your ISBN and barcode, and have a cover for your book, the next step is . . . Formatting your novel.
We'll talk about that next time!
Until then . . .
Happy Editing!
G Styl
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Designing Your Cover
How important is your cover?
Since it is the first thing a potential reader/agent/publisher sees, I would say it is very important and you should take into account these three important factors below when designing the cover for your book whether you're doing it yourself or you've hired a professional to design it.
One:Reflect The Books Content
The cover of your book should give a potential reader an idea of what the book is all about. The cover should draw them in and make them want to know more about what's going on between the cover. However, the cover should also be tasteful so as not to offend anyone who encounters the book in a social setting. Be careful that your cover is not misleading of the contents, for example you wouldn't want to have bakery goods on the cover of a book about guns.
The cover of your book should give a potential reader an idea of what the book is all about. The cover should draw them in and make them want to know more about what's going on between the cover. However, the cover should also be tasteful so as not to offend anyone who encounters the book in a social setting. Be careful that your cover is not misleading of the contents, for example you wouldn't want to have bakery goods on the cover of a book about guns.
Two: Color Verses Black And White
Does it make more sense to have a color cover or a black and white cover? Depends. If it's a book about photography and the photos contained with in are considered vintage, a black and white cover might make sense. If it's a children's book, then it's a no-brainer that the cover should be in color. When going with a color cover, be conscious of the color scheme choosen. You don't want colors that clash, nor do you want the cover to appear too busy. You should also be aware of the color schemes of existing organizations so as not to insinuate an association between your book and that organization.
Three: The Back Cover
The back cover of the book is just as important as the front, if not more important. The back cover space can be used as a "teaser" for the books contents, "showcase" feedback from readers/reviewers, giving credit to contributors, etc. Regardless of which option you choose for the back cover, you want make sure that your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are on point. If a potential reader can't understand what you are saying on the cover chances are they're not going to want to read the contents.
Does it make more sense to have a color cover or a black and white cover? Depends. If it's a book about photography and the photos contained with in are considered vintage, a black and white cover might make sense. If it's a children's book, then it's a no-brainer that the cover should be in color. When going with a color cover, be conscious of the color scheme choosen. You don't want colors that clash, nor do you want the cover to appear too busy. You should also be aware of the color schemes of existing organizations so as not to insinuate an association between your book and that organization.
Three: The Back Cover
The back cover of the book is just as important as the front, if not more important. The back cover space can be used as a "teaser" for the books contents, "showcase" feedback from readers/reviewers, giving credit to contributors, etc. Regardless of which option you choose for the back cover, you want make sure that your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are on point. If a potential reader can't understand what you are saying on the cover chances are they're not going to want to read the contents.
Hope you found the contents helpful!
Until next time, Happy Writing!
G
G
P.S. I do one on one consultations, and the first 30 minutes are free of charge.
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