Some thoughts on design and formatting

One book I’ve recently been editing and that is now in design had raised a few questions for me and might provide some food for thought for writers. The bottom line is that the now so familiar manuscript looks totally different. As a writer myself I’m used to this phenomenon. What I’ve seen for weeks and weeks as a double-spaced text on A4 sheets is now a single-spaced – or maybe 1.5 or .75 on a 8 x 5 or a 10 x 7 book page. It may even be in a different font. And it looks strange.

Book sizes

This particular book is being produced as an 8 x 5 book. It is 138 pages long as double-spaced A4. Double-spaced A4 often translates to almost exactly the same number of pages in single-spaced for an 8 x 5 book. A 10 x 7 is a few pages less. Which format to choose depends on getting a book that is neither too thin nor too fat. So, up to about 250 pages goes into 8 x 5 and over into the larger format.

Paragraph lengths

It is a little disturbing as we read the design copy of the book mentioned above that some paragraphs go over a page. They did not seem overlong as we read them at the editing stage and they probably read fine anyway. However, they could be off-putting for the reader – especially as this text is aimed at young adults. Sure, many of them can read at quite a sophisticated level but they still want quick pace and instant outcomes. The paragraph that runs over a page may imply that the text slows down. We might need to see if we can justify some paragraph breaks here.

Lessons for writers and publishers

Many writers swear by changing the font and other aspects of the formatting as they edit. That way they see their text in a new light. It’s probably a good idea for editors to do this as well.  

What a story needs to do

It has to sell the book. It has to cover the cost of production, make a pro rata contribution to the overheads and make some money for the publisher and the writer so that they can live.

How does it do this? I’ve thought about this in the context of my own recent reading and I’ve concluded:

It must include a good balance of the following ingredients.

1.      The right pace – fast, yes, but not so fast that we lose track

2.      Human interest

3.      Tension

4.      Believable characters

5.      Characters you bite your nails for

6.      Rounded characters

7.      An author who understands the setting well

8.      The right length

9.      Something to make the reader think

10.  Something to intrigue the reader

11.  Beautifully crafted prose

12.  A sense of time

13.  A sense of place

14.  A huge problem to be solved

15.  A satisfactory resolution

16.  Some fun

17.  Some more serious moments

18.  A touch of intrigue – even if the work is not a thriller

19.  A touch of mystery - even if the work is not a fantasy

20.  And this one must always be there - something to make first the publisher and then the reader fall in love with the book.

Of course, all of these can be quite subjective and this is what makes the writer’s job quite difficult. But worth pursuing?       

Who is the first scene for actually?

One of the greatest signs that we are dealing with an experienced, professional writer is that there is no unnecessary first scene. The real writer knows where the story actually starts.

The three examples below are from my own work. I’m wiser now but still see new writers doing this.

Story of a watercolour

One of my novels originally starts off with a young girl putting the final touches to a watercolour. She is anxious to get this off in the post as it’s part of a letter to her former classmates. Now, that letter does become important later and her classmates do admire her skill but more importantly she disappears shortly after posting that letter. It’s crucial to introduce the first step towards that disappearance on the first page.

A fabulous breakfast

As my protagonist sets out on her adventure, she and her family enjoy a sumptuous breakfast. She feels car sick later and because they have to stop the adventure begins. A one-line flashback to the breakfast is enough. The reader actually doesn’t need to know the details of the breakfast. So,  I got rid of the breakfast. The book has since been published.

A dramatic argument

A couple quarrel. Possibly partly because of this but more likely because of bad weather and bad driving by a third party, the protagonist is killed in a car crash. The rest of the story takes place in his after-world.  Again, it is better to start with the crash itself and then refer to the argument. The argument still has a point as it means that he needs to resolve things form beyond the grave. However, the reader doesn’t need the details. This book is now published.

Why we write these scenes

It was actually still important to write these scenes. It allowed me to get to know the characters really well. But just as with any other writerly research, you don’t need to overwhelm your reader with these details. Just write with the knowledge that th research has given you.

What to do with the killed darlings

Yes, these are certainly darlings that need killing. Often we’re rather pleased with them and have put everything that we know about our craft into these snippets. Keep them anyway, for the good writing they contain.

My watercolour example is turning into a piece of flash fiction – one that tells a very similar story to the whole book. The breakfast will become a piece of flash life-writing. The argument can also become a flash story.

The novel containing the watercolour scene will be supported by a web site once it is published. I’ve written a lot of the copy already and am including “deleted scenes” – there are a few others as well.

Another parallel with the film industry

You probably know how much work goes into a film script before it is made into a film – and much of that work happens after the script is accepted and before they start making the film. Even so, frequently the first couple of pages and even a couple of scenes are left out. We literally “cut to the chase”.

A note of warning

It is important to get this right. Put your manuscript away for a few days before you send it out into the world. Make sure you’re not filling the limited word count in the few chapters you’re invited to submit with those darlings that need killing.    

       

Author bios

I have talked about this before though I mean something a little different this time. Last time I was talking about the bio that authors send with submissions. That type of bio gives us some insight into the authors. Are they already published? How experienced are they in the world?  What are they like as people? The bio I’m talking about here is for the reader.

Tight writing

The bio must be as well written as the rest of the piece. Certainly it should be written tightly and shouldn’t be too expansive.

In proportion

As a reader and as a publisher I get irritated when I read a 250 word piece of flash fiction accompanied by a 100 bio. A Tweet-sized bio might be more appropriate.

What the publisher asks for

As always provide exactly what has been asked for. If the word limit is 50, don’t write 100. 55 or 45 might be all right.

What to write

Try to give the essence of who you are as a writer and the specifics of why you have written this particular text.

Jokes

These often make me cringe except, perhaps, when a humorous book is produced. It almost seems as if the writer doesn’t have enough to say about themselves.

New Writers

These writers may not have a glamorous list of publications and awards. However, they can still give some insight into their writing lives. This may be to do with how, why and where they write and how they came to write this particular piece.

Other places for biographical data

Longer bios are often included in books and that is fine. One reads them when one has the time and at that point they are always inserting.

Interviews and blogs can supply more detail. Jokes are fine here – as long as they don’t take up too much of the text.

Piers Anthony, in his Incarnations of Immortality series, always included the sort of text that most writers these days would put on a blog. He gives an account of what happened as he wrote the story and of his creative process.

I’m concerned about all of this, I suppose, because currently I’m ploughing through just under 800 author bios for an article I’m writing. Those bios are there to give readers a quick insight into an author they might read. Most of them are very well written. A few are extremely irritating.

I do enjoy reading the longer extracts of biographical information such as those mentioned above. I’m always curious about writing process and about what makes a writer. However, I prefer to read these when I have time.  At other times I just want a quick snapshot of the author and a confirmation of their credentials.               

      

Poor formatting in e-books by bigger houses

With some distress recently I read a Kindle version of a novel written by a writer I know and respect. It was published not by one of the Big Five, but by a medium-sized press that was commercial enough to charge over £3.00 for an e-book, the paperback equivalent of which retails for £6.99. So, we’re not talking a self-published book being all but given away at 99p. I actually appreciate publishers who charge a decent amount:  it shows respect for their writers and the IT people who have spent a long time developing the technology.  However, this particular example shows little respect for the reader.

Surprisingly, actually, the 99p self-published book more often than not has less formatting mistakes than  those texts supplied by the big houses. Possibly this is because these books are published only in this format so the “publisher” has taken the time to do the job properly.

So, what exactly was wrong with this book?

Well, it was formatted web-style – rather like what you’re reading now. It didn’t feel like a book because there were no indents.  The text was blocked, but the blocking hadn’t “taken” everywhere, so there were some disturbing gaps at the end of lines.  These took you out of the film in your head and reminded you that you were looking at words on a page.  

A couple of chapters had a heading followed by a blank page.

I noticed a couple of issues that a copy editor should have picked up. I’m sure I only noticed them because the poor formatting made me conscious of the words on the page.  An “its” should have been “it’s”. There was some unexpected capitalisation at the beginning of some words. 

Why does this happen?

We know “kindling” can be tricky.  You can check your book in three different formats and it will look fine. Then when it’s actually out there things you’ve not been able to see creep in.

But guess what? It actually only take a few minutes to take the book down, correct it and load it back up. It’s not like correcting a print run. We notice the odd post-e-publication blip and fix it as soon as it’s pointed out.

Too many bigger publishers simply upload the same file they used for the print version. No, you need to do a little more work than this – especially if you want to charge almost as much for the e-book as for a hard copy.

How should we react to this poor formatting?

My first instinct was to put a 1 or 2 * review on Amazon. But I didn’t want to damage the author. I have instead written to the publisher and pointed this out. I’m tempted to claim a refund as I’ve been sold an inferior product. I’m bracing myself to contact the author and say that she needs to take the publisher to task. If we could all go for zero tolerance on this we might get better formatted books.           

          

Check out your publisher - don't speculate

The greatest thing about being a publisher is that … you publish books. You also see some great writing. There are some other things that we have to do that are less pleasant. One activity is somewhat tedious, often very rewarding and occasionally heart-breaking.

Checking presence on the Internet

Yes, it’s that narcissistic activity: Googling yourself or a particular book. You’ll often find a great review or a pleasing sales ranking. Sometimes you’ll find a mediocre review and a more modest sales ranking. And occasionally you’ll find a very poor review with maybe one star and worse still, it may appear to have been written by a  troll. In the greater scheme of things, the latter isn’t actually all that worrying. There are bound to be some poor reviews occasionally and frankly, personally, if I see a one star review I’m likely to buy the book – it won’t disappoint. In fact it’s highly likely to be better than one would expect from one star – especially if there is a troll element. This was probably someone with a personal grudge.  

Perhaps a more believable review may have a negative effect on a book. Not always though. One book I really enjoyed was Melvin Burgess’ Doing It. I only read it because I was curious about what had upset Anne Fine so much in her famous Guardian review.

Negative speculation

Sadly, I’ve come across this twice this week. There’d been a call for submissions by a small press company I know. Some writers speculated about how reliable this company would be. They appeared to have done their homework. However, they’d made a ghastly mistake about one of the team in that they’d said that one editor had “no experience of the publishing industry”. This was absolutely not true. The person in question had decided to set up on their own after being disillusioned by the big five.

The other example was about one of my own projects. Again, the folks had done their homework and had misinterpreted some of the facts they’d established. They’d found one name associated with three projects. Yes, we use the same web-master who had secured the sites and domain names for us.

Okay, there are crooks out there. But actually, not many. As I am also a writer I’ve worked with fifteen publishers, all sizes. Only one has really let me down. The one who has sold the most of my work actually started operating out of a small industrial estate near Bristol. They first published me in 2001 and I’m still getting royalty cheques.

A world of book-lovers

Publishing books is not big business. Not even for Bloomsbury post JKR. Yes, they have a huge turnover. But put their business acumen into virtually any other business – maybe not farming – and they’d make even more. Even amongst the big successful publishers with grand offices in London there is, perhaps, before all else, a love of books. Thank goodness.

That is what keeps us all going.

I’ve not yet been proved wrong. Even the publisher who let me down did it more out of incompetence than out of any maliciousness.  

I’ve just come back from Hay and this was clearer than ever there again.

What I would say to all writers

Yes, of course, it is important to be sure that your publisher is the general article. I’d encourage you simply to ask. If they don’t reply or don’t give you a satisfactory answer – move on.