Journal
Notes from inside the press: how a book gets written, edited, designed and published.
119 items, page 1 of 6
Publishing
Four ISBNs for one novel
Hardback, paperback, ebook and audiobook are four products to the book trade, and each needs its own number.
Production
An ebook that follows the reader's settings
Every piece of artwork in the Dreamscape Code ebook is drawn in the text colour, so night mode doesn't leave white boxes on the page.
Production
One interior, two bindings: the print editions of Dreamscape Code
The paperback and the hardback share one 298-page interior. The difference is in the spine, and the spine depends on the paper.
Design
How the chapters of Dreamscape Code open
A hairline numeral, a light title across its foot, and an initial that drops exactly three lines.
Design
Forty-eight signs
Scene breaks in Dreamscape Code aren't blank lines. They are the Code: a set of signs drawn for the book.
Design
The Director's eye
A small red mark on the cover of Dreamscape Code, and the first thing you see when you open it.
Editing
We measured the voice of our own novel
Sentence length held steady across Dreamscape Code. Stock phrasing rose almost sixfold. The drift was real, and it was countable.
Editing
Twelve promises a draft didn't keep
A setup without a payoff is a debt. Here is how we find them, and why we don't pay all of them off.
Design
The cover for Dreamscape Code
Type large enough to read as a thumbnail, one red word, and a stain that works as ink and as blood.
Editing
What a story bible is actually for
Before the last pass on Dreamscape Code we built a document that recorded only what was on the page. The useful half was the part that recorded what wasn't.
Writing
Where Gravity Doesn't Vote begins
A book about how shared realities collapse opens on a balcony in Bucharest, four minutes before the crowd stops behaving.
Publishing
What an ISBN is, and what it isn't
An ISBN is a product code for one version of one book. It is not copyright, not a licence to publish and not a guarantee that anyone will stock it.
Production
Why spine width depends on page count and paper
The spine is the one part of a cover whose size you cannot choose. It follows from the page count and the paper, and it has to be right.
Design
Choosing a text face for a novel
A text face has to survive three hundred pages without being noticed. Here is what to look at before you fall for a specimen.
Writing
Research notes that outlive the book
Most research notes are written for one book and abandoned after it. With a little care they become a resource for years.
Editing
Numbers in fiction: words or figures
Fiction usually spells numbers out, but "usually" hides a set of exceptions. Here is how to set a rule and apply it.
Publishing
Going wide or going exclusive with an ebook
Some ebook programmes require exclusivity to a single retailer in return for their benefits. Whether that trade is worth it depends on the book and the plan.
Production
Print on demand and offset printing
Printing one copy at a time and printing thousands at once are different processes with different trade-offs. Knowing them makes the choice easier.
Design
Hyphenation settings that don’t draw attention to themselves
Hyphenation makes justified text work, but only when it is quiet. The settings that keep it that way, and the breaks to avoid.
Writing
How books get their titles
Many famous books were almost called something else. What a title has to do, and how writers and publishers arrive at one.