This is an updated article that I originally wrote in 2020 because the subject keeps coming back around, one way or another. Please bear in mind this is written with some humorous intent, but the advice contained within is meant seriously.
An occasionally wise man once said,
It’s one thing to write a novel, and quite another to make a book.
This is true, as far as it goes. A novel is a long series of words placed one in front of another in order to tell a story, or several stories that link to tell one meta story, or a long winding memoir of someone who never existed in a version of the world that never existed, or a exploration of a psyche fighting for a way to come to terms with a trauma so shattering that their mind has splintered to hide the truth from itself… Or as you might otherwise think of them, a long series of words..
A book on the other hand is sheets of paper with words upon them, carefully laid out in order, bound in thicker paper to form a cover with pictures and words upon it, a blurb , a bit about the author, chapter heads, contents pages, an also by page, copyrights , fonts and choices of style, presentation, layout, typesetting’s and a whole bundle of other stuff. Or to put it simply, more than just a bunch of words placed one in fount of the other that form a narrative…
To put it bluntly, to be a writer takes one skill set, which you may call ‘word herding’, making a book, however, takes a whole different skill-set, and this is a very important point for the independent writer to realise. They have a few choices about how they approach the task of creating a book but for me there is one very important thing they have to remember when making decisions on how they approach that task. No matter how skilfully they have crafted their words, no matter how fine their writing, regardless of the intricacy of their plots, the depth of their characterisations, and all the blood they have spilled on the pages, or little bits of their soul they have unleashed. How those words are ultimately presented is just as important as the words themselves.
A wise author, one must say, is one who seeks help and guidance, knows the limitations of his or her skills, and unless they have the skillset to typeset a book they seeks out those who do, be they friends, colleagues or professionals offering a service…
I should point out here, I am not talking about proof-reading and editing, that is a whole different kettle of fish. A damn important kettle, indeed as important a kettle as it is possible to have, but a different kettle all the same.* This, however, is about the skills of typesetting, designing covers, presentation and has more than a little to do with graphic design. A whole different skill set from writing as I say, but one that when it comes to books is just as important, and a skill set that no one should be afraid to buy in if they need to.
*has anyone ever put fish in a kettle? Who knows, its just one of those sayings… **
** Actually a kettle in this case is a large pot used for boiling water in which fish were often cooked in the grim past before microwaves were invented, I know this and I am just being obtuse.***
***yes I know you know I was just being obtuse…
Frankly unless you are utterly confident in your own abilities, and even if you are, buying in those skills is probably exactly what you should do, and a wise man would know this… But lets assume you don’t wish to do so… Here in lays a basic guide to typesetting…
Marks basic guide to typesetting
Pick up a book, one of the papery things full of words, if you are a writer I am going to assume you have one to hand. No writer should ever be more than three feet from a book… Now hold the book for a moment and feel the weight of it. If its a professional book, and by that I don’t necessarily mean one from a big publishing house, just a book that has been professionally produced, it will have a cover that looks inviting in some way, that tells you something about the words within. It will also have a cover that could sit next to any other book on your book shelf. It will be the same size and shape as other books on your bookshelf as well. It will, in essence be the same as any book you might find in a bookshop.
Now open the book up, at any random page. Notice the fonts, they will be of the right size, pleasing in a none offensive way, easy to read for hours without eye strain. (Garamond 12 point as a rule) There be a small indent at the start of each paragraph, but only a small one, possibly a slightly larger one at the start of a separate passage or chapter. There will not be an extra space between paragraphs like you might find in a word document. Paragraphs will be justified right and left, the last sentence of a paragraph will never be at the top of the next page, there will be a header with the title, or the chapter title on the odd pages and the authors name even pages, page numbers. Chapters will usually start on odd page numbers to the left, and when a chapter ends on an odd page there will be a blank even page to the next starts on an odd again…
Not all of this will be true for every book, but even when it isn’t there will be an internal logic to how it is typeset. ( and it will never consist of having an extra space between paragraphs, I have lost count of the times I have come across indie books that do and it’s like nails raking down a blackboard when ever I see it… It will also always have justified text, dear gods why do people not justify text in a book , are you trying to hurt me?)
The point is however the book is laid out it will have been laid out by someone who has put a degree of thought into doing so and applied experience into the typesetting. Its a skill all of its own, as is deciding how to present chapter names, numbers, contents, also by pages and everything else. And all of this is just as important as a cover. Many indie authors are more than willing to pay for a cover because they are not graphic designers or artists, they should likewise be willing to pay for typesetting if need be, because even if you could not tell me what the inside of a book should look like, I almost guarantee if you open one that is badly typeset you will notice straight away, even if your not sure what it is your noticing, you will notice and you’ll put the book back down on the authors table because even though the cover was enough to make you pick it up the typesetting has made it less inviting once you have opened the book up.
Of course, you can learn to do all this yourself, but is it really something you want to learn through trail and error? A wise writer would ask for help or find professionals to help them.
I of course am not a wise man… I learned how to do it all myself and did so the hard way… But unless you have the right kind of skill set to learn how to do this, don’t just go with ‘it will do’ get some advice, and remember , first and foremost your a writer, so write.
And then of course strip out every bit of typesetting you have done for the paperback edition and build the ebook versions from scratch…
The Passing Place 