The Design of Books by Debbie Berne
- Planted:
I am reading The Design of Books by Debbie Berne.
For any authors, especially if you are self-publishing, this book is just so good. It is a good candidate for the writers' book club at the Mercantile Library, after we read Jane Friedman's The Business of Being a Writer.
The design of books
What goes into the design of books? And I mean that generally, as in the lowercase d, lowercase b design of books—not Debbie's book (uppercase D, uppercase B).
Next time you're at the bookstore, check out the books with your hands as well as your eyes (or try this on your own bookshelf). Notice the different sizes and proportions, paperbacks versus hardcovers, jackets versus jacketless covers, different tones and thicknesses of papers (both inside the book and for the cover or jacket), rounded versus square spines, flashy foils and stamping. Although books all have the same basic parts, it's a jumble of visual personalities on the shelf. (18)
When publishing a book there are so many decisions to make. Off the top of my head,
- Hardcover or paperback?
- Dimensions
- The literal paper
- Front cover design
- Back cover design
- Inside covers
- Jacket or no?
- Table of contents
- Body text font
- Headings font
- Margins
- Where do page numbers go?
- Accent color(s) or black and white?
- Symbol to separate sections
- Footnotes or endnotes or both?
- Binding
- Acknowledgements in frontmatter or backmatter?
- Preface or no?
- Flaps? Flap size
- Left- and right-justify text using hyphens? Or left-justify to avoid breaking up words?
The design of The Design of Books
How did Debbie answer all those questions above for her book?
...
The design of dot com et al
There are some things I already knew I liked and didn't like, even before reading The Design of Books, that will inform the construction of my own book.
Footnotes, not endnotes
I knew I liked footnotes instead of endnotes. I like reading footnotes. I think they are a stylistic opportunity. It's a pain to flip to the back of the book to read endnotes, and I usually don't bother.
No jacket
I knew I disliked jackets. They are loud. They rip easily. They make books harder to hold. They fall off. They're prone to accidental folding when you close the book wrong. Libraries tape jackets on, which is actually better than an untaped jacket, except that I can't take them off, which would be better yet. I was curious about the case design of The World Beyond Your Head the whole time I was reading it, but I couldn't see it!
Light paperbacks
One of the biggest expenses, and headaches, of publishing is the paper. (23)
I knew I disliked heavy paper for a book I'd read casually without taking notes or anything, like before bed. Sapiens was too damn heavy. The Design of Books uses thick, heavy paper, but I actually don't mind it because I've been reading it on a table while underlining, writing in the margin, and typing up notes. Similarly, I knew I liked paperbacks for that kind of casual reading. Hardcovers hurt and poke, like if you drop one on your chest in bed accidentally. Paperbacks are easier to hold with one hand.