Beyond the Elements of Style

What is Layout? A Brief History

So here’s the first in my series of posts about the process of manuscript preparation. Layout is not the first step in the process—actually, it’s pretty much near the end—but I wanted to begin with it because so many new authors seem to think that layout is part of the editing process.

It isn’t.

Here to tell us as much as you’ll ever want to know about the history of layout is my friend and colleague, Dick Margulis, whose blog is one of the best on the internet.

Here’s what he has to say about the history of layout:

Let’s look at the history of printing and publishing a bit. Initially, publishers were printers (or printers were publishers–however you prefer to view it). There was a brief period of turmoil in the fifteenth century when at least a couple of publishers entered into a commercial venture with monastic scriptoria to produce manuscripts in competition with these newfangled printing establishments. It was a snob appeal ploy (you’re too good for that cheap mechanical stuff), but eventually it gave way.

In any case, the printers took responsibility for finding manuscripts they wanted to reproduce, designing and casting the alphabets for them, composing the type, proofreading, printing, and in some cases binding (although that was often done elsewhere, on commission, after the book was sold).

Move forward a few centuries to the American Colonies (Chicago would probably lowercase colonies, wouldn’t they? Too bad.) You’ve been to Williamsburg or Sturbridge or at least seen the Mr. Rogers version, and you know the situation at that stage. Printers are doing the occasional book, but mostly they’re doing job work. The customer comes in with a rough draft. The printer selects fonts and does the layout. The customer gets a chance to look at a proof after the printer makes his own corrections. The job is printed. Books, though, were still published by printers and so it was printers who controlled both page design and editing.

However, compositors were a highly regarded lot. They were among the most respected of craftspeople because of their literacy and their knowledge of the arcane bits of punctuation and grammar. They remained high status workers until the demise of mechanical typesetting and the introduction of desktop publishing in the 1980s.

I think we were probably well into the nineteenth century before authors had enough clout to complain to publishers about the changes made by printers, who by then had evolved into separate operations if not entirely separate companies in all cases. However, layout–for books as well as for job work–was still in the hands of printers and standards were rapidly devolving until, by the end of the nineteenth century, whatever the editorial quality may have been, typography was at its historical nadir. Apparently NOBODY was concerned with layout. Composition was strictly an economic activity, done by the lowest bidder regardless of how well respected its practitioners may have been.

Then along came William Morris in England and the Arts & Crafts movement. Suddenly some artists were taking a serious look at the possibilities for a beautiful printed page, harking back to the Medieval manuscripts and the incunabula. This led to a flowering of the arts of type design and, simultaneously, typography and layout, both in England and the US. This movement crossed over from book design to advertising design and the two fields informed each other in rich ways up to the present.

So I’d say it was the period from about 1896 to 1940 over which publishers took layout decisions away from printers and handed them explicitly to designers (earlier for high-prestige publishers, later in that range for bottom feeders). Prior to that, if editors held any sway over compositors in terms of layout, it was minimal beyond saying how many pages the book was supposed to end up.

Next week I’ll continue “What is Layout?” with some more modern examples and definitions, but I wanted to start you off with Dick’s words. Context is, after all, everything; and modern layout did not spring fully grown from the head of Zeus. Understanding where processes came from is essential to understanding those processes, so do bear with me. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

What Do I Need?

What does this manuscript need?

I can’t tell you how often I receive queries that say, “This only needs proofreading,” and yet clearly requires a heavy copyedit, or developmental editing, or character development, or even layout help. Sometimes it’s the person querying who isn’t aware of, shall we say, his or her own limitations. Often it’s just about not understanding the different processes that take place when a manuscript is moving toward publication. But, in any case, confusion often ensues.

Help is here! Today I’m starting a series that will look at what we mean by copyediting, line editing, layout, developmental editing, formatting, and the like. So mark these pages and check back and see whether your questions about process are answered. You’ll finally find out what you need! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Favorite First Lines

Well, gentle readers, here’s something fun to do over the weekend: an opportunity to add your favorite first lines to this fabulous compendium of … favorite first lines!

I have to warn you, however, that not all of those mentioned will be to your taste; in fact, it seemed to me that a couple were misplaced, and their creators were looking instead for the Bulwer Lytton contest instead.

I’m off to a day away from my desk, but I’ll be adding in my own favorite opening line … and I’ll be sure to include it here!

So share your favorite with the world, and see what others have to say. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Kirkus Lives Again!

Kirkus Reviews, which describes itself as posting “over 500 pre-publication book reviews every month in multiple genres,” and was (to our horror) shut down in December by the Nielson Company, has been resurrected! Oh, frabjus joy!

Kirkus’s new owner is Herb Simon, “the owner of the Indiana Pacers, the NBA team, and chairman emeritus of Simon Property Group, a shopping mall developer,” according to the New York Times. Plans are for Kirkus to continue to be published “as a print magazine while beefing up its digital offerings.”

“With the growth of e-books and e-reading devices, no one can really see the future of publishing. But turmoil like this creates opportunities,” said Simon in the NYT article. “At a time when even the definition of a book is changing, my love of books makes me want to be part of the solution for the book publishing industry.”

Simon is apparently just as interested in publishing as he is in sports: he is already the owner of an independent bookseller (and we love independent booksellers!).

So there is hope in these changing times, and your next book in prepublication may yet see the light of day in the new and possibly improved Kirkus Reviews. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Hope for Authors?

Does Apple’s new iPad represent hope for authors?

Okay, yeah, so I’m a Mac girl, and of course my cult believes that the world will be saved by the Macintosh. But a new product offering hope to those of us who spend our days sitting in a room and writing?

Bear with me for a moment here. Let me take you back to the beginning of the century, when record labels suddenly realized that musicians could make a perfectly good living without them. Creation and recording? Online. Distribution? Online. Marketing? Online. And while the music consumer in me loved the change (iTunes rocks, let’s face it), the author in me said, hey, wait … at least there’s still an income stream here for musicians. The song itself isn’t the product: the concerts, the t-shirts, those have become the products. Musicians can thumb their noses at the establishment and still pay the rent. But what about authors? Come on, who’s going to spend $75 for a favorite author’s face on a sweatshirt? Or pay $150 to go to a reading?

Ain’t going to happen.

So along with other writers I’ve been watching events unfold with some trepidation. And while I will admit to owning a Kindle and having become addicted to the ease of download and portability, I also have concern about the monolithic control of Amazon. So I was interested in this article by Eliot Van Buskirk in Wired magazine (and thanks to my friend Pete Tedlie for turning me on to the article!):

Wired.com’s Brian Chen and Dylan Tweney were right about Apple launching a book store to complement the iPad. The new iBook store will work pretty much the same as iTunes, functioning as one of 12 new apps that come installed on every tablet, and allowing users to choose books from a growing catalog. People who may never have contemplated actually buying an e-book before might consider it, now that it’s something they can do on their shiny new tablet. Authors and book publishers will have a larger market to pitch to, and they could take more risks on lower-selling authors, given the low cost of distributing e-books.

Still, books have not fared well during the growth of other electronic media and will face the same stiff competition on the iPad that they face elsewhere. Either way, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos should feel a bit tense today facing new competition from an extensible device that also does e-books and can be had for less than the price of a DX Kindle.

I was able to perceive some hope there. I have an acquaintance who makes a very nice living, thank you very much, exclusively writing ebooks. Right now the only categories that afford that kind of income are erotica and romance, but where they lead others may follow.

And anytime more people have books accessible to them, it’s a Good Thing. Consider the possibilities of the future, and then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

More on Blogging

So we’ve talked about book marketing via a blog, but haven’t really discussed how you can find and receive the information that you need from others’ blogs. Reading others’ blogs and commenting on them (always being sure to include a signature line with your name, your website, and your book’s title) is a terrific way to create an internet presence for yourself, network, and market your book.

Every blog has an RSS feed. Once you identify the blogs you want to follow, subscribe to the RSS feeds (one way to do this that is easy and free is Google Reader. By using an RSS feed, you can have the latest posts from all of your chosen blogs updated automatically, all in one place.

But what blogs should you follow? You need to be careful about what you subscibe to, because while blogs can be terrific sources of information, they can also constitute a black hole for your time and energy!

Be aware that searches on the net are all about keywords. If you’re looking for blogs on which you can comment and join the conversation (thus giving your name and book more exposure), then blogs related to the subject of your novel might be more effective than the writing and publishing blogs that most authors think they should subscribe to. With the exception of Beyond The Elements of Style, of course!

Technorati is a good place to start: go there and search for the keyword terms that interest you. The search function on the home page will identify posts with the search term; if you want to find blogs, then use the advanced search function.

Technorati gives blogs an authority rating based on how many other blogs link in to the blog. Although a high rating can indicate lots of traffic, don’t discount a blog just because of a low authority rating. You could still get traffic or search engine lift from being on a blog if it’s good fit with your subject.

There are a number of other blog directories and search engines, including Google Blog Search and Blog Catalog.

When you’re ready to comment on a blog, always make your comments useful and thoughtful. As you start to have a presence on your selected blogs, you’ll find that people start looking to you as an authority on your topics, visiting your website more often, and generally giving you the kind of marketing lift you’re looking for. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

The London Book Fair

Full disclosure first: I’m offering this as a resource, but have never myself attended this particular show, so can’t comment first-hand on its usefulness.

But FYI, the London Book Fair will be taking place this spring from the 19th to the 21st of April, 2010.

The London Book Fair is one of the global marketplaces for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. It’s not as large or as famous as the Frankfort one, but well worth taking note of. As the advertisements say,

Even in the digital age, the power of meeting face-to-face cannot be underestimated. Wherever in the world you want to do business, you can do so much more, at The London Book Fair.

Take a look at what’s going on—it’s a lovely time to visit England! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Readers’ Reactions

We’ve been talking a great deal about book promotion here recently, and I wanted to take a moment to share with you one of the more delightful fruits of one’s labors … namely, the responses of readers.

My best experience in this area was a letter I received after the publication of my novel Wings. One of the characters in Wings, Sarah Martin, is modeled on Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to hold a pilot’s license. The letter read, “My husband knew Harriet Quimby, and he says she would have liked the life you gave her.”

A few years ago I wrote a book called Open Your Heart with Geocaching, and have had very nice feedback on it indeed. But even better is when what you write inspires others, makes them take your thoughts further, allows them to appropriate truths from it for themselves. So I was pleased to receive the following email:

I hope you don’t mind me sharing a few thoughts with you relating to my experiences after I started reading your book on Geocaching.

I have struggled for years to find a hobby that I can really get interested in. I tried woodwork for a while, but it just didn’t grab me. Then at the start of this year I stumbled across Geocaching and everything fell in place. I think it is the way in which the sport manages to pull together all the different interests that I have. It does not matter what your interests are, you will experience the same ability of Geocaching to pull unexpected things together at the most unexpected places.

I find it extraordinary how your mind gets informed of something and you then shortly thereafter encounter it in a totally different context – almost like a confirmation! In the copy of the listing of “Dark Satanic Mills” in Appendix C of your book, you quote an excerpt from Jerusalem by William Blake. I am one of those types that read more than one book at a time. It was therefore at the same time quite surprising but also entirely expected that a few days later I found a quote from Europe by William Blake (1794) in the story of the 9 remaining moon walking astronauts – Moon Dust by Andrew Smith (Bloomsbury 2005). What makes it quite incredible is that this quote is a very accurate description of the experience of the earth at creation which is similar to that which one can expect to experience while you are out in nature geocaching: “every particle of dust breathes forth its joy”!

The use of poetry in Geocaching is quite special. I recently did a multi-cache that also makes use of poetry in its various waypoints. This cache is situated in a very well kept cemetery – the Fourways Garden of Remembrance. Fourways is a suburb approximately 25 km from the centre of Johannesburg. The cache – Celebration of Life GC1CWP6 – is extremely poignant. The celebration of life in a cemetery is a beautiful concept – the use of poetry appearing of various graves makes it all the more special.

Here your advice to breathe and experience the location really made sense.

Look for the delight that your words can bring to others. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Revisiting Jodi Picoult

I’m a playwright as well as an author, and earlier this year I had the honor of “translating” one of Jodi Picoult’s novels, The Pact, into a stage play. The play has been an immense success, including a nomination for best script for the NH Theatre Awards, and it’s led me to revisit many of her other novels, most of which I haven’t read in some years.

There’s something about revisiting an author you haven’t read for some time; it’s like spending time with an old friend. Comfortable and pleasant and sometimes (when you’re lucky) a little surprising. Yesterday a blizzard hit the Cape, where I live, and I allowed myself a pleasant snow day: I stayed in my pajamas and did very little but re-read old friends. Phil Rickman. Dennis Lehane. Michael Malone. And, of course, Jodi herself.

There is a lot of joy in reading (as I discuss in some length in Open Your Heart with Reading), and it doesn’t always have to be something new and challenging.

Spend some time this holiday week with one of your old friends and see what a great experience it can be for you! And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

More On Book Marketing: Social Media

Last time we talked about SEO for book marketing on the web. But the reality is (and those of you who subscribe to my newsletter, Limitless Content, already know this) that the trend of 2010 is toward integration. SEO alone isn’t going to do it. Direct mail alone isn’t going to do it. You really need to integrate all of your efforts into one seamless strategy if you’re going to get any traction in your book marketing efforts.

Enter social media. Here’s not only a way to reach a lot of people, but a way to have someone else help you do it! How cool is that?

First step: Open accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, and MySpace. If you already have one, think about opening a second one that is tied in specifically to the book you’re marketing. The more focused your interactions in social media, the better.

Social media has emerged as one of the biggest buzzwords in the short history of the Internet. Never mind what tool or platform you use, social media is really about connecting people, engaging them, and treating them the way they want to be treated. Social media is having a huge impact on business, not just from a marketing perspective, but also in areas such as customer service, market research, and product development.

Social networks can allow you to reach and influence thousands of people, which can generate more traffic to your book’s website and sell more copies of your book. When optimizing your site for social networks, it is important to keep some general tips in mind:

1. create a well-written summary of your post in the first paragraph
2. place social networking bookmarks and buttons on your site
3. comment and submit stories
4. establish yourself to potential customers as an expert in your field.

MySpace
You don’t have to be sixteen and silly to leverage MySpace, and if your book is even remotely aimed at young people, it’s time to start your MySpace marketing. Start slowly: obtain an account, not with your own name, but with that of your book instead; instead of the requisite headshot, put in a shot of the book cover. Once you have that in place, look at the space as a mini-website ad put something together, being careful to keep the same look and feel (as much as possible) from your own website. Make sure that you have links back to your regular website, and use the social networking equivalent of alt tags on any pictures.

Facebook
Facebook allows you to create a “group,” but it doesn’t have to be about people. Think outside the box: the group can be an event, such as a sale, or it can be your book itself; once you’ve created it, invite all of your email subscribers to come and view it.

LinkedIn
Less social and more professional networking, LinkedIn nonetheless can be exploited for the holidays. One of the great resources of this networking site is the practice of users asking questions that can then be answered by other users. Many of the questions will be irrelevant to your book, but some will be; answering them well, completely, and helpfully will establish you as an expert in the field, an authority to which people can turn, and generate buzz about your book. Including a link to your website will garner great SEO mileage as well!

Make Sure You’re Prepared
One caveat that’s true for all social networking sites: if you’re building up a book profile, you have to consider what “friends” you want to be associated with for branding purposes. And you need to be willing to engage with the audience: blogging, sending messages, and being an actual member of the community. It takes planning and strategy, but social networking can really help with your book marketing strategy. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!