The Book Book:
A Complete Guide to Creating a Book on Your Computer
Inside Information the Big Publishers
Don’t Want You to Have!
Publishers typically reject 999 of 1000 manuscripts submitted—
and your talent, knowledge, and writing skills may have nothing to do with it!

Is this how you want your
literary creation treated?

 Only $24.95 for the softcover edition.
See Table of Contents
Publishing industry trends endanger good writers. More and more people are writing, but good writers have to compete with amateurs clogging up the system with unpublishable work. Tighter budgets make publishers even more selective than ever. The competition for bookstore shelf-space is fierce. With all those factors against you, it’s no wonder the average author waits 5–15 years for that first acceptance and publication. Aren’t you tired of postponing what you know you deserve? Don’t wait for that elusive stroke of good luck—publish and sell your book yourself!

Self-publishing books abound. Graphic design books for producing flyers and brochures are everywhere. But where will you find everything you need to know about editing, typesetting, and designing an entire book on your own computer? In The Book Book: A Complete Guide to Creating a Book on Your Computer, of course!

You could hire a book production specialist to edit, typeset, and design your book for you (to the tune of $2,000 to $5,000!). Or, you can get The Book Book and do it yourself for the cost of paper and printer cartridges.

The Book Book: A Complete Guide to Creating a Book on Your Computer.
by Lily Splane

81/2" x 11"

140 pages

downloadable E-book format

Retail $12.00

ISBN 0-945962-22-3

Purchase from AMAZON.COM
and Save!

Customer Support

Softcover Edition

ISBN 0-945962-14-2

Books ordered directly from Anaphase II will be shipped post-paid within 7 days of payment. Returns accepted up to 30 days after sale, for books in resaleable, undamaged condition, and for unopened CDs. NO cash refunds for credit orders. Please email customer support for an RMA number before returning books.

Retail $24.95

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See Complete Table of Contents


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Anaphase 2 Publishing.
Anaphase II Publishing
A Division of Cyberlepsy
2739 Wightman Street
San Diego, CA USA

The Book Book was designed to make book planning, typesetting, layout, and prepress production accessible to and easy for anyone with computer experience.

Making your book marketable entails complying with some oftentimes rigid industry standards, allowing little deviation.

Your book doesn’t have to be among the volumes of poorly-designed printed matter. Your book can stand out and command respect, even awe.

In The Book Book you will learn:

  • How to write clearly and concisely
  • What kinds and sizes of type are expected in books
  • How to use typography and design to enhance the appearance of your book and make it shout professional from the very first page
  • How many pages your book should have
  • How to set up a book in signatures
  • What the margins should measure
  • What binding is ideal for your book
  • How to design an irresistible cover
  • How to scan art into your book
  • How to understand color separations and use color to your advantage
  • What kind of paper to use for your book

Plus Marketing and Distribution Tips:

  • How to decide on a cover price
  • How to register your book into international databases and the Library of Congress
  • How to ask for and get exactly what you want from your printer
  • How to approach distributors and bookstores, and what discounts to give them
  • What never to do in a book that turns book buyers and distributors off
  • How to ship books
  • How to collect payments

Self-publishing encompasses three immutable certainties: It’s hard work, it’s not cheap, and it’s very gratifying. If you do what it takes, a fourth certainty can be yours: it’s profitable!

FREE Downloads!

  1. 5½" x 8½" Book Template with styles in PageMaker format
  2. 8½" x 11" Book Template with styles in PageMaker format
  3. Book Layout Style Sheet in PDF format
  4. Chapter from The Book Book: Fantastic Fonts in PDF format
  5. Printing Press Quote Sheet in PDF format
  6. MS Spec Sheet in PDF format
  7. Publishing Contract in PDF format

Lily Splane has been writing, editing, typesetting, and designing books for self-publishers, college professors, and small presses for more than twenty years.

Let her expertise guide you!

---------------Fill Out this Form, PRINT THIS FORM, and mail!---------------

Please send me the computer-user’s book-production guide,
The Book Book, at $24.95 (CA residents add $1.93 sales tax,
for a total of $26.88) per copy postpaid.
I have enclosed a check or money order for copies.

Book(s) will be shipped within 7 days of order receipt.

Make check or money order payable to:
Anaphase II Publishing
2739 Wightman Street
San Diego, CA 92104-3526

Name:
Address:
City:
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Go Back to Cyberlepsy Home Page.

The Book Book:
A Complete Guide to Creating a Book on Your Computer

Table of Contents back to top

Part 1—Planning Stages 3

  • Large Publishing House Policies and Requirements 4
    • Format 4
    • Submissions Policies 4
    • Agents 5
    • Time and Money 5
    • Editors 5
    • Promotion 6
    • Contracts 6
  • The Independent Publishing Option 6
    • What Topics Sell? 7
    • Preliminaries: Get it Right the First Time 8
      • The Manuscript 8
      • Clear Writing 9
      • Structure and Format 9
    • Let’s Get Serious 10
      • Clarity 10
      • Denotation and Connotation 10
      • Euphemism 11
      • Brevity 11
      • Clutter 12
      • Redundancy 12
      • Cliché 12
      • The Active Voice 12
      • Unintentional Comedy 13
      • Negative—Not! 13
      • Editing and Revising 13
      • Misused Words 14
      • Punctuation 16
    • Word Count 18
      • Book Size, Page Count, and Dimensions 19
      • Big Publishers’ Method of Calculating Projected Book Size from Manuscript Length 19
    • Adhering to a Schedule 20
  • The Ins and Outs of Copyrights 21
    • The Concept/Expression Dichotomy 21
    • Copyright Duration 21
    • Copyright Parameters 22
      • Derivative Works 22
      • What Constitutes Creative Work? 22 back to top
  • ISBNs 24
    • Publisher Identifier Table 25
  • Other Databases in Which to List Books 25
  • CIP Data 25

Part 2—The Page 27

  • Margins 28
    • Measurement Conversions 29
    • Gutters 29
      • Handy Dandy Fraction–to–Decimal Conversion Table 29
    • Alleys 29
  • Running Headers 30
    • Folios 30
  • Putting it All Together 30
    • Laser Printer, Perfect- or Comb-Bound 5½" x 8½" Book 31
    • Laser Printer, Saddle-Stitched 5½" x 8½" Booklet 31
    • Inkjet Printer, Perfect- or Comb-Bound 5½" x 8½" Book 31
    • Inkjet Printer, Saddle-Stitched 5½" x 8½" Booklet 31
  • Parts 31
  • Chapters 31
  • Sections 31
  • Special Elements 32
  • Tables 32
  • Boxes and Side-bars 32
  • Initial Caps 32
  • Drama 32

Part 3—Fantastic Fonts 33 back to top

  • Font Types 34
    • Parts of a Vector-Based Character 34
    • Other Kinds of Fonts 35
  • Measurement Systems 35
    • Examples of Common Point Sizes 35
    • Points–to–Inches Conversion Table 36
    • Human-World Point–to–Inch Conversions 36
  • Font Families 36
    • Serif and Sans Serif Fonts 37
    • Decorative Fonts 38
    • Script Fonts 38
  • How Thrifty is Your Font? 38
  • Type Styles 39

Part 4—Banzai Typesetting 41

  • Body Text 42
    • To Justify or Not... 42
  • A Matter of Case 42
  • Paragraphs 43
    • Indents 43
  • Leading 43
    • At-a-Glance Autoleading Table 44
  • Word and Sentence Spacing 45
  • Character Spacing: Tracking and Kerning 45
    • Tracking 46
  • Character Width (Horizontal Scale) 46
  • Kerning 46
  • Tabs 47
  • Bold Type 47
  • Italic Type 47
  • Small Caps 47
  • Bullets and Numbering 48
  • Just Say “Ah”: White Space 49
  • Balance, Widows and Orphans 49
  • Rivers 50
  • “Hyphenitis” 50
  • Headings and Subheadings 50
    • Headings Table 51
  • Captions 51
  • Callouts 51
  • Reverse Type 51
  • Paragraph Rules vs. Underlining 52 back to top
  • Newspaper Columns 52
  • Quotes vs. Inches 53
  • Em Dashes 53
  • En Dashes 53
  • Superscripts and Subscripts 53
  • Fractions 54
  • Thin Spaces 54
  • Styles 55
    • A Typical Style Sheet for a Book 55
  • Special Characters 55
    • ASCII Codes for Special Characters (Windows Only) 56
    • Macintosh Special Characters 56

Part 5—Parts of a Book 57

  • The Front Cover 58
  • Front Matter 59
    • Title Page 59
    • Copyright Page 59
    • Dedication 59
    • Epigraph 59
    • Table of Contents 60
    • Preface 60
    • Acknowledgments 60
    • Introduction 60
  • Back Matter 61
    • Appendix 61
    • Bibliography 61
    • Index 61
    • Author Bio 62
  • The Spine 62
  • The Back Cover 63
    • Barcodes 63

Part 6—Artsy Stuff: Graphics 65

  • Paste-Up and Other Archaic Activities 66
  • An Expedition Through Computer Graphics Hell 66
    • How a Scanner Works 66
    • Scanner Calibration 66
  • Graphic File Formats 66
    • Resolution 66
      • Common Printer/Imagesetter Resolutions 68
    • Screen Frequency (Ruling) 68
    • Scan Ratio 68
    • Screen Angle 69
    • Scaling 69
    • Bits, Bytes, and Gasps 69
    • Computer Graphics Table 70
    • Memory and File-Size Management 70
    • Other Computer Graphics Formats 71
    • File Conversions 71

Part 7—Color Separations 73

  • What’s a Separation? 74
    • All About Color 74
    • Spot Color vs. Process Color 74
  • Printing Complications 75
    • Stalking the Elusive Clean Color-Break: Knock-Outs and Trapping 75
  • Color and Printing Presses 76
    • Film 76
    • Ink Coverage 76
    • Dot Gain 76
    • Bleeds 77
    • Crossovers 77

Part 8—Paper 79 back to top

  • The Paper Mill 80
  • Calendering Table 81
  • Common Paper Textures 81
  • Cover Stock 81
  • Paper Grades Table 82
  • Paper Grain 82
  • Paper Size 82
  • Paper Weight 83
  • Paper Caliper 83
  • Book Thickness 84
  • Ink Holdout 84
  • Whiteness 84
  • Brightness 84
  • Paper Specs 84
  • Paper Suppliers 84
  • Paper Care 85

Part 9—The Printing Press 87

  • Pre-Press Preparations: One Last Check 88
  • Mechanicals 88
  • Stages of Press-Proofs 89
  • Printing Methods 89
    • Electrostatic: Laser and Photocopy Technology 89
    • Offset Ink Printing 90
      • How a Sheet-Fed Offset Press Works 90
      • Print Problems 91
      • Printing Industry Customs 91
      • Print Quality Variations Table 9
    • Getting Quotes 93
    • File Conversions 95
      • PostScript Files 95
    • Quality Copy Services 95
    • Small Printing Presses 95

Part 10—Book Binding 97 back to top

  • Binding Methods 98
    • Hokey Binding Methods 98
    • Comb Binding 98
    • Perfect Binding 98
    • Case-Binding 98
  • Aggravation in a Nutshell: Signatures 99
    • Imposition 99
      • Signature Tables 101
    • Trim 105
    • Scoring and Tipping In 105
    • Creep 105
  • Varnishing, UV or IR Coating, and Laminating 105

Part 11—Headache in a Can: Marketing & Management 107

  • Distribution 108
  • Free Publicity 112
    • Places to Send Your Press Release 114
  • Getting Books Out and Money In 114
    • Packing 114
    • Shipping 115
      • U.S.P.S. 2002 Bound Printed Matter (Book) Postal Chart 116
    • Returns 116
    • Billing and Collections 118
    • Pricing Strategies and Profit Calculation 118

Part 12—The Future is Now: Electronic Publishing 121 back to top

  • The Small Press Comes of Age 122
  • Print on Demand (POD) 122
    • POD Distributors 122
    • E-Books 123
    • Required Software 123
    • So, Which Company is the Best? 123
  • Bye Bye . . . Safe Journey 123
  • POD Specifications for a 200-page 5" x 8" Book, Retailing for $15.00 124
  • Bibliography 125