The self-publishing explosion has improved our reading lives. More ideas, more writers, and more books are available to us than ever before, sometimes at the lowest prices and shortest delivery times we’ve ever seen. This is fantastic. But one problematic side effect of this newfound efficiency is the decline of book design. Book design is a straightforward art but it is an art, one that your friends at Letter Better have perfected over years of practice.

TYPESETTING AND LAYOUT

If you’ve noticed some self-published books out there looking a little “off” without knowing exactly why, most likely the culprit is poor type design. The principles of leading, kerning, tracking, and serifs have been subtly honed over the thousand years since movable type was invented. We’ll go over all this with you while deciding the perfect look for your book, and we won’t stop making sample pages until you’re thrilled with the approach.

COVER DESIGN

Think of your book cover as the first impression you’re making with the reader as you embark on, hopefully, a lifelong relationship. Readers don’t know what makes them linger over a book or pass right by it, but we do, and we’ll design the kind of cover that dares people not to give your book a try. You don’t need a lavish art budget to make this happen; just a designer who understands what you’re trying to say.

PRODUCTION

What is often an afterthought for writers is our foremost thought at Letter Better; producing your finished book is pretty important! The final push towards published satisfaction involves flowing every page, setting the space breaks and chapter headings, crafting those seemingly simple drop caps, and turning it into a file that your printer or e-book seller can actually work with. It’s a detailed process that we actually enjoy; we handle it with attention and lots of TLC.