Lightning Talks: Tara Mayberry, TeaBerry.life

Self-publishing and why it’s important to hire a professional designer

Transcript

2. Self-Publishing and why you should hire a PROFESSIONAL BOOK DESIGNER
3. I have a secret identity! Behind these glasses, the rest of the world knows me as a PROFESSIONAL BOOK DESIGNER.
4. What is a book designer, and what do we do? • A book designer lives in a world between two large industries: graphic design and publishing. • We have the creativity to design your book cover. • We have the technical expertise to format your book interior and eBook.
5. All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskeys are bourbon. • All book designers are graphic designers, but not all graphic designers are book experts, so make sure the designer you hire, has experience with producing books.
6. There are many ingredients and steps in the recipe for creating a cohesive book that readers will not only want to buy, but also will want to display in their kitchens. Here are 3 reasons to hire a professional:
7. 1. We know the recipe by heart. • Food and recipe writing is your passion—design is ours. • Like any other skill, book design requires years of training, experience and trial and error.
8. 2. We know stuff you probably don’t know. Words like: • bleed • gutter • orphans & widows • running feet & heads —and no, I’m not talking about a crime scene investigation!
9. 2. We know stuff you probably don’t know. • These are key typography and pagination terms that if handled incorrectly, can highlight that a book is homemade.
10. 3. Design is powerful. • Your professional designer will know all about color and font theories, which can make your book feel more cohesive and right for the genre. • Think of your book cover as an advertisement for your prose.
11. (*blog.reedsy.com) A professionally designed cover can get as much as 48% more viewer clicks online.*
12. 3. Design is powerful: Fonts • A professional will know where to find all of the cool fonts, and know which ones are legal to use in your book, and the ones which are not. • There’s so much more involved than just picking a pretty font. Times, Arial and Comic Sans are pre-installed on your computer, but that doesn’t make them the best choice for your book.
13. 3. Design is powerful: Fonts • You SEE a title, before you READ a title. Typography sets tone.
14. 3. Design is powerful: Fonts
15. 3. Design is powerful: Color • What’s your favorite color? • BLUE is the most common answer to that question. • But BLUE is also the most unappetizing color because it’s found so rarely in nature.
18. 3. Design is powerful: Color • ORANGE is the most appetizing color. • Orange is fresh, juicy, crisp, and natural. • Orange is also the happiest of all colors.
19. 3. Design is powerful: Color • As you know, people eat with their eyes first, so make sure that your photos are top quality and properly color corrected.
20. A professional designer can make your words look as good as they sound.
21. TeaBerry Creative www.teaberry.life www.teaberrycreative.com @teaberrycreativ