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Self-Publishing & Book Production Guides
Practical, no-hype explanations of how books are made and sold.
Formats How to Choose a Book Trim Size
A practical decision guide to picking the right trim size for your paperback or hardcover — by genre, page count, cost and printer availability.
Covers Book Spine Width Explained (with Formulas)
How spine width is calculated for paperbacks and hardcovers, why paper choice changes it, and how to design a spine that survives printing tolerances.
Prepress Bleed, Trim and Safe Zones: Print Files Done Right
What bleed, trim and safe zones are, how much bleed printers need, and how to set up interior and cover files so nothing important gets cut off.
Paper Paper Weight Explained: GSM vs Pounds
Why 20 lb bond and 50 lb text are nearly the same paper, how to convert GSM to pounds, and which paper weights to use for book interiors, covers and print projects.
Publishing ISBN Guide for Self-Publishers
What an ISBN is, when you need one, how many to buy, free vs purchased ISBNs, barcodes and how ISBNs connect to your imprint and metadata.
Book anatomy Front Matter and Back Matter: The Complete Order
The standard order of a book's front matter and back matter — what each page is for, which side it goes on, how it is numbered, and what you can safely leave out.
Typography Book Interior Typography: Fonts, Size, Leading and Margins
Practical typesetting rules for book interiors — choosing a body font, type size and leading, line length, margins, chapter openings and avoiding widows and rivers.
Prepress Images for Print: Resolution, DPI and Colour
How to prepare photos, illustrations and covers for print — 300 ppi at final size, CMYK vs RGB, grayscale interiors, rich black and total ink limits.
Formats Paperback vs Hardcover: Which Formats Should You Publish?
Comparing paperback and hardcover editions — cost, price, durability, bookstore and library appeal, case laminate vs dust jacket, and when to publish both.
Printing Print on Demand vs Offset Printing
How print-on-demand and offset printing compare on unit cost, quality, formats, inventory risk and distribution — and when a short offset run makes sense.
Digital How to Format an Ebook (EPUB) Properly
A practical guide to ebook formatting — reflowable vs fixed layout, styles, chapter breaks, images, navigation, metadata, accessibility and testing before upload.
Audio Audiobook Production: Specs, Length and Workflow
How long your audiobook will be, how production works, and the technical specifications retail platforms such as ACX require for MP3 masters.
Writing How Long Should a Book Be? Word Counts by Category
Typical word counts for novels, novellas, YA, middle grade, picture books, memoir and nonfiction — and what those lengths mean in printed pages.
Publishing The Self-Publishing Checklist: Manuscript to Launch
A step-by-step checklist for self-publishing a book — editing, design, ISBNs, files, proofs, metadata, distribution and launch — in the order that avoids costly rework.
Marketing A Book Marketing Timeline for Authors: Six Months to Launch and Beyond
What to do, and when, to market a book — from six months before release through launch week and the months after — for traditionally and self-published authors.
Writing Writing About Grief and Loss: A Guide for Memoir Authors
How to write a book about grief — finding the shape of the story, writing about people who have died, caring for yourself, and publishing a book that helps grieving readers.
Book schemes Book Signatures and Imposition, Explained
How offset-printed books are made from folded sheets — what signatures are, how imposition places pages, why page counts come in multiples of 16 or 32, and what folio, quarto and octavo mean.
Paper Paper Sizes Explained: ISO A, B, C vs US Letter
How the ISO A, B and C paper series work, why A4 and Letter differ, and how book trim sizes relate to standard paper sizes around the world.
Book anatomy How to Write a Copyright Page (with Template)
What belongs on a book's copyright page — copyright notice, rights statement, ISBNs, edition, credits, disclaimers and printing line — with a template you can adapt.
Marketing How to Write a Book Description That Sells
A practical formula for back-cover copy and retailer descriptions — hook, stakes, promise and proof — for fiction and nonfiction, with length and formatting tips.
Publishing Book Metadata: Categories, Keywords and Getting Found
How book metadata works — title, contributors, subject categories (BISAC and Thema), keywords, series data and descriptions — and how to choose categories and keywords that help readers find your book.