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.

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.

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.”

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.

To see book covers come under fire is a truly fascinating look into what we have come to expect from a cover. Last summer, Justine Larbalestier’s YA novel Liar was originally featured a young white girl with long, straight hair, while the protagonist is clearly described as a black girl with short, textured hair. Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass has just been released with a cover featuring a young white woman, whereas the protagonist has dark skin and ‘exotic’ features. As Mitali Perkins described it in “Straight Talk on Race,” publishers want the cover “to sell more books, [so] the main character may be portrayed on the cover as less foreign or ‘other’ than he or she is in the actual story.”

Teen book reviewer Ari pleaded with publishers to consider the audience they alienate: “Do you know how much that hurts? Are we so worthless that the few books that do feature people of color don’t have covers with people of color?” Bloomsbury changed Liar’s cover prior to its official release and is re-issuing Magic Under Glass with a new jacket design. Their original response to the controversy mentioned that the covers were “intended to symbolically reflect the narrator’s complex psychological makeup.”

Book buyer Catherine Linka of Flintridge Bookstore reveals the intrinsic difficulty of chalking this up to discrimination or carelessness: “The cover works symbolically… [but readers want a cover to give] an honest representation of the experience that they will have with [a book].” And therein lies the rub: what was in dispute was not the stylistic choice, but rather the audience’s expectation that the cover should more literally match the inside the story.

Different designers approach the process in different ways, but generally they read the book or have a detailed synopsis. They aren’t designing blindly. Choices are being made all the time between what is obvious and what is complex. There is a certain level of independence, but the designer will still ultimately be answering to the publisher.

What may come as the bigger surprise is that the author rarely has any say in the book cover design. Traditionally, design lies solely in the hands of the design team, perhaps with some input on behalf of the editorial or marketing department. But the author does not factor in, as is obvious from Larbalestier’s response to her book’s cover design.

There are some smaller and independent publishers who offer a more collaborative design process, with designers and writers working together toward a final cover design. Open communication between the two can prevent many of these issues by allowing each to explain their process to the other. But even this presents its problems—an author may have his or her own artistic vision and not always understand what types of covers sell, which is the ultimate job of the designer: to make a cover sell. That is not a particularly romantic view, but it is a realistic one. Still it is important to remember that the design is still art. It’s merely art meant to encourage a purchase. And as an author, you must be prepared to deal with the ramifications of having other people interpret your work.

If you do find yourself in a more collaborative environment with a designer or team, remember that their experience in the field may give them a different vision than your own, and it is important to respect some of their more unconventional suggestions or design ideas. It’s all a part of the process.

A selection of fantastic book cover design blogs:

• faceout Books
• the book cover archive
• Book By Its Cover
• Judge a Book By Its Cover
• The Book Cover Archive
• Color + Design Blog’s article on Best Book Cover Palettes of 2009
• The Book Design Review (indefinite hiatus, but a wonderful archive)

There are those—typographers—who have made this their goal: to create just the right font for any situation. It is a true art. The intricacy of font work lends itself to a great deal of vision, patience, and mayhap a bit of oddity. (Check out “Being a Typographer” at CreativePro.com).

It is the same as any other unique image—and has just as much of a claim over copyright. But that fact is something we occasionally forget. ‘We’ being anyone from a personal user creating a poster for a band to a business creating a website for their product to, say, a very large company using the fonts for their ads.

Such was the case with NBC, which is currently facing a lawsuit from typographic firm The Font Bureau over a mishandling of font licensing. The Font Bureau, which is a big shot in the typographic world (having designed over 1,500 fonts for over 300 companies, according to their website), claims that NBC did not secure the rights to use a handful of fonts that appeared in their fall marketing campaign. A big mistake, as without proper licensing, all of that advertising can be pulled and would need to be redone. And that is an extremely expensive process.

Even large companies running intricate and expensive advertising campaigns make mistakes. But the fact of the matter is that, whether this or other incidents were purposeful or honest mistakes, people occasionally see a font as something they have an automatic right to—because it’s there, and it’s only text, and hey, who cares anyway?

A lot of people care. Fonts aren’t just text, they aren’t just how you read something. They can determine your perspective, your emotions, your thoughts. They are about appeal, about cleverness, about intrigue. It’s certainly apparent in the publishing industry. Typography is essential to both cover and interior design, and determines if a reader will even pick up your book. Not to mention the delicate balance between creating a good design and creating a design that smacks of the amateur or unprofessional je ne sais quoi, usually in ways more subtle (even subliminal) than we can imagine.

Diatribe aside, take some time to consider typography if you haven’t already. You’ll find that you have tastes and preferences, fonts that you love and fonts that you detest (and fonts that you just find lame). You’ll start to notice common fonts and design nuances, the way a sign over a shop or a billboard along the street or a book in your bookstore can grab your attention just by using the text in the right way. And remember that when you are creating your own design, that those typographers have worked to give you a near-infinite selection of font designs to enhance your work. And whether the fonts are purchased or free—show them the love they deserve.

Interested in fonts? Here are a few blogs dedicated to fonts and typography:

-        i love typography

-        the font feed

-        AisleOne

-        The Ministry of Type

-        Type Directors Club

-        TypeOff

-        Typographer.org

Looking for fonts to use on your own projects? Free or Creative Commons-licensed fonts:

-        dafont.com

-        urbanfonts

-        Font Freak

IKEA has responded that it believes the backlash comes mainly from typography experts, and that the general public doesn’t really notice this type of thing. But that discounts how widespread the displeasure about the Verdana switch is, and the subconscious effect that design details can have even on typography illiterates. We’ve mentioned that this type of thing is important before. Here’s a great case in point. Your book may never achieve the distribution levels of the IKEA catalog (it is often advertised as the most widely printed book in the world), but do pay attention to font—and never, ever, ever use Papyrus.

For those of you who don’t enjoy hours of web research on a topic that is less than stimulating, here’s a quick breakdown of the basic steps you’ll need to take. (Keep in mind that doing things in this order is important.)

Pre-production:

1. Get an ISBN.   International Standard Book Numbers are required for every book that is going to be sold in the book trade.  These can be obtained through Bowker, also known as Books in Print.
2. Register your book with Books in Print.  Once you receive the ISBN you’ll need to make sure that your title data is registered in their system.  This is important because a lot of sources (Amazon, Ingram, etc.) receive data feeds from this system—not to mention the fact that this is a resource for bookstores, libraries, and publishers around the world.
3. Create a barcode with the ISBN and price embedded.  Most trade stores require this to be on the back of your book before they will place an order.
4. Obtain a LCCN (also know as a PCN).  The Library of Congress Control Number (or Pre-Assigned Control Number) is a unique number that differentiates your book in the Library of Congress database.  Librarians use this number to access the associated bibliographic record for a given title.
5. Obtain CIP data.  Cataloging in Publication data creates a bibliographic record for forthcoming books that are likely to be acquired by librarians (and hopefully, librarians will want your book!).  This is to be printed on the copyright page, and this data is only available for works that are not yet published.

Post-production

1. Send one final copy to the Cataloging in Publication Division of the Library of Congress.
2. Send two final copies to the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress along with Form CO and the registration fee.  Alternatively, you are now able to fill out this form and submit payment online with eCO (electronic Copyright Office).
3. Wait to receive your Copyright Confirmation (current wait time is 12–16 months).

While this outline may not seem too arduous, there are many potential roadblocks in this process—so brace yourself, hope for the best, and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

If you’re in the central Texas area, we’d love to have you join us on the first four Sundays in August at BookPeople (603 N. Lamar, Austin, Texas). Sessions cost $15 each or $45 for all four. Attendance is limited to 60 people per session. To reserve a seat call (512) 472-5050 or visit BookPeople.

It’s going to be a fun, educational event—one we hope will untangle some of the complexities of getting a book produced, distributed, and marketed, as well as answer any questions on the publishing industry attendees have, whether basic or advanced. Be sure to visit our Facebook page, and if you’re the Twittering type, you can tweet about Austin Publishing University with the hashtag #apu09.

Descriptions of the four sessions of APU after the jump.

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SESSION 1 – Ins & Outs: The Industry Overview
Sunday, August 2, 2009 1:00 – 2:30 pm
The publishing industry presents many business models for authors, each with its own set of pros and cons. This class will walk you through the industry and give you the tools you need to choose the best path for your project. Plus, you will gain a basic understanding of what it takes to successfully create and market content in the retail marketplace. Learn the ins and outs of traditional publishing, self-publishing, print-on-demand publishing, and hybrid models—and how to avoid publishing pitfalls along the way.

SESSION 2 – Hot Topic: Content is King
Sunday, August 9, 2009 1:00 – 2:30 pm

So you know you want to write a book, but the blank page is glaring at you and you just don’t know how to begin. Come learn some useful techniques for structuring the writing process, getting past the terrifying first blank page, and presenting your ideas in a compelling and engaging manner.

SESSION 3 – Killer Covers: Boosting Sales by Design
Sunday, August 16, 2009 1:00 – 2:30 pm

Book jackets serve a number of purposes that are essential to the success of your book. This class will teach you how to make informed decisions about your covers by examining a variety of topics including genre appropriateness, the role of research, concept and tone, using photography and/or illustration, branding a series, endorsements, author photos, printing technology, retail durability, Amazon thumbnails, and design trends. We will closely analyze examples of various cover designs including award winning work.

SESSION 4 – Storming the Market: Online, On the Air, and On the Shelves
Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:00 – 2:30 pm

As the old saying goes, it’s easy to write a book: Selling it is hard. This class will discuss how effective marketing strategies, combined with traditional publicity and new media, come together to create a successful book launch. We will review the basic timeline that you should follow, describing what to do before, during, and after your publishing date. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to get the perspective of veteran publishers and retailers from both us at Greenleaf Book Group and BookPeople.

For more information about BookPeople, visit their site, or check out the fantastic interview they gave us a few months ago.