If you are an a course in miracles amazon books you definitely do not want your book to look self-published! Poorly designed self-published books can convey a lack of substance that often has little to do with the value of the author’s words and ideas. Smart design choices can make the difference between a book that sells and one that sits on the shelf or in the author’s garage.
The four mistakes most frequently made by self-published authors when designing their books can be found in a book’s:
Choosing the best font for your book is trickier than it seems. Fonts convey feelings; two fonts that look similar can actually communicate two different moods. Times Roman feels serious and straight-forward, whereas Bembo expresses a lighter, more thoughtful feeling. Some fonts have thinner lines, which allow for a more relaxed read. Others, with thicker lines, convey solidity and firmness. These are important considerations when juxtaposed with the tone and substance of the author’s voice.
The book cover is the first point of contact for the consumer. An inappropriate cover image can mislead and turn off the book buyer when it doesn’t accurately represent the book’s contents. Bad photography and poor image choices cause a book to look unprofessional. Often, it can be worth the cost of hiring a professional designer to create a dynamic cover with which to attract attention and more profitably market your book.
When a reader opens a book and sees large blocks of small black type, they can feel fatigued before they even begin reading. White space is important for readability. Proper margins, allowing for breathing room and rest for the eyes, make a book more readable, and give a more elegant, professional appearance.
When selecting paper stock for both interior pages and the cover, cheapest is not always the best. Paper has thickness; a thin stock can create bleed through, where the text on the opposite side of the paper can be seen as a ghost image on the page being read. Always select at least a 50-pound stock on interior pages. Likewise, a flimsy cover stock not only feels cheap, but doesn’t last long and can start to look shabby quickly. 10 point C1S stock for a soft cover book provides a cover that will last and one in which you can feel proud.
Good book design choices create a vast difference between a self-published book that looks self-published and one that gives the author a professional, elegant platform on which to convey his or her ideas.
