Making It Pretty

I’m on holidays from the job that pays my bills and I plan to complete my current novel. So that means getting the beta read copy from my friend. A camera and tripod from my nephew. Along with a bed sheet from the linen cupboard. All of these tools will get me across the line. Then I can do the finishing touches to the layout and get a proof copy of the book. (A proof copy, for those who may not know, is a copy of the book as it would be printed so that I can check to make sure that it looks the way I wanted it to.)

I talked about editing last time and that leads into today’s chat about formatting and presentation. Both of these are linked and separately important. Formatting covers the physical laying out of a book; how it will look in the hands of the reader; from cover to cover and all that is in between. Presentation, which I just touched on in formatting, covers the look of the cover and the look of the pages themselves.

The cover showing a snapshot something about the story contained inside. The synopsis on the back cover to draw a person in in only a relatively few words. Of course, you may have the most striking cover and well put together synopsis, but there will always be those who will turn to a random page inside and see what’s happening.

I’m not saying that every page has to have some form of high intensity event happening. That would leave no room for the setup for, or the wind-down from, that event. Yet if the text is clean, easy to read and allows the reader a chance to engage their imagination for a moment, then you are halfway there.

Making it pretty can seem as hard as writing it perfect. It’s not really. It’s more about knowing what you can and can’t do and then finding someone to help with the things you can’t do. Yes, there will be times when money will need to be paid for such services, but if you shop around, you might be able to find someone who can do the formatting and a cover for you at the same time.

Whilst it all seems so hard in the short term, or long term, depending how long it’s taking you to write your number 1 best seller, in the end it will be worth it when you hold the first official copy of your book. (Proof copies don’t count. They’re exciting but they’re not to final product.) The smile is difficult to wipe from your face. You want the whole world to know. The next book/s you write will still generate the same sort of feeling – the sense of achievement and accomplishment – but the first book is the first book.

Until next time.