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Have you got the book hierarchy blues?

Have you got the book hierarchy blues?

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Sitting in our office today I hear our gun publications strategist and our leading book designer in what is a routine Green Hill discussion.

STRATEGIST – “Do we need to talk about the book hierarchy?”

DESIGNER – “Yes, there’s a problem.”

STRATEGIST – “We need to advise the author about the issues. It won’t work in print will it?”

DESIGNER – “No. His editor seems a little inexperienced.”

Are the strategist and designer trying to make life difficult for the author and his editor? No, they are trying to produce a winning book. 

Most first time authors are unaware of the complexities of making a winning book. The issue of hierarchy is all about how information is structured so that the reader has the best chance of absorbing and understanding the information.

Organisational chartThe chart at right shows how a business might be organised – how staff relate to each other and how the human resources are organised. Written information can be organised in the same manner. This is often expressed in a book Contents.

Edward Stratton-Smith's Complext hierarchy for his excellent book Traffic Offences

The Contents page – Edward Stratton-Smith’s complex hierarchy for his excellent book Traffic Offences.

But hierarchy usually runs deeper than just the chapters shown on a Contents page.

There can headings, subheadings, lists/bullet points, and breakouts/text in boxes and margins. A big issue is how ‘deep’ the information is organised and how ‘wide’. Often an author structures the information too deep, so deep the reader forgets what the context of the information being presented is, what the focus of the chapter is, and/or what the author’s lesson or argument is. Confusion is the result. An experienced editor will know what to do.

When book hierarchy is appropriate, good book design will follow.

 

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Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

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The economics of selling your book

The economics of selling your book

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It’s the dream for most authors to profit from the sales of their book.

Choosing the self-publishing route may make this seem like a daunting task, but through proper self-marketing and passion for your book it can be achieved.

Self-published authors take control of their sales and can sell their own books themselves. This is called self-selling. If you self-sell, you get the most profit from the sales of your books as you cut out the retailer’s margin. You can self-sell through avenues such as author websites, your personal business, on social media marketplaces, or through author events like launches and readings. Self-published authors can also easily sell through bookstores—both online and brick-and-mortar—by enabling their books for online distribution and pitching to bookstores to stock their books.

On the other hand, traditional book publishing companies will take your book under stringent legal conditions, then print and distribute your work through the industry’s established channels, including retail stores and online outlets. For all your hard work as the author, you might only get a small percentage (royalty) of the retail price.

So, how much more could you be making if you self-publish rather than using a traditional publisher? Have a look at the figures below:

If you get royalties through a traditional publishing deal:

  • Print cost: $4.95
  • Retail price: $14.99
  • Your profit: 74 cents

 

If you self-sell:

  • Print cost: $4.95
  • Retail price: $14.99
  • Your profit: $10.04

There’s a huge difference, as you can see. If you sell 200 copies of your book as a self-published author you can breakeven with your production costs, leaving any extra sales as pure profit.

The key to success when marketing as a self-published author is your network. Personal and author dedicated social media profiles are an excellent place to start. If you are a trainer, public speaker, consultant, or have any sort of profile within your potential readership target, you also have the capability of selling hundreds and hundreds of copies of your book at events, meetings, and seminars.

Green Hill can also help you out with marketing. We can write professional press releases, create stunning graphics, organise reviewers, and give you advice on how to best market your book. If this interests you, head over to our Marketing your book page to read more and get in touch!

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Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

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What 99.9% of authors don’t know.

What 99.9% of authors don’t know.

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​Why I see so many good authors fail.

Book publishing is a creative pursuit. Writing a book is creative. Designing a book cover is creative. Marketing a book is creative. Or is it?

Book publishing is like construction.

Architect Jørn Utzon designed the Sydney Opera House. He used his creativity but within a constraining framework of physical laws. He designed the Opera House making sure it could withstand weather conditions, suited the geology and would not collapse under its own weight. In other words he couldn’t ignore the laws of the environment, geological realties and the law of gravity. These laws are immutable – these laws are rooted in science.

When you enter the Sydney Opera House you certainly don’t feel its about to collapse. It’s a great experience.

The laws of successful book publishing.

New authors who come to me wanting to self-publish know little about what I call the immutable laws of publishing. Full knowledge and understanding of these laws takes many years. I’ve learned some of these by trial and error (a tough way to learn). And some by being mentored by some of the best in the business.

Unfortunately many authors focus on their creative prowess while at the same time being completely ignorant of the science of book publishing.

Here are just a couple of these laws that I will then summarize in a single mega-law.

Law No. 1  Design a book cover for the market not for the author. Books that fail often do so because of a poor cover design. Poor cover designs are usually dictated – often in fine-grain detail – by the author (who might be publishing their first ever book). Green Hill’s lead designer has personally designed almost 1,000 books – does she understand the law of book cover design? Yes, she certainly does.

Law No. 2 Editing is important. This is very similar to Law No. 1. While writing is a creative pursuit, an experienced editor will use their skill and experience to make the manuscript better (in many cases superior). Authors often break this rule pushing-back on the editor with “I don’t want my writing changed” or the old classic “you’ve removed my voice”.  There are immutable laws of good writing including structure and grammar that when violated are done at the author’s peril.

The mega law Successful book publishing is both art and science.

If you are a new author leave the science to the publisher and their staff i.e. book designers, book editors and book marketers. These professionals will approach the publishing of your book based on their hard won knowledge of the science shaped by empirical evidence. Publishing a good book is much about science.

Understand the ‘mega-law’ – only then will you improve the chance of your book’s success!

David Walters

Director, Green Hill Publishing

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Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

submit your project details