The design of books: an explainer for authors, editors, agents, and other curious readers

Introduction

1. The physical book. Kinds of books ; The parts of a book ; Printer's specifications ; Printing

2. Type. Brief history ; Looking at letters ; Font categories ; The character set ; Choosing type ; Type size ; Styling type

3. The cover. What's on a cover ; The creative brief ; Genre ; Craft ; Process ; The online cover ; The rest of the cover

4. Inside the book. The spread ; Front matter ; Back matter ; The body of the book ; The page ; Setting type ; Interior decorating

5. Illustrated books. Illustrated how? ; Vision and planning ; Designing visual books ; Image quality and production

6. Ebooks. Brief history ; Devices and apps ; Reflowable ebooks ; Fixed-layout ebooks

7. The design process. Traditional publishing ; Self-publishing ; The finished book

Postscript

Appendix. Type etiquette ; Freelance design contract ; Resources

Glossary.