Lessons Learned: Setting up a Book Project in InDesign

I plan to get technical in this Lessons Learned post.  If you're thinking about producing your own self-published book, then I hope this will be useful to you.  Otherwise, I'm hoping that it might give you a behind-the-scenes look at the less glamorous side of the process. 

I use InDesign by Adobe for the layout of all my book projects, including my shorter PDF tutorials.  While there are other tools available, I  appreciate InDesign's power and versatility.  The only limit to what you can produce are one's own capabilities.  The good news is, I've found that you can start with a few basic tools, and learn from there as needed to achieve your desired results.  I read and watched more than a few internet tutorials over the course of this project!

Creating a New InDesign Document

The New Document Dialog Box:

New Document dialog box

This is the same set-up I used for Explorations. There are three choices under "Intent": Print, Web, or Digital Publishing.  I always choose Print as my default because it requires the highest resolution.  It's easier to reduce resolution later for other publication channels than to increase it. 

I started with 150 pages, which was my initial page-count goal.  it's easy enough to add pages later.  I've heard it suggested that you break your document into smaller files so that it doesn't 'bog down' as you work.  I kept mine as one document, but this likely depends upon your individual setup.

Note that the inside margin is larger than the top, bottom or outside.  This is to prevent the book's contents from disappearing into the ditch of the binding.  Because I planned to have some of my images bleed off the edges of the page, I added a bleed margin.  Making sure that each image extends at least .125 inches off the edge leaves room for trimming errors at the printers.

When I click okay, my new, blank document appears:

The blank document, with a toolbar to the left and control panels to the right

I've opened the Pages control panel at top right to show a quick overview of my document's pages.  At the bottom of the image, I've noted the bleed, page and margin guidelines.

Setting up Page Masters

Next, I recommend setting up Page Masters.  You can use Masters to create uniform layout grids and add page numbers or any other information that you wish to repeat over multiple pages.  For Explorations, I created separate masters for Chapter Heads, as well as One, Two and Three-Column layouts.  I also used the masters to display the page numbers.

Setting up a 3-column master, and the Pages dialog box

If you look closely at this screenshot of a two-page/three-column Master from the final file for Explorations, you'll see thumbnails of the populated pages from the book.  As you add information to each page, it will show up in the thumbnails.

A master from my first book. Each chapter title appeared on its pages.

With my first book, I also used masters to list the chapters' titles on each page within the chapter.  The chapter titles are outlined in orange in the screenshot because I don't have the font I originally used on this computer.  One of those unfortunate quirks from having to purchase a new computer when the old one dies - always a few things that didn't transfer over.  But InDesign tells me which font I used, so I can purchase a new license, should I so choose.

Building Font and Paragraph Styles

Now that I have my Page Masters set up, it's time to set up my Font and Paragraph Styles.   I touched on this in my last Lessons Learned post. Before I began active work on the page layouts, I put together a cheat sheet of all of the font styles and colors I planned to use.  To make it easier to reference, I stored the info as a separate Master in my InDesign file.

A reference 'cheat' sheet for the book's font styles and colors

Then it's time to actually set up the Paragraph Styles by specifying the font, size, leading, color and more for each of your text blocks.

The left-hand menu allows you to fully customize each Paragraph Style

I set up separate styles for each level of text:  Titles, Chapter Heads, Section Heads, Body Text, etc.

The Paragraph Styles Control Panel with my presets

Once you set up each of your Paragraph Styles, the control panel let's you easily format blocks of text. Simply select the text you want, then click on the style you want.  Your text is instantly styled with your presets.  It takes time to set up all of the paragraph styles - I spent the better part of two days tweaking things to make sure I had what I needed.  But speaking from experience, they can literally save you days and weeks worth of time once you start working on the page layout! 

Ready to Rock

Whew!  At long last, after nine Lessons Learned posts, we are finally at a point where I can start talking about page layout in the next post.  I'll share my iterative process and how I work to put all the pieces together into a cohesive whole, at least when all goes right!  Thanks for joining me on the recap of this journey.

Have any questions about masters or paragraph styles?  Let me know! 

Lessons Learned: Thinking about Book Design

In earlier posts in my Lessons Learned series, I've talked about how I organize my book projects, from developing my outline to using Scrivener software to collect all of my text and research into one place.  As you collect the materials you'll need to produce your book, it's a good time to consider your publishing options. 

Choose Your Publishing Path
You could decide to contact the major publishers to see if they are interested in your project.  If your project is accepted, there are definite benefits to going this route.  Working with a major publisher, you have a sounding board for your ideas and the support of an entire editorial team working to make your book the best book possible.  Most of the major craft publishers, like Lark Books and Interweave, have submission guidelines available on their website.  I tried this route back in 2008-2009, sending out several submission proposals for my first book on freeform peyote beading.  When I never heard back, I started down the path of self-publishing. 

All of the books I have written so far are self-published.  Back in 2011 I wrote a post about my reasons for taking this route to publication; rereading the post, everything still applies.  I've found that self-publishing gives me the greatest editorial control over the content, allowing me to produce the books I want to produce.  But self-publishing also means a lot more heavy lifting on the author's part to create the most polished, professional book that you can.  Each book I've produced has been a learning process, and each book has benefited from my earlier works. 

Gathering and Sorting the Pieces of the Puzzle
For me, producing the book is like putting together the pieces of a several, thousand piece puzzle, made trickier because when I begin, I'm not sure if I:

A) have all of the pieces - often specific projects are incomplete, or still simply ideas, when I begin work on the page layout.
B) have pieces to more than one puzzle - invariably some of my ideas from brainstorming must be left on the cutting room floor (or saved for another project) to produce a cohesive book, but that's not always apparent in the beginning. 

While I continue sorting and gathering, I start working on my next step - deciding upon the specifics of the 'look and feel' of the book I want to produce. 

Developing your personal Page-Layout Reference Library

Look at Your Favorite Craft Books
My goal is always to produce as professional a finished product as I can.  This means my book needed to have a cohesive layout that is visually appealing and makes it easier to access the book's information.  One of the most effective methods I've found to develop my own 'look and feel' guidelines is to study some of my favorite craft books from other media.

Go to the library (or your bookshelves) and choose 3-5 books that you think are both beautiful and extremely useful.  It's safest to use a non-related media so that it's easier to focus on the overall 'look and feel' without getting lost in the information. 

Looking through your selections, use these criteria as a study guide:

1) Overall Book Dimensions:  What are the outside dimensions of the book?  8 1/2" x 11" tends to be the most common size for craft books in the US these days.  If your book is a different size, how does that difference affect its visibility on the bookshelf?  How does the size affect its readability/usability at the craft table?  

2) Typography:  What fonts do they use, and how do they use them?  Most books use different fonts for the chapter headings than the main text blocks.  What fonts do they use and where?  Most books use two or more fonts; a serif or sans-serif font for the main text blocks, and possibly a bolder or more decorative font for chapter headings.  Are the fonts serif, sans-serif or decorative?  Do you like the fonts?  Why or why not?  What are the font's physical sizes relative to the page, and to each other? Make notes on what you see.

3) Margins and Whitespace:  What are the books margins? Do the margins differ for the first page of each chapter from interior pages within each chapter?  Look at both exterior margins - the white spaces around each page, and the interior margins - the spacing between headers, sub-headings, and body text.  Also look at the white space separating text from photographs.  Do the pages feel crowded, sparse, or just right?

4) Columns:  How is the information on each page divided?  Do they use multiple columns?  How many columns?  Do all pages have the same number of columns?  If no, what are the different column layouts?  How did the author/layout editor use the columns to help present the information?  What is the white space between columns? 

5) Images:  Where do the images appear on each page?  Do the images fit within the exterior margins, or do they extend all the way off of the edge of the page?  When images stretch to the edge of the page without margins, this is referred to as "full-bleed" or "bleed".  Note that not all print-on-demand-publishers offer full-bleed printing capabilities, and it may cost extra to produce a book with full-bleed photography. Older craft books made more use of black and white photography due to printing costs; it still costs more to print with color, but it's not as prohibitively expensive.

Most craft books will include both process photos and more polished photos of finished pieces. What background do they use for the process photos?  How do the backgrounds in the finished pieces differ?

6) Illustrations:  How does each book balance the use of photographs versus illustrations in describing their process?  Are their illustrations clear and easy to understand?  What would make them easier to understand?  What do you like best about the illustrations, what do you like least?

Make photocopies or take pictures of some of the pages that you can print and scribble on about what you like and dislike.  Your goal here is to better understand how other authors and editors have used these basic elements of book design to convey their message.  Unless you are already comfortable with a page layout program, don't worry about developing your own templates at this point. Just make clear notes about the elements that you might like to use in your book. I often draw little sketches blocking out sections and pages. 

Some of my favorite books for recent study include Complex Cloth by Jane Dunnewold; Paper, Metal and Stitch by Maggie Grey; and Color on Paper and Cloth by Ruth Isset.  They are all amazing technique books by authors whose work I truly admire. 

Short Bibliography of Books about Typography, Layout and Design
I combined these studies with a couple of books specifically on page layout, developing my own 'course' in book design and page layout.  Here's a quick list of some books you might find useful (I was able to check most out of my public library):

• Layout Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids (Design Essentials)  by Tondreau, Beth 
• Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop by Timothy Samara
• Indie Publishing: How to Design and Publish Your Own Book by Ellen Lupton
• Design-it-Yourself Graphic Workshop: The Step-by-Step Guide by Chuck Green (the focus here is on newsletters, letterhead, etc.)

I've found that the time spent developing the design framework for each book project helps me to stay on track later.  It's another way of thinking about and organizing the information; a way of looking at the forest rather than the individual trees.  I don't always manage to follow my rules, but at least they are there as a guide! 

This is my eighth post in my Lessons Learned series, about my experiences with self-publishing my latest book.  Right now, I plan to talk about how I set up my book project using InDesign in my next post.  But I'd love to hear from you: what would you like to see?  Have you found this series useful?  Are there specific topics you're hoping I'll cover? Inquiring minds definitely want to know. 

cheers!