PUBLISHED JULY 2017 by Joel Friedlander, Book Designer, Blogger, and Writer Watch Joshua Robertson’s video recap of this article! You’ve decided to create your own book covers and interiors design—do you know what font you plan to use? This should be one of the first, and most basic, questions you need to ask yourself before …

Print books are still going strong, and even people who own laptops, tablets, and smartphones continue to buy them. Many authors who got started by publishing straight-to-digital e-books are realizing that there’s a big role for print books to play in their publishing plans.

PUBLISHED JUNE 2016 by Joel Friedlander, Book Designer The growth of the e-book market has brought with it a new challenge for those who design these e-book covers, whether they are amateurs or professionals. More than anything else, designers and do-it-yourself publishers have to address the challenges of this relatively new format in a way …

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2015 by Joel Friedlander, Book Designer Nonfiction books almost always need an index. That’s one thing people in the book business generally agree on. Another is that the right person to create an index is a skilled professional who knows that an index is constructed from the concepts behind the terms and people …

PUBLISHED JULY 2015 by Joel Friedlander, Book Designer Do you issue updates on your e-books—making minor corrections, additions, or deletions in the version already published, and then uploading the updated file so that anyone who purchased the book can get the new version free? There are a lot of good reasons to consider updating an …

It’s a new day for self-publishers, no question about it. Indie authors can take the business of publishing a book into their own hands without spending huge amounts of money and, with a little diligence, can reach their specific readers through powerful sales channels available to everyone. But there’s a catch. They themselves have to …

When people get started in book publishing these days, their projects usually include plans for both print books and e-books. And that makes a lot of sense. With the growing popularity of devices that can deliver books in digital formats, it’s important to ensure that a book you’ve worked hard on is available to readers …

Joel Friedlander, who blogs about book design and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com, is an award-winning book designer; the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, a publishing services company in San Rafael, CA; and the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion. Blogging to get some marketing traction before a book comes out is an excellent idea. In fact, I think …

                 Twitter for Beginners September 2013 by Joel Friedlander Twitter just gets bigger and bigger. It’s really the perfect medium for getting the word out quickly, making a point, poking your opponents while they are still in the middle of a speech, or complaining about NFL refs. And …

Picture this: you pick up a book and open it, only to discover that every page is exactly the same, a tall rectangle of text extending close to the edge of the page and without interruption. There are no spaces between paragraphs because there are no paragraphs, no chapters, no page numbers, no running heads, …