I first met Bobbi Linkemer around 2008 at a St. Louis Publishers Association (SLPA) meeting. Not long after, she invited me to meet with her—one of her author clients needed a book designer. That project had its share of blunders (I was still a newbie in the book design world), but it also marked the beginning of a friendship …
Is it the book designer’s job to clean up the manuscript in Microsoft Word? This is the question I asked Google after receiving two book manuscripts—neither of which used style sheets correctly, or at all. In both cases, the authors did not apply Word’s built-in styles like Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3. Instead,…
If you’re self-publishing your book, you’ll need to open accounts with online companies such as IngramSpark, KDP, or others. Additionally, you might choose to buy your own ISBNs from Bowker (MyIdentifiers.com). Properly managing these accounts and ensuring consistent information is crucial to avoid potential headaches down the line. The Problem: Error Message Recently, one of…
Typos are frustrating and can easily slip through when you’re rushing or losing focus. Sometimes, even when you’re careful, missing or incorrect information from a client or colleague can lead to costly errors. Here’s a closer look at why typos happen, how they can go unnoticed, and strategies to prevent them. Dot Com or Dot…
In a recent episode of Book Marketing Tips & Author Success, (Oct. 4) the importance of selecting the right vendor and avoiding costly mistakes came up, and the advice couldn’t be clearer: get it in writing. When hiring a designer or any other service provider, it’s essential to have clear terms upfront, ensuring both parties are on…
Setting the table for success is a phrase I heard on the Book Marketing Tips & Author Success podcast. This thought was fitting for a post-Thanksgiving episode. The podcasters, Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell said, “Look at everything you’re doing as a way to present your book to the reader—setting the table for success. You can’t force…
My expertise is graphic design. I am not a writer. But, I know when a sentence is not a sentence. Case in point: A CEO rewrote the text in his brochure. This CEO is not my direct client; my contact is a project manager who handles the creative jobs for the CEO’s company. [Let’s call…