The final element of book design is the book cover. It’s important because it’s the fist thing a reader will see when she looks at your book. If you are looking to sell your book the cover is an important part of its marketing. Again, you’ll face a lot of choices.

If you’ve decided on hardback binding you’ll need to choose the kind of cover you want. Many people seeking to create heirloom books with limited distributions opt for leather covers – usually calf-skin – with raised bands and gold embossed print. You may choose instead to use a dust jacket to protect your book from the damage done over time by oils from the fingers of readers. Recently publishers have offered a third option with Imagewrap, a plasticized material as the cover itself to provide the protection traditionally offered by a dust jacket. You’ll also want to consider what information you want on the spine of the book. Usually the title and author are shown. The spine is important because it is the only thing visible from a bookshelf.

In designing your cover you will need to consider the photos or other images you want to use on the front or back covers, font type and size for any text, and color schemes. You’ll also want to consider whether to include a brief description of the book and a short author bio which can be placed on the back cover or inside flaps of a book jacket. An imagewrap cover has no inside flaps.

The best way to decide what kind of cover you want is to look at the covers of published books and see which ones you like. You can browse at your local bookstore or look on the internet. Two good sites are the Cover Design Archive and The Book Design Review. If you are working with a book designer ask him to look at books with covers you like so that you can discuss the specific features you want in you book cover.

Book design is a subject that many authors don’t give much thought. If they are sending their book off to a commercial publisher someone else will design the book that is eventually produced. But self-publishing authors will need to make some important decisions on the design of their books.

The first question is, what kind of binding to use. It begins with the choice of hardcover or softcover. A hardcover is more durable. It’s rigid cardboard is covered with leather, cloth or more recently a plasticized material called Imagewrap. The pages and covers are sewn together in one of two processes:

• Oversewing, in which small holes are drilled in single pages which are sewn together with lock stitches. This is a very secure binding, but margins are reduced and pages won’t lie flat.
• Sewing through the fold, in which two pages are folded and stitched through the fold then sewed or glued to the cover producing a binding somewhat less secure than oversewing.

A third process has begun to appear as a binding for hardbacks. The result is referred to in the trade as a Cardboard Article. It’s really a hybrid combining featured of hardback and paperback created using thermal processing and double-fan glue to bind the pages.

Soft or paperbacks are also thermally bound. A thermal binding uses a one-piece cover with glue down the spine which is placed in a heated machine. When it cools, the pages have adhered to the cover. Perfect binding is a newer process using a heavier paper cover with sections of pages glued together at the spine. Rough cut edges of the pages allow them to absorb the glue.

So, which ones is best for you? A lot of that depends on your publishing goals. Cost is always an issue. If you are producing an heirloom book with a very limited distribution its best to use the highest quality possible. Good hardback binding with leather covers are top of the line. But if you are seeking wider or commercial distribution a well-made paperback may be what you are looking for.

NOTE: If you read yesterday’s post on truth and speculation in memoirs and family history you may find a post by a family historian in Arizona interesting. She says, “I know there is a price to be paid for deciding to include this history in a memoir, but I do not regard many memoirs as honest that were written without any intent to reveal all. History was whitewashed, but what can we learn from a history that has been altered from the truth to a fantasy that will be more pleasing to the world.” If you are struggling with the question of how much truth to tell, you may find her rationale useful to think about. Click here to visit her blog.

When you complete the final edit of your draft manuscript of your memoir or personal history a final critical step remains before publication – book design. Book design combines decisions about elements of the book, style, organization, illustrations, layout, and sequence of components and cover design. Here are some of the things to consider in designing your book:

• You begin by making decisions about the physical size of the book and the type of binding you want it to have. Should it be small (7” X 7”), standard (8” X 10”) or large format? Should it be portrait or landscape?
• What about binding? Do you prefer hardback or soft cover?
• Next you might consider readability. The size and font you select can have a lot to do with the way your reader perceives the book. What size margins do you want on the pages?
• What elements should your book include? Do you want a table of contents, acknowledgement, dedication, preface, epilogue. Should content be organized into sections or chapters?
• How do you want to illustrate your book? Do you want to use photographs, documents or memorabilia? Where should illustrations be placed in the book? Which photographs do you want to feature by giving them a full page? Some illustrations may perfectly illustrate a story included in the text and should be placed near that story. But not every illustration is so literally connected to a specific story. To include more loosely related photos they might be grouped together between chapters. The illustrations make a nice break from the text.
• What should your cover look like? What do you want on the dust jacket? Which photographs do you want to use on the front and back covers? They should be in excellent condition and ideally are most powerful and symbolic of the stories you have to tell. What would be the most esthetically pleasing color scheme? What text do you want on the covers, spine and flaps of the dust jacket? What font will best complete your cover?

If you re sufficiently skilled with programs like Photo Shop and Adobe InDesign you can design your book yourself, but most authors decide they need the help of a professional book designer.