Toolemera Blog

Cover trials

Ah, the trials and tribulations of publishing. So I say as if from decades of experience... Which reminds me of an email I once received. In the email, someone wrote that I "sound much older than I look". How I 'sounded' much older than I looked through an email list, I have yet to comprehend. Not to mention how I 'looked' much older than I sounded, again through an email list.

In any event, I've been working with a new piece of software to make book covers. I've always admired the marketing genius of O'Reilly books, Dummies, Real World and so on in their development of a 'look' that is always their own. I've wanted to do the same, partially from a marketing standpoint and partially because it makes sense to me.

I've also played around with the idea of producing facsimile copies of book covers, but the requirements of cover art and printing makes that one difficult. All those blind embossed covers look great in person, but getting one to match up with cover bleed is nasty. For those who think I am injured, fear not. Cover bleed is the term for the cover/page trimming error measurement required to make up for the physical trimming process in printing, particularly in POD printing. It's nearly impossible to get a cover design to print and trim precisely as it's designed.

Here's examples of two covers I've been working on, one for Moxon's Mechanick Exercises and one for Thorold's Our Workshop. With the exception of final pricing and creating the Bowker ISBN data, both of these are pretty much ready to go to press.

Feedback on the cover art would be much appreciated. Pros, cons and apathetic views equally accepted.

  Till next, Gary

The Joiner and Cabinetmaker: late review and comments

I've read this book by Joel Moskowitz, Chris Schwarz and Jeff Peachey twice. While at first I was wondering at the format and three part approach, on the second read-around I like it. It reminds me of academic articles that feature one topic as covered by three or more authors. All may agree, disagree, find problems in each other's work or go off on tangents.

I was hoping for a facsimile reproduction of the original book and not a re-typing, but beggars can't be all that picky. A copy of that title has yet to make it to my shelves. Or boxes. That's what happens when shelf space gets tight, the overflow ends up boxed. Anyhow, Joel provides an incredibly indepth discussion of the role of the apprentice in the early 1800's, which can be assumed to be a mirror of the late 1700's. His footnotes are copious, although I had to resort to squinting from one inch to read the small print. Clearly, Joel decided to keep to the fashion of the time period and go for little tiny type.

Made By Hand : Book Review

'Tis been a while since last I posted to the blog. I've been busy sleeping a lot (and working on getting sleep  apnea under better control), fiddling with publishing and watching reality TV. Yes, Virginia, I am becoming a Reality TV junky. Academy: Orange County Firefighters, Operation Repo, Animal Cops, Speeders and so on. After a lifetime of watching fine movies, I figure it's about time to fill my head with stuff that really matters.

On to Tom Fidgen's new book Made By Hand. I've read it twice already. Once to get the feel for it and once to read between the lines. I'll refrain from a thorough review of the contents as Larry over at the Wood'n Bits Workshop has already covered many of the points I would have. Instead, I'll comment on where I see this book sits in the current scheme of literature.

Made By Hand is a throwback to the 19th Century.

In the later part of that century we see the dominance of the Arts & Crafts movement along with Manual Arts as a theory and practice of education. Structure and formula crept into the world of crafts as a result of the move to machinery in the workplace and at home. Don't get me wrong, I am a devotee of Arts & Crafts style furnishings. But there was and is an underlying production theorem to the design and creation of the style. Just take a look at any Arts & Crafts period trade catalog and you'll see what I mean.

Where do books fall in the manual arts scheme?

Recently, while reading Adam Cherubini's article "Making your magazine come to life", I was struck once again by the development of the many books I have been both reading and evaluating for upcoming publication. Truth, is that at times I enjoy the digging up the books to read them under the guise of 'evaluating' them for suitable content even more than the idea of publishing them. Which might explain why it takes me so long to get to an end stage.

Adam discusses the need for first person training and demonstration in learning hand skills. Magazines and books have their place, but without that first person contact much is lost in the translation of actions to words and pictures. Why, then, are there so many books printed on trades and crafts? Where are we going if people think that:

a. a book can give them all they need to know

b. a 'mentor' is needed to really get the nitty gritty.

c. trial and error will, in time, teach you what you need to know

d. pictures tell stories better than words do

e. words tell stories better than pictures do

Living with the Lion

A recent article in a local newspaper discussed the current status of that mini-Microsoft, Google. In particular, the where-abouts of Google Books and the Google Books Partner Program. At the same time, there is more soap opera going on between the courts and Google. As the sawdust settles and the radiation fall-out from The Google Books Settlement slowly half-lives to a level capable of sustaining life-as-we-know-it, there appear distinct advantages to bedding down with the lion. Something will happen in the end between Google, Publishers and Authors. My finely honed instincts tell me Google will prevail.

When Google first announced the Partners program, the verbiage was so cloaked in legalistic gobble-de-gook that no one could figure out how, why or when to do something. Lately, Google has taken the sensible step of making it relatively easy for publishers and authors to take advantage of the Partners Program. This is particularly good news for small publishers and independent authors. Although the web based sign up process is annoying, it can be done provided you have the information at your fingertips.