Journal
Notes from inside the press: how a book gets written, edited, designed and published.
119 items, page 2 of 6
Editing
When a prologue earns its place
Prologues have a poor reputation, and many deserve it. Some, though, do work the first chapter cannot. Here is how to tell which yours is.
Publishing
An author bio that does its job
An author bio is read in seconds and asked to do several things at once. Most of them fail by saying too much about the wrong things.
Production
What EPUB 3 is, in plain terms
EPUB 3 is the standard format behind most ebooks. Under the name, it is familiar technology: web pages in a zip file, with rules.
Design
Running heads and folios
Page numbers and running heads are the book’s navigation system. Where they go, what they say, and when to leave them off.
Writing
Epigraphs, and the permissions they need
An epigraph is a short quotation with a long shadow. What they do for a book, and why they often need permission.
Editing
The style sheet: a document every book needs
A style sheet is a short record of every choice a book makes about spelling, punctuation and names. It saves more time than almost anything else.
Publishing
Writing the description on a store page
The description on a store page has one job: to help the right reader decide. It is not a synopsis, and the first two lines do most of the work.
Production
Bleed, trim and the safe zone
Three lines on every print file decide what gets cut, what might get cut and what must never be. Here is what each one is for.
Design
The order of front matter
Half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, contents. The order of the opening pages is conventional, and the conventions have reasons.
Writing
Bureaucracy as comedy in fiction
Forms, queues and rules that contradict each other are a rich seam of comedy. What makes bureaucratic absurdity funny rather than merely tedious.
Publishing
Why we don't take unsolicited submissions yet
A closed list is a promise about capacity, not a judgement about anybody's book.
Editing
Proofreading is the last pass, not the only one
A proofreader who finds a plot hole has found it too late. Here is what proofreading is for, and what it cannot fix.
Publishing
Reviews you can ask for, and reviews you shouldn't buy
Reader reviews matter to how books are found. There are honest ways to encourage them, and paid shortcuts that break retailer rules and mislead readers.
Production
Cream paper or white
The colour of a book's paper affects how it reads, how its images print and even how thick it is. It is worth choosing on purpose.
Design
Hyphens, en dashes and em dashes
Three horizontal lines of different lengths, each with its own job. How hyphens and dashes are used in British books, and where they go wrong.
Writing
Speculative fiction and the rule of one impossible thing
Many of the strongest speculative stories change one thing about the world and follow the consequences honestly. Why restraint makes the strange believable.
Editing
Structural edit or line edit: which does your book need?
Polishing sentences in a chapter that may not survive the next draft is the most common way writers waste an edit.
Publishing
Territories and world English rights
Rights to a book are divided by language and territory. Understanding the terms makes contracts easier to read and sales easier to plan.
Production
Print-ready PDFs
A print-ready PDF is more than a file that opens. It is one a printer can run without guessing, and here is what that involves.
Design
Margins, and why the inner one matters most
Margins frame the text, give thumbs somewhere to go and, at the spine, decide whether a reader can see the words at all.