Every printed book you’ve ever held, every ebook you’ve ever read—they all started as a raw manuscript and transformed into the polished, easily navigable product you see today. This transformation is brought about by a process called typesetting. So, what is typesetting, and what are the tools that make it possible? What is Typesetting? Typesetting is the process of arranging and formatting text to make it most effective for reading. It involves the selection of typefaces (or fonts), size, line length, line-spacing (leading), and letter-spacing. The typesetter also manages the white space wit ..read more

Ever wondered what makes a bestselling book cover so irresistible? It’s not all about aesthetic appeal. The surprising truth lies in strategic design choices that speak directly to readers. Understanding the Audience Bestselling authors know their audience. They understand what their readers are looking for and tailor their book cover design to meet those expectations. A cover aimed at young adult readers will look vastly different from one targeting fans of hard-boiled detective stories. The Role of Color Color plays a major role in how a book cover is perceived. Bestselling book covers often ..read more

Writing a book is only half the battle. In today’s crowded marketplace, mastering the art of book promotion is essential for success. Let’s dive into the strategies that can help your book rise above the rest. Understanding Your Target Audience Promotion starts with understanding your target audience. Who are your ideal readers? What are their interests, their habits, their desires? The more you know about them, the better you can tailor your marketing efforts to capture their interest. Building a Strong Author Platform Your author platform—comprising your website, blog, email newsletter, and ..read more

Writing your first novel is a journey of epic proportions, filled with highs, lows, and the occasional detour. Along the way, it’s easy to make mistakes. Here are some epic failures you’ll want to avoid. Mistake 1 – Not Planning Ahead Diving into your novel without a plan is like setting sail without a compass. A detailed outline serves as a roadmap for your story, helping you navigate plot twists and character arcs. Without it, you risk losing direction and wasting time on unnecessary rewrites. Mistake 2 – Ignoring Your Audience Ignoring your target audience is a surefire way to miss the mark ..read more

Calibre is a versatile, open-source e-book management tool that has gained a considerable reputation in the self-publishing sphere. But what exactly does it offer, and how do you harness its capabilities for formatting your e-book files? This comprehensive review dives into everything you need to know about Calibre. Who is it For? Calibre caters to self-publishing authors who want an all-in-one software solution to manage their e-books. It’s particularly useful for those comfortable with technical aspects, as it offers in-depth customization for e-book conversion. Core Features E-Book Convers ..read more

I was checking out a book cover designer’s portfolio, he has some great stuff and amazing prices. Obviously not the best, but learning, and pretty good, and cheap. But he’s also offering book formatting services; he has a portfolio of only 5 images, and they had these problems: There was a header on top of the chapter page The same ‘genre’ font (specialty font to match genre) was used on the chapter heading, the page heading and the first sentence (yuck). All the rest, spacing, margins, indents, etc, where fine but nothing super. He’s charging $99. Pretty good price, says he does it in InDes ..read more

There are lots of reasons NOT to make your own book cover: If you don’t know graphic design, your first attempt won’t be pretty If you don’t know cover design, you won’t make a cover that sells If you make it, you’ll like it too much to change later   With that in mind, I also like helping authors publish their books cheaply if they can’t afford a designer (and hiring an expensive cover design doesn’t always mean you’ll get the best quality work). So I’ve focused on doing a few things to make self-publishing easier. FIRST – your cover is hugely important, and you need to know how to avo ..read more

Coming soon! The post How to format and publish a children’s book appeared first on DIY Book Design & Formatting Templates ..read more

There’s an advertisement I saw recently about an editing and proofreading software – a young girl gets a new job as a social media manager and is nervous. But she uses the software to catch all her mistakes and typos, and wins the day by being awesome and customer support. As someone with a PhD in Literature, my first reaction was: “If she can’t spell, she shouldn’t have gotten the job.” But the truth is, we all make mistakes, especially if we don’t self-edit. I rarely self-edit my articles and emails as well as I should, and have often sent out embarrassing emails with typos in them. So ..read more

95% of book marketing happens BEFORE you publish: if you have a well designed book with a killer blurb and hook, it should convert the right readers – then you just have to send traffic. Many authors get overwhelmed by the exact steps to take – when should you build an email list, how do you get book reviews, what should you price your book? I have a free guide on self-publishing here, it answers a lot of basic questions, but this page will introduce the most important ways to sell more books. Getting book reviews Before you do ANYTHING, you need more reviews. This can be tough – you don’t rea ..read more