Layout & Design: Good Looks Sell Books

There’s more to a book than just the story inside. The visual appeal of your book, both inside and out, is key to helping it get attention. Picture someone in a bookstore flipping through the pages of your book — would they like what they saw?

Layout & Design of Inside Pages

Your manuscript needs to be clean, easy to read and formatted properly for the printing process. Here are some factors to consider for your book’s inside pages:

  • Is the manuscript sized to the dimensions you want the printed book to be?
  • Is the font size easy to read but not so big that it greatly increases the number of pages in your book?
  • Are the sentences and paragraphs spaced evenly?
  • Are your pages numbered properly?
  • Are your title, copyright and table of contents pages formatted correctly?
  • Are photos placed on pages properly, and do captions line up evenly?
  • Would illustrations, photos or images add to your story?

 

Cover Design

With a sea of books out there, your book’s cover needs to stand out when sitting in between hundreds of others in a store or on a website page. Here are some factors to consider for your book’s cover:

  • Would the title be easy to read if it were sitting on a shelf?
  • Is the imagery reflective of the type of book you’re publishing?
  • Do you want a cover that looks completely unique?
  • Do you want the back cover to have a photo/image, or only text?
  • Do you need to have a barcode on the back cover?

 

A publishing services provider can provide you with the services of one of their graphic designers or illustrators. A graphic designer can re-size, format text and images in the manuscript, add designs or create more complicated formatting if you have a certain look in mind for your book. They can also design a custom cover for your book.

Illustrators can create custom illustrations to use throughout your book for a unique look. When outsourcing your design/layout, be sure to get possession of the source files from the designer, so you can control future modifications.