Your book title won’t fit on your cover.
You have 20 pages of thank-yous, author notes and a prologue at the front of your book.
Your text isn’t justified.
You don’t know what “justified” means.
You double space between paragraphs.
Your indents are two inches wide.
You back cover copy has to be set in 8 point italic condensed type to fit on the page.
Want to look like a pro? Look at other books. There are millions out there, in stores, libraries, and if you’re me, all over the house. If you create in an unnecessary vacuum, resign yourself to reinventing the wheel.
And an afterward about book titles: this is part of marketing, and major publishers have never had any trouble changing an author’s working title to something they feel works better for their line. When I did my experiment to see if I could tell whether books were self-published, it was the titles that gave them away, not the covers.
Titles are not copyrightable, but you’d still be nuts to call your novel Gone With the Wind unless you’re a meteorologist and it’s your autobiography. Do a search to see if there are other books with similar titles—you don’t want your work to get lost, or be confused with another book. I went back to the original title for Moonshine, because there were lots of books called Moonlight besides mine, but no other fiction with Moonshine in the title.
That title/subtitle that won’t fit on your cover? Folks, this is a bit like registering a baby thoroughbred with the Jockey Club. Which sounds like a quality horse? Secretariat, or Suzy Q’s Fuzzy Princess? Unbridled or Makemesomebigbucks5starreviews? Naming your book is an art, like naming your characters. It’s worth your time and consideration, and it’s not entirely the author’s preference—it’s part of your marketing, your book’s identity, your branding.
You have 20 pages of thank-yous, author notes and a prologue at the front of your book.
Your text isn’t justified.
You don’t know what “justified” means.
You double space between paragraphs.
Your indents are two inches wide.
You back cover copy has to be set in 8 point italic condensed type to fit on the page.
Want to look like a pro? Look at other books. There are millions out there, in stores, libraries, and if you’re me, all over the house. If you create in an unnecessary vacuum, resign yourself to reinventing the wheel.
And an afterward about book titles: this is part of marketing, and major publishers have never had any trouble changing an author’s working title to something they feel works better for their line. When I did my experiment to see if I could tell whether books were self-published, it was the titles that gave them away, not the covers.
Titles are not copyrightable, but you’d still be nuts to call your novel Gone With the Wind unless you’re a meteorologist and it’s your autobiography. Do a search to see if there are other books with similar titles—you don’t want your work to get lost, or be confused with another book. I went back to the original title for Moonshine, because there were lots of books called Moonlight besides mine, but no other fiction with Moonshine in the title.
That title/subtitle that won’t fit on your cover? Folks, this is a bit like registering a baby thoroughbred with the Jockey Club. Which sounds like a quality horse? Secretariat, or Suzy Q’s Fuzzy Princess? Unbridled or Makemesomebigbucks5starreviews? Naming your book is an art, like naming your characters. It’s worth your time and consideration, and it’s not entirely the author’s preference—it’s part of your marketing, your book’s identity, your branding.
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