Interior Book Design and Typesetting

What is designing the inside of a book and setting the type?

You have typed your book in a word-processing program like Microsoft Word or Word Perfect. Why not put the text in the right place, check for mistakes, and print?

Laying out a manuscript is an art, and so is designing the inside of a book. Also, it is a science. Designing the inside of a book is a skill that gets better with practice. That often-used phrase, "the difference between doing it yourself and hiring a pro," is clear immediately.

The design and layout of a book should match what's in it. The font size of a book for kids will be bigger than that of a collection of academic articles. Design is essential for screenplays, picture books, textbooks, travel guides, and cookbooks. The way a novel or self-help book is put together should make it easy for the reader to move through the pages. Why? So he or she can fully enjoy reading the book or easily learn from it.

A book with a good layout is easy on the eyes. People can go to a bookstore, pick up a book with an interesting cover and title, open it to any page, and decide right away that the font is too small or the words are too close together for them to ever read the book, even though the content might be great.

Some of the things an interior book designer thinks about when making a book's design are:

·         Size of page and margins

·         Choice of font

·         Space between paragraphs and lines

·         Title page and list of what's in it

·         Page numbers, headers, and footers (perhaps with a graphic)

·         Titles of chapters or sections

·         Graphics placement & design (illustrations, photos, charts)

·         Layout of special materials (such as tables, front matter, and back matter)

·         Using blank space

·         Control of hyphens

·         Control over widows and orphans

·         Unique design details that make your book stand out

Some books have boxes of text that should stand out. Maybe the box would look better with a border or a color in the background. All of the layout's parts must be put there with care. Sometimes, the main body of text needs to wrap around a chart or illustration, or a drop cap is needed at the beginning of a paragraph. This is possible because of the book designer.

After the design is done, the typesetting is done. It's how the design is used in your book as a whole. Typesetting includes changing the space between letters, words, and lines, as well as controlling hyphenation, orphans, and widows. A book can look great if it is set up well.

Why should I hire a pro to design my book?

The design of the inside of a book must reflect what it is about. Some books look good with fancy borders and script fonts, while others look better with a simple, clean layout. The layout of a children's book should make it easy for a child to read. Your book will look like it was made by a professional if the text, graphics, creative book design, and printing are all of high quality and show that you have experience.

The features of professional desktop publishing software and how well a book designer knows how to use them make all the difference in the end product, of your book. In addition to being able to arrange all the parts of your manuscript in a way that looks good, the designer will also make sure that the book can be made as cheaply as possible. To make a book that looks great when you open, it took skill, time, and close attention to detail.

In the end, the person who designed your book will send it to your printer in a way that won't cause any problems. The designer knows what questions to ask the printer, his guidelines and deadlines, and what kind of paper to use for a certain job. He or she will check the file first and give the printer any technical information it needs. If you don't prepare the file according to the printer's instructions, the printed version may look very different from what you see on your computer screen, and the printer may charge you extra to make the necessary changes.

Another thing! A good designer is proud of what he or she has made. No book designer wants someone to look at their work and say, "That looks like it was done by a beginner." The professional designer will do his best to make your book fun to read, interesting to look at, and even something that other designers will look up to and try to copy.

Good book design can help you sell more books.

A well-designed book shows a bookseller or reader that you care about your book. If people like the way it looks, they are more likely to buy it. If your book doesn't have any ugly parts, typos, or bad design, nothing will make a buyer think, "This book is not for me." You want them to say, "Yes, I want to read this book!"

So, make sure your book looks good and is set up well. This will help you and your book become popular. You have already spent a lot of time and effort writing the manuscript, which is a good thing. Make a great book from beginning to end. It's worth reading your book.