DISCOUNT TYPESETTING SERVICES
Supposing that you have the text (i.e. do not need data entry services), you'll turn to the discount typesetting services advertised locally and on the Internet. What's entailed, and how do you make a sensible choice?
Typesetting, or the laying out of text in an attractive fashion across the page, is an important aspect of self-publishing, and one on which whole libraries have been written. Fonts in particular are a consuming passion to graphic designers, being an expensive addition to their software.
Discount typesetting services may be part of the prepress services offered by your printer, when they may well be attractively priced. Alternatively, you may want to contract out this aspect to specialists. The golden rule is to shop around and ask for samples of work done, though this preupposes that you have the experience to judge what's acceptable to the book trade. A few suggestions therefore, on what to check, or adopt if you're doing your own typesetting:
1. Font choice. Sans serif faces are used for display headers and book covers, and serif typefaces are used for body text. You can modify to express your book's personality, but readability remains the key, and the fonts that look fantastic for a poem would be intolerable in the text of a novel. Baskerville, Bembo, Garamond, Janson, Palatino, and Times Roman are the typefaces most widely used for body text.
2. Font size. Don't make the font size too small, under 8 pt. for sans serifs like Helvetica, Arial, Verdana and Tahoma, or 10 pt. for serifs like Berkeley, Palatino and, Garamond. Fonts change their characteristics with size, and this is particularly so on covers, which need to be readable at a distance.
3. Typefaces. Two typefaces on a page is enough, and often the one typeface in its various incarnations (italic, bold, bold italic font, etc.) will do all that's required.
4. Originality. Great book designers can break the rules, but they do so after long experience. If in doubt, aim to be conservative, but with that extra attention to detail that shows professionalism.
5. Letter and line spacing. Though desktop publishing programs allow the line spacing (leading), the letter spacing (kerning) and the word spacing to be adjusted, these controls do need care. Space saving is important in journals of fixed length, but too much compression looks cheap.
7. Numbering conventions. Blank pages are left completely blank. Page numbers are not displayed on the title, half title or promotion pages. Lower case Roman numerals are used throughout the front matter pages. Arabic numerals are used for the main body text, which begins on the right-hand page. Chapter headings also begin on the right-hand page, and are not commonly numbered. Poems start on a new page, and page numbers generally appear in the bottom margin.
7. Margins have to allow for binding and trimming. Margins should be ample, but not so over-generous that the body text looks impoverished.
8. Page sizes. The mass-market paperback is 4.18 x 6.88 inches. The standard paperback is 5" x 8". Technical manuals are generally larger: 7.5" x 9.25". See what sizes your preferred printer will accept before going too far.
As always, the best policy is to learn from others. Look at the better productions of large publishing houses to see how they have:
kept within the conventions for the particular book genre
created a proper personality with the typesetting
coped with individual layout difficulties
achieved a proper balance of text and white space
Typesetting is a skilled art acquired by long practice, but here are a few resources: