This is where page layout comes in to play. You can have the most riveting, meaningful, Nobel prize-worthy masterpiece on the block, but it will be very lonely on those bookshelves if no one wants to buy it.
Here’s how John Q. Citizen shops for a book. He saunters in to his favorite bookshop, with nothing in particular that he’s looking for. He picks up a book because of its great cover (more on that next month) or because it has an interesting title. He opens it up, flips through the pages a few times, closes the book and puts it back. Why he didn’t buy it has a lot to do with the page layout.
A book with type that is too small, or has narrow spaces between the lines is hard to read. And hard to read is hard to sell. You want page layout secrets from the typesetters of best-selling books? Read on.
Let’s talk about fonts. Look at your book collection and pay attention to the fonts. The letters should be large enough to read without straining your eyes. They should look good on the page. They should be appropriate for both the reader and the book. For instance, if you look at the children’s section of a bookstore you’ll find large type. It’s easier for little eyes to read. And the variety of fonts available allows you to match font to the personality or age groups of your readers.
Good choices for body copy are Garamond, Caslon, Goudy, Stone Print, New Century Schoolbook, and Janson Text 55 Roman. Now for your chapter heads and subtitles, you can go with a bold font, such as Helvetica Bold, Gill Sans Bold, Eras Bold, Univers Black, and Franklin Gothic Demi. Just as a reminder, all caps are hard to read, so don’t use them – even for your titles or table of contents.
The space between. We used to call it spacing in typing class, but the term “leading” simply refers to the space between your typed lines. The size of the font (i.e. 10-point, 12-point, etc.) together with the space between the lines gives you your measurement. For example, 10/12 (read 10 on 12) is 10-point type with 12 point leading. The rule of thumb is that in body copy, your leading should be about 120% of the point size of the text. So for 10-point text you’d use 10/12 or for 12-point text 12/14.4. Also, if the length of your lines were long, you would want to increase the length of your leading. It keeps the text proportional, plus it makes it easier to read.
Can you justify it? Most books nowadays are set with full-justified type. You know, where the words end evenly on the right side. It makes the page look full, and has a tighter, more professional appearance. And people can read it faster, because their eyes aren’t constantly adjusting to different widths. Which brings me to my next point…
How long is too long? Reading long lines causes fatigue – and you don’t want people to fall asleep reading your book, do you? But then, if your lines are too short, the text looks choppy and you break up too many words and phrases. A happy medium is to set lines at about 65 characters. Set up your column width to allow for at least a 1” to 1.25” gutter, and .5” border for top, bottom, and outside edges.
There’s more to the insides of a book than you thought! All of these techniques will add appeal to potential readers, and that means more book sales. And who knows, you could end up with the next big best seller!
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