Comments on: Self-Published Design Review: The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson

By: Steven Reynolds

Steven Reynolds — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:45:51 +0000

I’m already struggling against my desire to buy this book, and I don’t even know what it’s about! It really does have that “special something” that would have me uncontrollably grabbing it off the table in the bookstore, or immediately clicking on it over at Amazon. It’s probably the best looking SP book I’ve ever seen. Some nice cover copy and a strong first page and I’d be sold on it. Well done, Arthur!

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By: Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:09:49 +0000

Duolit,

I absolutely agree with Cheryl also. Your primary responsibility to your book is as a writer, and it will succeed based on the content, not the widows and orphans. I see them as additive, but it’s interesting being a writer and a book designer, because I’ve done a better job on the books I do for clients. Book designer irony.

Thanks.

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By: duolit

duolit — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:14:40 +0000

Joel,
Great post and great comments by everyone. I can identify with this issue – I had professor who was a real stickler for widows, orphans and rivers and, because of that, their existence definitely bugs me when typesetting. But Cheryl had a great point when saying that the time spent fixing these (relatively minute) issues could be better spent editing. For authors who typeset their own work I agree that unless it’s a severe widow/orphan (such as one word), their time could be better spent making sure the book is as perfect as possible, perhaps to receive that discount on their second run. If you’re hiring someone to do the work for you, however, then that may be a opportunity to be a bit more of a perfectionist.

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By: Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:26:28 +0000

Cheryl,
Widows and orphans, hyphenation, and “rivers” in the page are what bedevil typesetters. For most books I prefer to kill the widows and orphans (sounds cruel, doesn’t it?) and have the odd page with an extra space at the bottom. Other books, where there is a rationale to do so, I slave over every page, trying to get them as close to “perfection” as possible. Some proofreaders and editors will also require policing of these areas before they sign off. I was trying to point out that these are decisions you need to make on a book-by-book basis. Thanks!

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By: Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:24:05 +0000

Pete,

Thanks for your additional input, which is really valuable. I agree that rendering the title in Illustrator and then embossing and foiling it would have made a big difference. And your prices are pretty much right in line with my response to Henry, above. You got a great price considering the size of your print run. The 1000 “pure profit” books are the sweetest part of the deal. I’ve often tried to convince authors to “pre-sell” their books for exactly this reason. For some books, an autographed copy and “first edition” status is all that’s needed if you have a supportive community. It doesn’t hurt that your book is excellent.

I usually advise offset-printing clients to get their books shrink wrapped in 3s or 5s, and you might consider that. It’s a little more money, but after the initial sales, when you might be holding the books for months before sale, you will know that they are still pristine when they come out of the cartons.

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By: Cheryl Anne Gardner

Cheryl Anne Gardner — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:26:49 +0000

Oh Joel, thank you so much for discussing windows and orphans. I agree, and I wish more authors would understand that it is not a defect to have them but a layout decision, no matter what Chicago says. I too like a squared-up text block. I think it looks better when every page ends on the same line, so I do not worry about windows at all, and the only time I worry about orphans is if the orphan is less than 3/4 of the line. In that case, I will go back in an either adjust the character spacing or I will re-write the line. I think all too often authors needlessly worry themselves over this stuff to the point that they make themselves insane. You can spend countless hours manipulating the white space and the paragraphing to eliminate windows and orphans, but the sad fact is, most readers have no idea what they are anyway. Hyphenation across a page break is another insidious time killer. Somethings can’t be helped and the time you waste adjusting might be better spent editing.

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By: A.S. Peterson

A.S. Peterson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:10:42 +0000

One other thing

I wanted the composition and flourishes of the title lettering to hint at the shape of a fiddle. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

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By: A.S. Peterson

A.S. Peterson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:07:12 +0000

Joel,

Thanks for the critique. I agree that the quality of the lettering on the title didn’t come out quite as well as I’d have liked. The best solution would have been to recreate it in Illustrator to keep the resolution high, the edges sharp, and the fill consistent but I simply ran out of time and money. I originally intended for the title text to be either embossed or spot-glossed which, I think, would have alleviated some of the issue you mention but once again–time and money.

Trying to get rid of widows and orphans is like playing whack-a-mole. Fix one and another pops up three pages later. It can be a real nightmare. I think I managed to clear out the biggest offenders, though.

I’ll be happy to answer some of those price questions. Deckled pages were free and I think I had to pay an extra 2 or 3 cents per copy to have the cover trimmed flush with the pages (other wise it would have had an overhang). The embossing and spot glossing was going to be about 15-20 cents extra, if I recall correctly.

The entire print run of 1500 cost me about $3500 which works out to about $2.35 per copy (that includes set up, shipping, and the whole shebang). Because I spent a lot of time pre-selling the book, I was able to write that check without dipping into my own finances.

The result is that once the books arrived and I had shipped out my pre-sales, I had about 1000 books left that I can sell for 100% profit. That’s important for a lot of reasons. It means I can give books away to reviewers and it doesn’t cost me anything. It means I can offer special bulk pricing to book clubs, schools, and libraries and it doesn’t affect my bottom line. It means I’m free to use those remaining books as I see fit and I’m not chained to a slim profit margin.

It also means that I can distribute them via Amazon for a competitive price and still make decent money. I’ve also acquired wholesaler distribution through Ingram to make it available to bookstores nation-wide.

Oh, and another nice thing about off-set printing is that a second printing of the exact same book is considerably even cheaper. If I did an exact 2nd reprint I think the books would be under $2 per copy. Sadly, I’ve found enough typos that the 2nd printing will have to be a ‘new’ book as far as the printer is concerned. That’s a real motivation to make sure you clean those pesky typos out before final press.

Thanks for the review. Happy to answer any other questions.

Another item I’d mention is that anytime I talk to folks about off-set printing, the issue of warehousing comes up. I’m not sure where that idea comes from. No self-publisher is going to print 20,000 copies and require special storage for their books. My print run was 1500 and that’s not even a full pallet. They easily fit in a spare closet.

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By: Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:25:35 +0000

Henry, the unit cost in this case would be directly related to the quantity the author printed, unlike digital, where one book costs the same as 100. I would not assume this book cost more than at LSI, the only extra cost would have been for the “deckle” paper. Other than that, I would bet it was LESS expensive than LSI. And you definitely cannot get this quality from digital. Of course, you have to sink a few thousand $$ and warehouse the books–that’s the downside.

For example, my book Body Types, at 240 pages costs $4.02 at LSI, but when I last printed it offset, it was about $2.30.

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By: Henry Baum

Henry Baum — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:09:17 +0000

I’m glad you got a look at this one. I got it a couple of weeks ago and it’s THE best self-published book I’ve ever seen. He’s mentioned how LSI books pale next to it, and he’s right. The quality of the paper and cover are on a whole other level. I’m curious, however, about cost. Regardless of the crowdsourcing model which paid for it, I have to imagine it was a lot more expensive than your typical LSI package.

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