4 Comments

  1. Thanks for a nice conversation, Mariëlle. I hope that I conveyed that real book design is more than just “formatting” and the one-size-fits-all templates and clip art of the bookmills.

    1. Author

      I really think you did, Stephen! Thanks again, it was so much fun discussing all of this with you!

  2. Thanks again, Mariëlle! You know, I may not have explained something as well as I could have. That notion that too many people these days think of “formatting,” not book design. I suspect that comes from thinking first of eBooks. Now, I understand that eBooks are a further democratizing of the ability of any writer to get their book out there. So, of course, the eBook route has great appeal. But, again, I have to point out that the fact that it’s so easy to publish that way means anyone can do it, and so there’s always the suspicion that a book published that way is nothing special and perhaps not even the author feels it’s worth the investment of capital and time to bring it to press. I regard that as a very real issue. If anyone and everyone is doing it, what makes a book stand out as worthy of readers plunking down their hard-earned money to read it?

    1. Author

      I totally get your point, Stephen, and I’m glad to see that more and more indie authors pursue print books. It’s becoming easier to get into bookshops and on the shelves of libraries, so I am hoping that, the easier it becomes to make indie books visible in these more traditional ways, the more these authors start to care about how their books look both on the inside and outside! Print On Demand is also becoming better and better, and software to make books look better on the inside are also booming now, so I do think that shift is already happening, if slowly. We’ll get there, eventually 🙂

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