Part III – Designing YOUR Book
What will my book look like?
As part of our publishing process, Dream Write Publishing encourages input from the author so the end product becomes the one you've envisioned. Perhaps, you’ve seen something on the market you like – something that caught your eye and attention… after all, that is what we hope to do with your book. It will be out there among millions of others and, although it is impossible to guarantee it’s going to stand out – it has to be something that pleases you, first. Wrap it up anyway you like, but keep in mind, Dream Write Publishing discourages replicating anything out there and maintains an effort to incorporate original ideas into the creative process. It might be “something like” but never exactly like!
Our WordPress blog post on Collaboration – An Author’s Vision, will give you a good idea what’s involved in book design.
As we work through the process with you, a product will begin to emerge and your excitement will increase, especially for first time authors. We’ve seen it happen! It is also exciting for us to share in your accomplishment and getting it to be exactly what you envisioned is an important step. There are many factors to consider beyond the story you have written, reviewed, revised, and edited – although that is a big portion of the process. Without your story there wouldn’t be anything else.
Dream Write Publishing offers all services and contracts with various artists to provide cover design and illustrations, as required. Not all books will have illustrations but they are a nice addition to include in the YA and children’s genre, of course. Lately, we’ve been honoured to publish a line of full coloured illustrated children’s picture books by our duo M&M – Carol Maier (author) and Matthew McClatchie (artist). You can check out Carol's books in our catalog.
Even though all books are not as image intensive as children’s books, ALL books need a cover. We offer a mixture of illustrated, computer designed, and photography-based cover ideas and designs. At Dream Write Publishing your ideas are considered and incorporated into the design as often as possible. We will even include your own artwork if you are the artist/photographer – not all publishers will do that. The final cover design still needs your approval – it’s not our book, it’s yours! We will always give you our input, comments, and recommendations to what looks best. You will be given options from which to choose. Cover design is not only image and colours. It is also the book blurb, written recommendations (or testimonials), and the type of font used. The complete design is produced in a mock-up so you can see it all together. Discussion is encouraged and changes are made as needed. From the final layout, we will issue the author a PDF copy of the cover and a jpeg icon for use in their own email blast and any print promotion.
Once we have the confirmed cover with all its intricacies in place – we can begin to promote your book online through pre-release statements and initial marketing. We offer all of our authors a listing promotion on the Alberta Authors Cooperative web site, which will promote you as an author and connects you to any feature work you have published, as well as any author website. This is one connection to growing online sales. It is also a hub for your media links, news stories, reviews, and recommendations, as a collection of your journey as a published writer.
Remember: Even E-Books need an attractive and appealing front cover. It is worth investing in a great wrap for your words. Also, manuscripts have to be formatted in order to be picked up by a variety of E-Readers. Dream Write Publishing uses the Smashwords platform to initially publish its E-Book authors. From there, books are then available at other online retailers.
For more information about our publishing services check out the home page of our web site for initial consulting and manuscript review options. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1-800-311-7091.
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