After a harrowing week, most of which doesn’t not belong on a public blog on the World Wide Web, I ran away to Mineral King for a much needed respite. It was overcast and a bit rainy. That’s fine. We have a wood stove for cooking and heat, and I always have my knitting. In […]
Self-publishing Trail of Promises
It used to be that self-published books were the poor cousin of traditionally published books. They looked and read as if they needed some serious editing and design help. My British friend has a phrase for such projects: “Loving hands at home”. The quality and success of self-publishing depends on how much work the author […]
Having a Book Baby Named Trail of Promises
This photo will appear in the book in black and white. It is one of my favorites. The photos are really quite amazing, and all 144 photos and maps are necessary to make the story come alive. Louise A. Jackson, traditionally published author of 5 books mostly on the history of the Sierra, has a […]
Salute
FLAG DAY (Happy Birthday, Lauren!)
Book Cover Revealed
Hours, days, weeks, and months of book design, and at the end I said to myself, “SELF!”, I said. “YOU HAVE NOT FINALIZED THE COVER DESIGN!” Yes. I was shouting at myself in my mind. We judge books by covers. How else will we decide whether or not to pick them up and read the […]
Mineral King in Early Summer
What do I mean “early summer”? It isn’t summer until June 21! Oh yeah? It’s been in the high 90s and low 100s for a couple of weeks around here. That qualifies as summer, despite the calendar’s report. Trail Guy is back out on the trails in Mineral King. I’ll get there, just hang on. […]
Almost Done Designing a Book
“Done” designing a book? Stick a fork in me, I’m done. When did we start substituting the word “done” for “finished”? Who cares? I’m almost done! Here is what remains on my book design project for Louise. Learn how to design the back cover. Design the back cover, making sure it is prepared properly for […]
And More Designing a Book
I offered to design a book for an author friend. Let’s call her “Louise”, because that is her name. Louise discussed it with the 3 people who commissioned her to write their story, and they gratefully accepted my offer. I read up on book design, learning most of what I needed from The Book Designer‘s […]
More Designing a Book
I thought I knew what was necessary about designing a book, because I designed my book The Cabins of Wilsonia. That book involved preparing pencil drawings using Photoshop Elements, a few pages of text, all the frontmatter (that’s Book Speak for the pages of a book that are not the main part that normal people […]
Designing a Book
What is book design? That’s a question I asked back in 1998 when Jane Coughran and I published The Cabins of Mineral King. The answer was too complex and computerish for me to comprehend. We paid someone to prepare our book for printing, and I had no understanding whatsoever of what was involved. When I […]