Ah, the age-old question: ebooks vs. print books. One of the best ways to maximize your book&#;s potential success is to offer it in multiple formats. If a reader exclusively looks for books to read on their Kindle, they won&#;t find your book if there is no ebook version. On the other hand, if a reader exclusively shops for books in their local independent bookstore, they won&#;t find your book if there is no print version.
In addition, studies have shown that the majority of consistent ebook readers also regularly purchase print books. These hybrid readers seem to make buying choices situationally; for instance, an avid reader might enjoy a physical paperback while relaxing at home, then switch to an e-reader while traveling with limited luggage space.
Ebooks can be less expensive to produce, so some authors use them as free digital giveaways to build their author platform before producing print copies.
Many authors publish their books in a single format only, and while this approach might also work for your book, the prevailing philosophy supports publishing your book in as many different formats as possible&#;with the goal of making your book accessible to as many different readers as possible.
Alright, let&#;s talk print books. You&#;re probably wondering&#;besides the obvious&#;what&#;s the difference between hardcover and paperback books?
In traditional publishing, debut books are typically released in hardcover several months before the paperback. This capitalizes on the readership who&#;s willing to pay more for the hardcover edition of a book and those who don&#;t want to wait. IngramSpark is one of few print-on-demand services that offers hardcover book printing in a variety of sizes, with or without a dust jacket.
That being said, the perfect-bound trade paperback is the most commonly printed book in the self-publishing industry. Many readers prefer the ease of a paperback, and for indie authors on a budget, it&#;s less expensive to produce and ship, something you can test for yourself with IngramSpark&#;s Print and Ship Calculator.
So why should indie authors consider publishing a hardcover book? There are three main reasons.
Some readers are willing to pay for the durability and prestige associated with a hardcover book. Since they&#;re more expensive to produce, the list price of a hardcover book is typically higher than a paperback. IngramSpark authors can calculate the compensation of a paperback vs. hardcover book with IngramSpark&#;s Publisher Compensation Calculator.
Did you know that libraries prefer to stock hardcover books? That&#;s because hardcover books stand up better to repeated use. Since library books are shared between various members of a community, authors can also price a book higher for the library market than the retail market&#;which means more money for your bottom line.
Different readers prefer to consume content in different ways. By having your book available in multiple formats (hardcover, paperback, and ebook), and enabling it for global distribution, you&#;re maximizing the opportunity to make a sale.
In addition, certain genres are more likely to be published in hardcover, including cookbooks, some nonfiction, and most young adult fantasy and dystopian books. If your target reader has an expectation, you want to be sure to fulfill it.
IngramSpark author, Savannah J. Goins, shared her experience publishing a hardcover book with IngramSpark&#;s Jacketed Case Laminate.
When you are designing your book, you need to consider a number of factors. The interior pages of your book should follow best practices in book layout and design in order to provide a positive reader experience. This means keeping text a certain distance from the bound edge so it&#;s easy to read, and maintaining consistent margins on the top, bottom and outside so the text is positioned favorably throughout.
A common book design practice is to select a book that you have read and measure the size and margins, then copy that. All you have to do is understand what each component of a book&#;s design entails, then you can setup your software to produce the same thing.
First, you should choose a trim size for your book, and then setup your software program to create your manuscript to that size. It&#;s very important that you set up your software correctly from the start, failure to do so can lead to lengthy reformatting before your book is ready to print.
A common mistake most first-time authors make is beginning their manuscript in Microsoft Word&#;s default setting, which is U.S Letter (8.5 x 11) in size, then they want to print the book at a different size. Unfortunately, this is not how to properly produce a book that is legible and follows best practice.
Your book design will be built around the trim size, so it&#;s very important that you choose a trim size that will yield a book that isn&#;t too thick and has enough room to allow a reader to hold it open and read all text easily.
Your book design will require margin settings that allow the text to be consistently positioned throughout the book. Margin is the empty space around your text, kind of like a picture frame, and should be wide enough to allow all text to be read easily when the book is printed.
A common mistake most first time authors make when they design a book is not mirroring margins, this produces inconsistent margins throughout the book and a poor reader experience because text is placed in different positions throughout the book.
Your book design should consider your reader&#;s needs in terms of age and accessibility, and the margin settings are an important design element that will translate to a positive reader experience. For example, a book intended for an audience under 10 years should have wide margins and large text, to help the reader see all the words clearly. A book intended for an audience over 20 years should have narrower margins and smaller text while being legible and consistent.
Gutter is the empty space from the text on a page to the binding edge. If your book design requires binding on the left side, then the gutter will be on the right and left side of the pages, as per the diagram below.
Your book design should use a gutter of at least 0.75&#; or 1.905 cm
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When you define your book&#;s margins and gutter, you have created a safe text area that will contain all your book&#;s content. This area is called a safe text area because all the text within this area is guaranteed to not be cut off in bindery. The diagram below shows the safe text area of a book.
After selecting a trim size, the margin and gutter settings are very important elements of the book design. You want to ensure that you leave enough room on the top, bottom and outside sections of each page so that your reader can hold the book and not cover any text. You also want to ensure that you have left enough space for bindery in the gutter section. Below are the recommended margin and gutter settings we suggest you use in your book design.
Recommended Book Margin Settings
If you&#;re wondering what to set the margins at for your book, we recommend that you set margins to at least 0.375&#; or 0.95 cm on the top, bottom and outside, and make sure mirror margins.
Recommended Book Gutter Settings
If you&#;re wondering what to set gutter at for your book, we recommend that you set gutter to 0.75&#; or 1.905 cm.
Microsoft Word Margin and Gutter Settings for Book Design
The screenshot below shows the recommended margin and gutter settings for your book design. You can access these settings by clicking Layout>Margins>Custom Margins. You need to select the orientation of your book, and apply the settings to the whole document. Then click OK and you can start your book design in Microsoft Word with a good template that will ensure your text is readable and there is enough space for bindery in any format.
The font size you choose in your book design should allow your intended audience to easily see and read all text. For example, children&#;s books should use a large font like 24 pt so that children can distinguish the letters from one another.
A good rule of thumb is to use at least a 12 pt font size in your book design
The size of the font also relates to the number of pages in your book (along with margin and gutter). As the font size increases, the page count does as well (if margin and gutter remain the same).
Recommended Font Sizes
If you&#;re wondering what to set the font size to in your book, we recommend that you set the font size to 12 pt if it&#;s not a children&#;s book. If it is a children&#;s book, then we recommend at least 24 pt font size.
Every book contains the intellectual property of the creator(s) and/or contributors, so it&#;s important to disclose these parties on a page within your book. When considering a book design, you should create a page that lists the publisher and all parties who own the rights to the intellectual property presented in the book. Usually, a rights page will note the printing edition as well, and acknowledge any government grants or funding assistance that contributed to the book&#;s production. Sometimes, it can even be a requirement that the country of printing and binding be disclosed in order to qualify for funding programs like Ontario Creates.
Do I Need a Rights Page?
If you&#;re wondering if you need a rights page in your book, we recommend that you have one. It&#;s helpful for anyone reading the book to see the source of the content and understand where it came from.
Here is a checklist of what should be displayed on a rights page:
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