Book Formatting Made Easy

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm talking about book formatting. You know, that niggling little thing we all have to do before we can put our books up for sale to the masses. First, you have to format it for print! Then, you have to format it for digital. If you're on more than one platform, you have to format your digital version more than once. Sounds fun, huh?

No?

Well, allow me to introduce you to something that will save you a ton of formatting time. While you won't get the level of interior design you can achieve with a professional designer at your side (bleed, images that relate to your story, etc...), you can still have a professional looking book with less work on your end. If you're on a budget (as all Indies I know are), this is the answer to your fervent prayers.

I suggest using the service I'm about to tell you all about in The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. That publication goes into where you can sell your book, how to format for each platform, and gives a ton of references you can use to make your book the best publication it can be.

BUT!

Come on, you knew that was coming. *grin*

If you've read TIAG, you'll know my referral was for the print version of your book only. Now, you can get templates for both the print and digital versions of your book.

It's genius (and I've said as much to the brains behind the project).

I know you're chomping at the bit to find out where you can get these templates. Well, here's your link:

Book Design Templates

Their templates include:

• 2 Way (these are the ones that work for digital and print) for Fiction, Memoirs, and Narrative Non-Fiction
• Fiction, Memoirs, and Narrative Non-Fiction (print only)
• Non-Fiction, Reference, and Technical (print only)
• Children's Books (yes, really! print only)
• Specialty - Book Proposals and even a template for a mini version of your book!

Who are the masterminds behind this awesome breakthrough? Joel Friedlander and Tracy Atkins from The Book Designer blog. If you've never heard of that blog, I invite you to jump on over and poke around. You'll find a lot of great stuff over there about self-publishing and book design.

What are you waiting for? Get going!

I'm in no way compensated for any links I provide on my blog (except those that go to my own books, and that's only if you buy one!). So you can always be sure the recommendations you get here are 100% for you.

What do you think of this awesome breakthrough? Will you use it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Notes on Createspace File Prep, and NaNoWriMo News

Happy Friday, everyone! Wow, this week flew by! I'm knee-deep in the launch prep for I, Zombie and have had so much fun shouting about it everywhere. We'll see how it goes. On to other, more production type things! Today, I'm talking about something to beware of when printing your book with Createspace. Let me start off by saying I love Createspace. I think they're the best, easiest option out there for Indie authors to get print books. However, the issue I'm detailing today really needs to be something they fix somehow. Perhaps a special account for those that know what they're doing.

So, I decided to release an anthology of the first 5 Mystic books in print and use the covers that will be changed globally when Markaza's book is released next year. Because of this, I also revamped the interior. Well, this caused me a huge problem. Let me show you what I mean; telling you isn't going to help.

I love typography. I think it makes some of the most beautiful art on the planet. Apparently, CS doesn't agree with this practice. When I uploaded my book with this pretty type-style artwork on the chapter openings pages:

(I adore it. What you see here is the page trimmed to the bleed lines. Now keep in mind, the M would disappear into the gutter quite a bit and it's cutting off the C and the dot on the I. Still, pretty, eh? And matches the cover perfectly!)

They rejected it.

Why? The reason they gave me is that the text is too close to the edge of the page which would result in quite a bit of it being cut off during production. There should be at least a .125" margin on all sides.

I e-mailed them and outlined that the text they were referring to wasn't meant to be read, it was there for artistic purposes, was a 330dpi image (this is why their auto-checker didn't find any issues), and there was a ONE inch margin around the text in the body of the book (more than they require, but an industry standard). Hell yeah, I was gonna fight for my design!

I waited less than 24 hours when a response showed up in my inbox. A human would try and explain my design to the other humans who look over the book and get the approval for the proof regardless. That person would try and push my design through to production and I should look for an answer sometime over the next two days. YAY!

Excitement flooded me! I was gonna get my beautiful type treatment!

My joy was short lived, however, when I was told there was no way the team could push it through.

Drats!

At that point, I'd exhausted all my options and decided to just reformat the chapter opening pages without my beautiful type art.

This is what I ended up with:

While still fun, and very Markaza-ish, it's just not what I would've preferred.

Oh well.

Why am I sharing this with you? To keep you from using type in a full bleed page design intended for Createspace and having them reject it. Twice. As always, I'm trying to save you from a permanent red spot on your forehead from banging it on the desk out of frustration.

Lesson learned. I feel like the bad child who had their hand slapped. *Note to self: Never EVER use type that might be cut off in ANY way in your book design until you've convinced CS to create a special account just for you*

Yeah, that's my next goal. I'm gonna try to get them to change the policy where this is concerned. *grin*

I'll keep you updated.

On to the next part of this post!

If you were a participant in NaNoWriMo this year, you're now able to go pick up your winner goodies! There's some awesome stuff on the offering block so I suggest you go check it out.

NaNoWriMo.org

Look very closely at the Lulu offer. That's all I'm going to say about it.

Have you ever experienced this kind of thing with your printer? How did you handle it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Setting Up a File for Your Book Cover Design

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking about setting up your file in Adobe Photoshop CS5 so you can design an awesome book cover that will translate well to print and not cut off anything important. Now, the instructions here can translate to ANY design program you're using. The measurements are the same. I have PS, so that's what I'm walking you through. You can also get this information in my book, The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. That link will take you to the Kindle version (just $2.99). My guide takes you through more than cover setup though! It goes through how to format everything so your book comes out the other side looking amazing in both digital and print formats.

Enough about that. Let's get going! I have fun screenshots for each step, so you won't get lost.

First, open Photoshop (or your program of choice):

As you can see, I've tailored it to my specific preferences. So, your screen may look a wee bit different.
Now, click on file>new:

Set the document up as follows, replacing the words "My Book" with the title of your book. I'm showing you here how to set up a cover for a 5.5"x8.5" book. If designing a different size, add 1/4" (.25") to the height and width.

Notice I changed pixels to inches, the resolution to 330, and the color space to CMYK. Wait! Why did I change it to CMYK? Because printers don't print in RGB. CreateSpace uses a four color process printer and it'll do funky things to your cover colors if you design in RGB. CMYK changes to RGB (web colors) easily but not the other way around. Here's a little example of the difference:

See how the CMYK colors are a little bit duller? You do NOT want that to happen with your book cover. Okay, moving on...

You should now have something that looks like this:

Next, drag guides to cut off 1/8" (.125") all the way around the book cover. Like so:

I filled the background with white so you can see the guides. Outside the guides is your bleed area (the area that WILL be cut off when the printer prints your book). Now, not all cutting machines are super accurate (the shame!) so you'll need to identify a safety area as well. This is the place you don't want text or anything you want to keep on the cover. If you stay inside these lines, you're guaranteed to be okay. Drag guides to mark your bleed area at 1/4" (.25") inside the bleed line. Some places only make you carry a safety of 1/8" (.125"), but it's better to be safe than sorry. Your document should look like this:

Now I'll show you in colors what you're looking at:

Bleed is the area that WILL be removed. Safety is the area that MAY be removed. Live is the area where your book cover design should be. Nothing should move outside the LIVE area.

As you can see by the ruler on the edge of the screen, when cut at the bleed line, your final product is 5.5"x8.5":

If you take the time to design your cover this way, all you'll have to do when you're ready to set up your cover document with CreateSpace is flatten the image, drag it into the new wrap, and drop it. Once you're all designed and ready to go for digital, save it as a PSD (in case you want to change something later), then flatten it, change the color space to RGB, and save it as a .jpeg. I guarantee it'll be the correct aspect ratio for all platforms.

I hope this saves you all from wearing huge red spots around on your foreheads.

Did you know all of this? Has it helped you in some small way?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

CreateSpace - Head to Desk

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Yay! Friday! It's about time, too. This week was a long one, but I wrote many words. I have five works in progress, so expect a rash of publishing coming out of this Indie author later in the year. Perhaps I'll be doing a number of giveaways around Christmas again. My goals are to publish the next two installments of the Mystic series (Melody and Coralie), M, Player, and possibly another book I've written a chapter of. Lofty goals! But that's not the topic of today's post. Today, I'd like to talk about CreateSpace.

As you may know, I'm a graphic designer. Because of this, I use Adobe InDesign to format my books for print. On occasion, I format books with artwork that bleeds off the edge of the pages. As in the examples below:

 The Bird

 Dark Premonitions - Second Sight, Book Three

Chasing Memories - The Tala Prophecies, Book One












If you've read The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, you've probably already hit the point where you don't get errors back from CreateSpace's auto-check. And you're probably using MS Word to format your books.

This little golden nugget of teachings is for those of you that want to have elements in your book that bleed and are using ID.

When you place your artwork, be sure the bounding box bleeds on all sides all the way to the edge. Even though it looks right on the screen, and you know it'll print correctly, the auto-check will kick it back and show it as an error. If you ignore the issues and save past them, submitting your book without the all-clear, you'll get a reject.

I've even gone as far as to call CreateSpace about the book I'd submitted, assuring them that the artwork was exactly as I wanted it, and they told me they couldn't push it through to the printing house without causing a major headache for everyone involved.

So, to keep others from experiencing mounds of frustration, and having minions, who only know that if the auto-check says no it can't happen, laugh in your face and tell you there's nothing they can do, I'm sharing my frustration.

I only thank the heavens above that I experienced the drawback with my own book and not that of a client. I'm grateful for the experience, but wish I'd known all that I'm sharing with you now before I hit that wall and was forced to step back and re-group.

I hope this post prevents some headaches for some of you.

If you're designing in MS Word, I'm not sure you can create elements that bleed. Though perhaps it's possible.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Branding Step Five

Happy happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! On to the weekend! I hope I've given you enough information this week so you'll have a branding project to work on for the next couple of days. Today is all about look and feel. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

What is look and feel, anyway?

To put it simply, look and feel is the consistent look of your presence and the feeling a visitor gets when they come to your page or see your ads. If you saw an ad belonging to Jo Michaels somewhere, you'd know it was mine because of either the logo or the color scheme. Polka-dots be damned, mine are specific colors. This is what you should be striving for.

Even my mobile site is consistent with the rest of my marketing. Yes, it matters.

I want people to feel like they're having fun when they visit my sites because I'm a fun person. Think about what you're projecting with your colors and design. Is your site stodgy and boring? Are your colors saying what you want them to? There have been deep looks into what feelings colors incite.

Take a look at this:

Yes, click it and view it full size. Keep it if you like. But, above all else, remember it when deciding on your color scheme. If you notice, the colors in my logo are blue and brown. I added peach (a tint of orange) to the backgrounds of my sites. Now you know why.

The feeling your pages incite matters. People want to feel happy when they pay you a visit. Let them, help them, show them the way.

Now you know what look and feel is; make sure you're using it for maximum impact.

Come on back Monday when I'll be giving you all a look into what I accomplished this week with my social networking schedule.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Branding Step One

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! This week I'm gonna talk about branding yourself. No matter what business you're in, it's a good idea to have a brand; something that says, "Hey, look here! It's me and there's no doubt about it!" Today's post is all about having an image. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going.

If you've read my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, you'll know branding is the first thing I discuss.

Why is branding so important? Ask McDonald's, Nike, or Coca~Cola. Those golden arches, the swoosh, and that pretty red color are instantly recognizable. No matter where you are, those are branding standards.

These companies have entire books on how their logo can be displayed, used, and colorized. If you take a peek inside the book, you'll see the requirements of size, space around the logo, and color options. Here are a couple you should look at: UPS, McDonald's, Twitter, and Facebook. You can look up any brand you may be curious about by typing the company name and the words brand standards into a Google search box.

You should also have a brand standard. Your logo or headshot, used as an identifier, should have some sort of requirement when shown to the world by others or yourself. It's helpful to have a standard when asking a designer to build something for you.

If you don't have a logo or something akin, you may want to contact a designer or photographer and see what can be done about it. A good designer won't just shove a logo at you. They'll give you an identity. Once you have one, use it everywhere.

Tomorrow, I'm going into color schemes and why companies try to keep it simple (and why you should, too!).

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Inches Picas and Points

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! How are you all today? I hope the start of this week brings you many smiles! Today, I'm gonna try and explain how inches, picas, and points are used in design. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

An inch is a common measurement used in the U.S. Picas and points are international, universal, measurements used in design work. These two units are used to measure type and layout sizes. That way, a designer in the U.S. can do work for someone in the U.K. or Japan and the measurements are the same without having to do a ton of conversions.

If you've ever looked at the size on your type, you'll notice it's referred to as: 12pt, 14pt, etc... A 12pt type size is also a one pica type size. Click on the image below for reference as we move along.

Allow me to break it down:
1inch = 6 picas
1 pica = 12 points

So when you see a measurement like 1.5" it equals 9p0. That's 9 picas and 0 points. We got there by taking 6 picas (one inch) and adding it to 3 picas (half an inch).

But wait! Adobe products do the conversions FOR you! If you have 12cm, you type in 12cm and hit tab and pow! you have your conversion (28p4.157). If you have 1.285 inches, you type in 1.285" and hit tab and pow! you have your conversion (7p8.52). How awesome is that?

So the next time you're designing that all important book cover, pay attention to the type size. Remember, your leading (the space between your lines of type) should be at least 1.5 of your type size. In other words, an 11 point typeface would get leading of around 16 or 17 points but a 9 point typeface would get 13 or 14. Your decision (I like 11 on 17 and 9 on 14). See image above for examples.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What about Sans Serif?

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're talking more fonts! I know, I know, crazy stuff. But the topic for today is sans serif fonts. Why do we use them? Where did they come from? What are some common ones? So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

A sans serif font is defined as: A style of type without serifs.

The type you're reading now is sans serif. It's called Arial. Designers worldwide just drew in a collective gasp. Yes, I know Arial is the knockoff Helvetica. Sorry, I like it. So, for a larger example:

This letter is from a typeface called HelveNuThin. It's the one I use for my name on the cover of my novels. Notice there are no protrusions of any kind on the letterform. This is an excellent example of a sans serif font.

Why do we use them?
They're easier to write and have become more widely used with the invention of the computer. Now, here's a tidbit of trivia for you! Arial was designed by Microsoft when the designer of Helvetica wanted a payment for every copy of windows that was distributed. They hired someone to come up with a font similar so they wouldn't have to pay. Hell hath no fury like the design world when one uses Arial. By the way, that stop sign near your house? Helvetica is the font used. Anyway, I digress!

Where did they come from?
The first sans serif typeface was Caslon in 1745 but they didn't become as popular as they are today until the invention of the computer.

What are some common ones?

And I hope this answers questions you may have had about serif typefaces. Tomorrow, we'll talk script typefaces and I'll give some examples of those, too!! For printed book design, Caslon is a popular choice.

What's your favorite sans serif font?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Hiring a Book or Cover Designer

Happy Friday! It's time for the weekend! I can hear you cheering. Today, I'm going to give you some tips on what to look for when hiring a designer for your manuscript and cover. I'll give you a list of questions you should ask, what you can expect from your designer, and what you should prepare in advance. So grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First and foremost, you should prepare a creative brief. Your brief should include:

• Your name and pen name
• Your address and billing information
• The book's title
• Genre
• Blurb
• Any review matter you'd like included
• Cover copy (the text that appears on the back or inside flap)
• Your vision for your book
• Other books in your genre (for reference)
• Headshots, logos, or any other imagery that must be included (like awards the book has won)

Now that you have your brief, you should approach a designer. Before handing over your brief, you need to ask some questions to make sure you're hiring someone that knows their stuff. Ask things like:

• Have you ever formatted for XYZ company's specs before?
• Do you have a design degree? (While this isn't necessary, it doesn't hurt to know going in.)
• What software do you use for design?
• Can I see some of the other work you've done?
• Explain bleed to me. Bleed is the area of the image that hangs over the edge and is cut away during production.
• What is kerning? Kerning is adjusting the space between letters.
• What is tracking? Tracking is adjusting the space between a whole line of letters.
• What's the standard safety margin for live elements? Standard safety is .25" from the edge for books. Some production houses call for .125". Either answer is correct. However, CreateSpace wants .25".

If your designer nails all these questions, you've got someone that most likely knows their stuff.

What you can expect from your designer:
A good designer will give you three very different choices to start with. They'll ask you to narrow it down to one and give you up to two revisions on that one design. Once you decide on a cover, the interior should compliment fonts used and look and feel of the book. Again, I'll use The Bird as an example:

Note the font on the cover of the book and the design elements around the border.

Now note the font on the chapter heading and number and the design elements around the edges of the page.











Watch out for the designers that mix two script fonts, two serif fonts, or two sans serif fonts in their design. This is a basic Typography no-no because it always comes off looking like a mistake.

Your designer should provide you with all files:

• Thumbnails
• Cover sized and formatted for digital uploads
• Cover sized and formatted for display on a website
• Entire cover for production house, formatted properly and in proper color space (CMYK ONLY)
• Cover in black & white
• List of fonts used

They won't give you the original files they built. Don't ask. This is like you writing a story and someone else wanting to tinker with it and release it with your name on it without you approving the changes.

Your contract should include:

• Statements saying the artwork is yours once the work is done and that you're free to use it in any way you see fit at no extra compensation for the designer or any third party.
• Deadlines and penalties for not meeting them.
• A guarantee clause stating all work is original and designed by them.
• A clause stating all artwork contained in the design is free from copyright by third-party entities.
• Number of revisions allowed at no extra charge.
• Payment arrangements in detail.
• Your name, their name, and all addresses associated with you both.
• Number of files you'll receive and sizes/specs.

This is protection for both you and your designer. They should never ever balk at signing a contract.

I hope this helps many indie authors get the quality and professionalism they deserve in a designer. Over on Joel Friedlander's blog today, there's an interesting post about judging a book by it's cover. I beg you to go give it a read.

Any questions? Leave a comment and I'll get back with you ASAP.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway while you're here!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Formatting Your Manuscript for Print

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Since it's so close to Friday and Valentine's Day, I thought I'd give you all a little something to look forward to! Let's first discuss that all important thing I like to call formatting a print book then we'll get into the awesome rafflecopter prizes I have up for the winning. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

When you format your manuscript for print, there are a lot of things you need to take into account. Just slapping some text into your book works, but it won't wow your readers and make them want to pick up your book for keeping.

In my book, The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book, I go into how to format your manuscript in MS Word. Why? Because it's a standard item on most computers. I give you the bare bones on how you can produce a legible document for print. Best of all, I made it just $2.99 on Amazon and Smashwords. But what about getting creative?

If I went into designing a book for print in InDesign, many of you would be scratching your heads. I tried to keep it simple and easy to understand. But there's a lot to be said for either hiring someone who knows InDesign to format your book or buying the program and learning how to do it yourself.

Here are a couple of examples of things that can be done using a program like InDesign to format:

 Chapter 1 Page 1 of The Bird

Chapter 1 Page 6 & 7 of Yassa













I've applied stylized formatting to the Copyright page and the front matter as well. The interior of The Bird is full bleed so the page you see there will be trimmed .125" all the way around. It'll be beautiful and give my book that little something extra.

A good book designer will know odd pages are always on the right, even pages are always on the left, and front matter gets no numbers (unless roman numerals are used - often for a forward or introduction). Ask these questions of your designer before you hire them!

I talk about all these things and SO much more in my book. I designed the print edition small so you can carry it with you or keep it on your desk and it not take up a ton of space. My first printed edition of Yassa is in a larger typeface for those who would like to read without their glasses. I've gotten a ton of thanks for that. In the Mystic series, every book looks the same. The interior is simple because the subject matter is serious. Above all else, it's consistent.

This all leads me to my point: Think long and hard about your print books. If necessary, talk to a graphic designer or reader and ask them what the most alluring covers and interiors entail. Take copious notes and implement them when designing your book.

Now, on to the giveaway! In keeping with the ideas presented in The Indie Author's Guide, I'm giving one lucky winner either a digital identity package OR a book cover design OR a book formatted for print. Another lucky winner will get an advance printed, signed copy of The Bird, a huge Mystic~Bronya cover poster, three postcards featuring Mystic and Yassa, and a Mystic bookmark.

Without further ado, here's the entry form:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
GOOD LUCK!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Your Cover Speaks Volumes

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm going to talk about book covers. Things every author should think about when deciding on a cover for their book. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

I'm going to start by discussing my own book covers and a couple I've designed for other authors.
First up, the cover of Yassa.

I chose this design because of the quality of the artwork and what it says to the reader. Yassa is a law that outlines the idea of loyalty until death. The book inside is all about inner struggle, love, and culture. It's supposed to convey the softer side of a warlord like Genghis Khan. I know it's a geisha and I know there are no geisha in the book, but the geisha represented beauty and the cherry tree represented new life. It also worked really well in black and white. Pay attention to the type. It's strong yet beautiful.

The Abigale Chronicles features handwritten type done by a twelve-year-old girl. My main character is twelve and it seemed fitting to stay within the age group to which the book is geared. As the book progressed through volumes 2 and 3, the colors and the design elements are all that changed. I wanted it to be recognizable as a series from no more than a glance and to be unique.

My Mystic series features a digital painting representing the end of the world. I wanted all the books to look alike so I stayed with the idea of only changing the name inside the orb. Thinking of Markaza, I wanted the paranormal/mystical aspect to be clearly recognizable as well as the barren wasteland and dead tree. I chose the greyscale cover to impart death and loneliness. No bright colors would have worked for this design. Look at the flowing type. It says something on its own.

Divorced to Dating Disasters was designed for Ms. Chelsea Black. Her idea was one of chocolates and I had the perfect image to compliment the sweet wreckage her book portrays. Maybe when broken, things are sweeter. Perhaps it just creates a mess... Strong type was used to reinforce the words. Divorce is series, disasters are damaged, and Chelsea is a serious writer.

This bright and fun cover was designed for my good friend Crystal Lee. She gives workshops on how to grow things in the hot Arizona climate. We wanted something that said food, hot, and fun to read as well as making it eye-catching for the browsing readers over on Amazon. It was fun to design and the typography is just gorgeous. Don't you love that negative space between the y and the A? How about the way the O and G mimic the roundness of the peppers?

Last but not least, The Bird. If you're a frequent visitor to the blog, you probably saw the three design options for this book. You probably also voted on one or the other. I used a cardinal because he is the character that changes the story for Stormy. Everything is plodding along as usual before that pesky Trobodyte bird shows up. I chose blue and red because they're neighbors on the color wheel and looked good together. I wanted strong typographical elements to offset the strength of the digital painting of the bird. A border was added for punch.

I bet you're all wondering why I chose to show you these covers, right? I'm asking that you look at them. Really take a moment and look. Every one of them has something in common. Forget the imagery for a moment and focus on just the words. Look at the shapes of the letters and see how they speak on their own. Every typeface has a voice. You have to consider that when you're designing your book covers or when looking over a cover designed for you by an artist. If your cover doesn't work with just the type, your imagery will fall flat every time. Never rely on a great picture to get your feeling across.

I gave three options for each of the above books before I settled on one. You should see the rejects! Maybe one day I'll list them and go into why they didn't work.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr bUsiNeSS CaRd

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your business card(s).

A business card might not seem very important. After all, it's just a tiny piece of card stock folks either file away, throw away (yikes!), or stick in a Rolodex, right? Wrong. A business card is oftentimes your one chance to make an awesome first impression. By now you know the drill, so get out your pencils and paper and follow along. Read carefully because I'm going to be giving you tips you may not have ever heard.

Get out your card (either printed or a digital version) and let's start with what you're doing now.
Observations:

1. Is your phone number prevalent?
2. Is your name or pen name easy to read?
3. How big is your card?
4. How many pieces of information are on it (name, phone number(s), url, blog, twitter, book title(s), etc...)?
5. What are your images?
6. How many colors are you using?
7. Can someone tell at a glance that your card matches your site/blog/twitter?
8. Are all elements aligned the same (left, right, center)?
9. Does your card have a die-cut?
10. Rounded corners?

Now, let's see how your answers measure up and how we can fix some common issues:

1. What can you do to fix the readability of your card?
2. Can you add your real name in addition to your pen name?
3. Does your card really need to be bigger than a standard size?
4. How many pieces of information do you need? Write down the ones you cannot live without.
5. What images can you add/change for better branding?
6. Do you really need fifty colors? Remember your branding and try to stick with one or two plus black.
7. Consider a couple of ways you can make your card fit your brand.
8. How can you make that info/image line up?
9. Do you really need a die-cut or rounded corners?

Here's some tips and tricks to building a better business card:

1. Make your phone number obvious and a good point size (I recommend 11pt or up for a phone number). After all, if you're giving someone your card, you generally want a phone call, right? Think about using . instead of - in your phone number because it takes up less room. Example: (800) 435-6817 as compared to 800.435.6817 and you can Kern those together.
2. Look at your fonts. If you branded and chose a font back from Monday's post, make sure your name appears in the one that's easiest to read.
3. I know you'll tell me I'm crazy, but a lot of people still use a standard Rolodex. They punch cards and stick them in there. If your card doesn't fit, it's going in the garbage. 3.5"x2", please.
4. While more information may seem better, sometimes it's just not and can cause a cluttered look on your card. Choose that which you cannot live without and ditch the rest. I suggest name, phone number (really just need one here), website, and Twitter @. If you can't live without your cell phone number, fax number, amazon author page, blog, and twenty other URLs, you may want to hand out posters instead. Just sayin'.
5. Is your logo or headshot on there? If not, add it. Use a black and white photo to keep printing costs down.
6. Use your brand color(s). Keep in mind you can use 50% opacity on those and get a whole new range of options for the same price!
7. If you don't need a die-cut or rounded corners (you don't), get rid of them. They invade your printable area and make your print job more expensive.
8. Think about being unique. What about a business card on the end of a bookmark (for authors) or on a magnet for the fridge? It's all in the little things you do. The bookmarks don't even have to be perforated, just have a line where folks should cut it away. BRILLIANT!

Now on to a tip not a lot of folks know about. There's an app for many smartphones that allows you to scan a QR code containing contact information and adds it right to your contacts. Might it not be a good idea to have that QR code printed somewhere on your card? Then, someone can scan your card and have all your information in their phone as well.

Check out this nifty little site: http://www.qrstuff.com/

Then, if you have the app, scan my code below to see how it works. **NOTE** phone number and address have been changed to protect the innocent!!

Now that's just cool. I don't care who you are.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available. Today is the last day to enter.

Did you enjoy my five day's worth of lessons? Download a free PDF and keep them forever! Follow the link: Give me the PDF!!!!

No e-mail address or login required. Enjoy!

Question of the day: Have you learned anything this week?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr tWitTeR

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about your Twitter page. It's just as important as everything else you use.

Grab those pencils and paper and let's get going. As usual, we'll begin by looking at what you DO, then we'll get into how to FIX it. Let's begin...

Observations:

1. What is your background?
2. When you open the page, do you go, "Oooooooooh! Nice!"?
3. Do you have consistency with your blog, website, and Facebook?
4. Have you begun to use the new layout? If yes, what's your header background?
5. What's your icon?
6. What colors do your links and tweets appear in?
7. Do you do a lot of promotion for others as well as yourself?
8. What does your description say?
9. What is your @handle? 

Answer these for insight to the Q&A above:

1. How can you change your background to give that wow factor?
2. What can you do to increase consistency?
3. How might you use your logo or branding image with Twitter?
4. Can you change your icon to your branding image (logo/face/etc...)?
5. Come up with a color scheme if you haven't already.
6. Is it feasible to prowl Twitter a couple of times a day and re-tweet a couple of people?
7. Can you simplify your description and lead folks to your books at the same time?
8. Is your @handle the title of your book?

Tips on implementing some of your ideas:

1. Build your own Twitter background with image software that allows you to specify size. Be sure to include your logo or name somewhere. I've seen a few that do a collage of book covers and it looked pretty awesome. The only drawback I can see there is folks getting overwhelmed with imagery.
2. Update your icon with either your logo or your face.
3. Update your badge with a nifty background or color scheme that matches your brand.
4. Be consistent with your colors. Customize whatever you can here. You can specify what colors your tweets and links appear in.
5. Promote other people as well as yourself.
6. Rewrite your description as many times as you need to in order to say as much as you can in as few words/characters as possible.
7. Your @handle should be your pen name or business name. Not a product or book title. After all, what happens when you write another book or expand your Twitter to include something else? Worried you'll lose all your followers? If they love you, they'll appreciate a DM (direct message) telling them what name you're changing to. Those that don't heed the advice aren't worth it anyway.

Find more tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book and take your future to new heights. It's just $2.99 on Amazon. Don't want to buy one? Enter my great giveaway to win one! Three are available.

Question of the day: Are you finding these tips and tricks easy to follow? Are you feeling more put-together?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

lOOk at YoUr bLog

Hello, lovely people of the blogosphere! This week will be a designer's look at what you're doing on different platforms and will be called lOOk at YoUr xXx. Follow along and learn! Today I'd like to talk to you all about a scary trend I'm seeing in blogs: too much CLUTTER and not enough Legibility.

Do you visit your own blog? Do you pay attention to the clutter/continuity/legibility? If I click on your blog, do I know instantly who you are and where I am? Is your blog well organized? These are questions we're going over today so grab that pencil and paper and let's get going!

Go take a look now and write down the following:

1. Number of Ads (count them)
2. Size of Font (large, small, decent?)
3. Contrast (red on black? purple on black? yellow on white?) of both posts AND sidebar matter.
4. Legibility (how many spelling errors do you spot?)
5. Ease of Navigation (search box or link list?)
6. Recognition of Name (is your blog title and url the same?)
7. Busyness (how many elements do you see before you scroll?)
8. Ways to Follow (how many, and how far must you scroll before finding one?)
9. Easy Links (count them and where do they point?)
10. Imagery (does it match your content?)
11. How many other blogs are you linking to?
12. Can I contact you or connect with you in an obvious way?
13. Does your blog title match your URL?

Got all that? Excellent! Let's really take a look at your design and work on making it user/reader friendly. Answer these questions based on your observations:

1. What do those ads do for you?
2. Can a large number of people read your blog easily?
3. How's your contrast? Contrast is how well your type shows up on the background.
4. How can you reduce spelling errors?
5. What links or content can you ad to help your readers find what they're looking for?
6. If you didn't know who you were, would others if they found you from an outside link?
7. Do you see your name right away or a way to find/follow you? How does that impact your readers?
8. Can you improve upon letting interested readers find you elsewhere?
9. Think about your photo for a minute. Is it relevant?
10. Of those blogs you link to, how many link back?
11. Where do your contact links lead me?
12. How can you fix the consistency?

Now, take these steps to improve your blog:

1. DELETE 9/10 of the ads. I don't need to scroll longer than your post. Bottom matter does not get my attention and clutters up your blog. Keep your ads relevant. If you want to promote your book, GREAT! Make a new page and link me to it. If I find your writing interesting, I'll click it and buy.
2. If your font is small or curly or grungy, go to a larger font size and do away with the "cutesy" elements. You don't need them and it irritates readers.
3. Please, for the love of all that's good in the world, make your font black and your background white or some other color combo that's high in contrast (no purple or red on black, PLEASE). Make sure there's a background for other elements, as well. I hate it when I can't read what you've posted.
4. Give me easy to find ways to follow you on every platform you appear on. Make it easy to find. Don't hide it in a barrage of ads or other crap I'm gonna have to sift through.
5. Be consistent. If your blog doesn't match your FB, Twitter, LinkedIN, and website, change it to match, please. Your readers and fans need to be able to identify you at a glance.
6. Break your blog down into topics and give me a handy link list or go tag your posts with relevant key words and provide me with a search box.
7. If your picture is your book cover, that's great and all, but what happens when you have fifty books out there? Are you gonna use them all? No. Make a decision. Either brand with your face or a logo along with your color scheme and font choices, please.
8. Are you promoting other people more than you're promoting yourself? Yes? Well, if they don't return the favor, STOP. Work with people that work with you.
9. Change either your blog title or the URL that goes with it. They should be the same.

I hope this helps in some small way. If you look at my myriad of sites, you'll see consistency of imagery, colors, and style. You won't see a ton of ads to distract you, the urls and usernames are synonymous, and you'll have a pleasant experience overall. Check them out:
writejomichaels.com
facebook.com/writejomichaels
twitter.com/writejomichaels
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114811793830742823838
http://www.amazon.com/Jo-Michaels/e/B0088XK8JE
http://pinterest.com/writejomichaels/

Note the URLs of all are either jomichaels or writejomichaels. You'll know, by the consistency, that you have the write one when you find me.

Remember, you can get tips like these in my book The Indie Author's Guide to: Building a Great Book. For just $2.99 I talk branding, formatting, and design for indies.

Don't forget to enter the blog party giveaway! There's three copies of The Indie Author's Guide in there just waiting for you to win!

Question of the day: Did you find your blog needing a lot of changes? Did you implement them as you went?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo