"Part 5: My book’s fit and finish" Guest Blogger: Kevin Cullis

Kevin Cullis, Author

Getting the content lined up to fill up the book is the first course of business whether it’s a book of fiction or nonfiction.
Fiction writing requires background story information while nonfiction requires research. As background story and content collection progresses and the book writing nears completion your book’s finishing touches become a significant factor in selling your book.

Book Design: formatting. I took a look at books at my local book stores and my local libraries sitting down with a number of books around me that were visually appealing to my sense of taste. I took notice of the book cover (colors, graphics, copywriting of the back and flap covers, fonts and typography, etc.), the interior (typography and fonts, leading/spacing of text and size of fonts, graphics, organization of text, margins, and layout), size of the book (6”x9” trade or other sizes), and begin to take note of what I liked. It’s my book, I wanted to do a good job, it’s an expression of who I am. I then asked questions from local authors and read online author comments who have done book publishing to gather information to ensure that I heading down the right path.

Most independently published books look and read “self-published” as authors rush to see their name on the cover and are “published.” Taking the time to learn about book design is important to me as my name is on the book and is well worth the effort. At one point, I had to change my book’s margins because of the affect an inside smaller margin had on reading it and it added 15 pages to my book total, throwing off my books interior. More rework. During a local independent publishing association meeting (www.CIPAbooks.com) I showed my book to a professional editor and I asked her, “Without reading my book and just glancing at it much like a reader would, how does it look from your opinion, give me a letter grade.” After a few minutes she responded, “I’d give you a B+ or an A- as a first glance.” My hard work and efforts were paying off. She was even more astonished that I had used Apple’s iWork Pages to do it. She could not believe it could be done until I showed her the file on my Mac laptop. Other book designers found a lot more needed to be done to my book to give it a “professional look,” but my intent is to show others that producing a quality book can be done with a smaller outlay of money.

It’s doable!

I was on my way.

Author, Kevin Cullis is a self-described “business geek”, former Air Force officer, and entrepreneur. He has a Masters Degree in Administration as well as 12 years of face-to-face experience selling both Macs and PCs to businesses. He loves helping entrepreneurs and small business owners integrate, utilize, and optimize the use of their Mac in their marketing, sales, and business management processes. The combination of both a business and a computer process perspectives makes him unique in saving and making money using a Mac. How to Start a Business: Mac Version is his first book.