The Big Bad Book Blog

Let’s face it, the children’s book market is one of the most competitive spaces in the retail booktrade.Your book is not only measured against the huge number of children’s books being created every day, but is also going up against all the mainstays like Richard Scarry, Dr. Seuss, and Eric Carle who are so beloved, they don’t have to fight for shelf space. Competition is so fierce that even when every piece of your project is perfectly executed, and you’ve convinced, cajoled, and charmed your way into retail channels, it’s still a small miracle to see your book on shelves in the company of Little Bear or Sheep in a Jeep.

But to get there, the book does have to be perfectly executed, which is the first step (or impediment) to success. Based on the submissions we see, I’d like to share my top three considerations for creating a successful children’s book:

Incredible Illustrations

The importance of high-quality, professionally executed illustrations cannot be overemphasized. Characters and storyboards must be conceived and carried out by experienced children’s book illustrators. In this arena “cute” isn’t good enough—illustrations have to be dazzlingly perfect, and creative to boot. A traditional style of illustration, like this, can give a book a classic look, while a more quirky style, like this, can help differentiate your title. I recommend getting a third-party, professional opinion of sample illustrations before committing to an artist. Asking library buyers, literary agents, book publicists, or book distributors for feedback is a good start. It’s always wise to compare the quality of your book to comparable titles that have sold well in bookstores.

A Unique Story

Because of all those kids’ books published every year, you have to have a new message (or a least a new spin on an old message) for children and parents. If you’re thinking about writing a book about a popular topic like friendship, bullying, or nightmares, figure out how to approach it in a new way. You could do this with an unexpected story, funky characters, an innovative rhyme scheme, or unusual illustrations. Sometimes choosing an unaddressed topic and picking a specific niche can give you a built-in fan base. For example, topics like vegetarianism, knitting, meditation, or debt might be places where the market has holes that could be filled.

High-Quality Production

Similar to illustrations, the production of kids’ books has to be exceedingly high quality. To ensure the printing quality, make sure to do your background research on printers you’re thinking of using. Ask printers to send you a sample with specifications similar to your book’s so that you can physically assess paper, ink, and binding quality. Adding interactive parts to a book, like sound, mirrors, pop-ups or puppets, can also help it stand out, though beware of expense when considering these types of technology. If you want your book in retail outlets, it’s best to print your book with an offset printer, as opposed to print on demand—the quality is significantly higher with an offset press, and bookstores require their books to be returnable.

Common Mistakes

On the flipside, here are a few common mistakes we see on a regular basis:

Too Much Text per Page

We see a lot of kids’ submissions that have far too much text per page. For a children’s picture book, which are usually targeted at ages 4–8, text can be as minimal as you want it to be, but it’s generally a bad idea to exceed more than 70–80 words per two-page spread. Shooting for 0–30 words per page is ideal—when it comes to the amount of text per page, less is always more.

Unclear Age Group

It is sometimes unclear what age group an author is aiming for, and as a result, the book doesn’t really fit in any category. Oftentimes, books take an approach to their topic that is too complex for 4–8 year-olds, hurting its chances for retail. Similarly, we also see picture books with between 60 and 70 pages, which is too long for younger children. A 32-page picture book is generally meant for ages 4–8, so it’s important that your topic and diction are age-appropriate.

Too-High Price

As we’ve mentioned before on the Big Bad Book Blog, the retail price range for a book is very limited and determined by the retail buyers. Charging $1 more for your book than other authors are charging could have a severely negative impact on sales. Most hardcover children’s books are between $9.95 and $16.95, with $14.95 being ideal in most situations. Board books are typically $4.95 to $6.95.

A note about money: it is important to consider profit margins before starting production on a children’s book since the printing price per unit is significantly higher than other books because of the color interior, and the price point is very low due to the competitive landscape. You want to make sure you’ve considered all costs before getting started so that you have a plan to recoup them.

Stop the presses! Before you print your book, make sure you’re not committing a major packaging faux pas that will diminish retail buyers’ interest. We’ve all heard the statistic: 2,000 books are published every day. That means the competition for shelf space is fierce, so as an author, you have to make sure the physical presentation of your book is flawless or you don’t stand much of a chance.

We receive so many submissions that, despite having great content, have one part of the packaging off, which makes it hard for us, or any distributor, to effectively sell the title. Interior layout is one facet of packaging that can be easily overlooked but remains essential to the professional presentation and readability of a book. I spoke with managing designer Sheila Parr, who’s won numerous awards for her book designs, about common layout errors, and she offered some simple advice to anyone looking to produce a book on their own.

Font and Typography

For fiction and general nonfiction, serif fonts are easier to read on the printed page than sans serif fonts. Size depends on font, but in general text should be somewhere between 10 and 12 points. Stay away from bold type, underlined type, all-caps type, and exclamation points to emphasize a point—this can come across as unprofessional.

SP: When picking a serif font, don’t use Times New Roman. Times has become a sort of default font,and it can have an unfinished look about it when printed. For a more polished, professional look, try something like Caslon or Garamond. To emphasize a point, italics can be a better solution than bold or underlined text.

Margins

In general, margins are about .75 inches on the bottom and sides, and about 1 inch at the top of the page, though the .75-inch margin can be as small as .5 or as large as 1 inch. For longer books, the margin along the spine, known as the gutter, may be larger. Leading, the space between lines of text, should be several points larger than the text itself.

SP: Margins and leading are usually determined by factors like genre and page count. For example, a dense business book may have a looser layout with wide margins and leading to help the reader better absorb the material, while a novel typically has a tighter layout that keeps the reader moving and engaged.

Words per Page

Too much or to little text per page makes a book difficult to read. Like margins, the number of words per page varies based on genre and page count, but there are usually about 35 lines of text.

SP: In general there should be about 350 to 440 words per composed page. Nonfiction and books with illustrations and graphs are on the lower end of that scale, and novels are on the higher end.

Chapter Headings and Running Heads

Chapter headings and page breaks should match the book’s genre and style and should be appropriate for the target audience. A business book, for example, should have fairly simple chapter headings as opposed to the headings of a fantasy novel, which may have more elaborate fonts or design. When there are other headings within the chapter, create a hierarchy by using varying sizes.

Running heads are the text at the top of every numbered page of a book. They often consist of a combination of the author’s name, the chapter title, or the book title. The important issue here is to be consistent—if you decide to use author name on the left and title on the right, stick with it throughout.

Graphs and Illustrations

If you are using graphs or illustrations, make sure they are high resolution and easy to understand. Try to keep visually presented information simple and relevant to the text around it.

SP: There are whole college courses based on information design—illustrating complex information in a way that is easily understood. My advice: hire an experienced professional to design your charts, graphs, and illustrations.

Front Matter

All of the information that comes before the first chapter of your book (e.g., your foreword, preface, or introduction) is called front matter. There are varying styles of organization depending on the genre or publisher. This content is frequently paginated with lower-case Roman numerals, while the pages that begin your first chapter—the content of your book—are where the Arabic numerals begin, though introductions frequently get page 1, not Roman numerals.

Thanks to Sheila Parr and our production and design teams for all of the great information.

We decided to bring back this old post from our CEO, Clint Greenleaf, because the points he brings up continue to be relevant. Wanting to rush publication is a common problem, but many authors don’t realize how detrimental rushing can be to the success of the book. Not taking into account quality issues, there is the issue of distribution. Distributors need at least 4-5 months lead time to pitch your book to buyers. Print publications also require long lead lines, sometimes as much as 6 months for everything from reviews to advertisements and profiles. Below, Clint discusses some of the other issues that arise when an author rushes publication:

Rushing a book to market without understanding all the consequences of your decision is about as bright as marrying someone you meet in Las Vegas after a fifteen-hour drinking binge. Even if the reasons behind the rush seem legitimate, beware of the beer-goggle effect—your book won’t look nearly as attractive when it comes off the press as it does in your head when you’re deciding to skip vital steps in the publication process. There are three areas where rushing will come back to haunt you with particular vengeance:

Editing
Your content has to deliver the goods. Editing isn’t just about making sure your book is free of typos and grammatical errors—it’s the part of the process that focuses on sharpening the reading experience for your customers. If you don’t invest the time and money to have experienced book editors work with your book, success in this industry will be an uphill battle. Don’t try to justify your rush by duping yourself into believing that you can save time-consuming editorial work for the second edition or the next printing. Crappy books don’t go into multiple print runs or second editions. It’s like not showering before a first date and thinking that you can always wash up for the second date—unless you’re meeting the Vegas drunk from the scenario above, there’s no way you’re getting the second date, stinky. It’s worth the delay in your book launch to work with an editor who can help you develop a rock-solid title, unique hooks, a smart structure, and a compelling voice. If you rush the editorial process, you’ll compromise the integrity of your work for short-term gains. Is a goal like having books in time for one event really worth that?

Design and Printing
While powerful marketing, a strong author platform, and compelling content are essential for a book to succeed, production quality is equally important. And yet there are countless articles that downplay the importance of quality, often making the obtuse argument that anyone with Photoshop or InDesign can throw a book together in no time, or that the difference between top quality and bottom quality is negligible due to advances in technology. Both assertions are appalling fallacies. The quality of your design and printing determines what kind of first impression your book will make. Retail buyers, book reviewers, and consumer make gut decisions based on this first impression, so while good quality costs money and takes time, this is not an area in which it is okay to be either cheap or hasty.

Sales and Publicity
Sometimes, we’re at the mercy of others. Pitching your book to retail buyers and media outlets is one of those times. If you want to sell your books in bookstores or other trade outlets like Costco and Wal-Mart, know that it takes almost twelve months to get your books ready for distribution. This time is spent setting up the title in wholesale and retail systems, presenting to buyers, and preparing the logistics for an on-time launch. And there’s similar time sensitivity inherent in a proper publicity campaign. You only have one book launch, and if you don’t get advance review copies to reviewers at least four months prior to publication, your print campaign has virtually no shot at success.

Deciding to produce a book on an abbreviated timeframe may be possible from a purely logistical standpoint, but you shouldn’t rush your book launch unless you’re prepared to have a product that isn’t set up to reach its full potential. So take a breath and slow down. The book of your dreams will wait for you. If you follow the rules and wait too, the launch will be much more special. If you know what I mean.

Everyone at GBG is excited to share the news, so we thought we’d let are readers know as well!

Greenleaf Book Group adds one more cover design award to their already impressive list of accolades. HOW Magazine recently recognized designer Brian Phillips and his innovative cover art for the memoir Everything Will Be All Right by Douglas Wallace. The book cover received top honors in the magazine’s noted International Design Annual, featuring top print and interactive projects from around the globe.

“I was very pleased to learn that one of my covers earned a HOW Magazine International Design award,” Phillips stated. “To be recognized like this for something I do as a passion feels amazing.”

Greenleaf Book Group, based in Austin, Texas, is an independent book publisher and distributor that repeatedly receives recognition for their original, eye-catching book cover and interior designs. Most recently, Print magazine acknowledged Greenleaf for acquiring a Regional Design Award for book cover design as well as earning Gold Ink Awards in Gold, Silver, and Pewter for jacket design/printing.

“The content between a book’s front and back cover is obviously important in determining quality work and long-term sales. However, the outside cover is often what attracts the reader to pick up the book in the first place,” CEO Clint Greenleaf said. “Our design team excels in creating that first impulse to intrigue the reader and draw them in to flip through the pages and ultimately buy the book.”

For many aspiring writers, the process from finished manuscript to printed book is mired in mystery and misunderstanding. What, exactly, is the publisher doing from the point it receives your book until the point where eager readers can pick it up in a bookstore? Is it really all that complicated? Do I even need a publisher? These are all valid questions—no writer should get involved in the publishing industry without learning what the industry is. And there are few better guides through the process than an author who has lived through it . . . multiple times.

Award-winning author Jay Lake, whose books include Green, Mainspring, Madness of a Flower, Death of a Starship and others, including multiple short stories and other projects, wrote a blog post entitled “What my publisher does for me, and why I won’t just quit” to give fellow authors and aspiring authors a firsthand glimpse of the traditional publishing process through a timeline that spans over 32 months. (That’s right, over the course of nearly three years.) While his post is partially a response to the difficulties between Macmillan and Amazon on ebook pricing (read more about that conflict at Wired.com) and the changing model of publishing in general, it is also an eye-opening explanation of the collaborative process that takes place within publishing companies to produce books in any format. And while the face of publishing (and its internal clockwork) is changing at an increasingly rapid pace, the work that goes into producing a book has stayed very much the same for large publishers.

An excerpt from his post below:

Month 16 — Editorial assistant sends hardback page proofs to author.

Month 16 — Editorial assistant receives hardback page proofs from author.

Month 17 — Typesetter makes proof changes.

Month 18 — Proofing editor reviews changes.

Month 18 — Hardback printing goes to press.

Month 19 — Hardback printing goes to warehouse.

Month 21 — Hardback printing released to distribution

Month 22 — Hardback printing goes on sale.

Month 22 — Finance issues publication check to author via agent. (Payment 3 of 3 in typical contracts today.)

Month 24 — Production editor confirms press time slot for book.

Month 24 — Production editor turns manuscript over to book designer.

Month 24 — Book designer sends mass market paperback book to typesetter.

Month 25 — Typesetter does initial layout for mass market paperback release.

Month 26 — Editorial assistant sends mass market paperback page proofs to author.

Read the full article here.