February 2010 Issue

Key Elements of Professional Book Cover Design for Self-Published Authors

It takes just a few vital seconds for an editor or reader to decide about whether your self-published book is worth reading or not, so the design of the book cover is incredibly important. If the key opportunity for selling your book exists in one tiny glance, that glance had better be optimized by excellent design elements, wouldn’t you agree?

Publishers want their books to appear unique so that the book is hard to forget. An excellent cover helps to make that happen. An excellent book cover is like the striking pose of a model – stunning and creative. Shown below are 3 sample covers designed by our award-winning teammate and graphic designer, Kerrie Lian.

Finding the Right Graphic Designer

Professionalism and experience as well as expertise are the main qualities you should look for when finding the right graphic designer to do an important task like the one-glimpse-and-it-sells-or-not test cover of your book. You don’t want your self-published book to appear amateurish or homemade. Your graphic designer should have a high level of creativity, skills, the right software, access to stock photography and be knowledgeable about the book printing process to make your book stand out from all the rest.


What Are the Key Elements in Cover Design?

The cover of a book must include all the elements in our list that are applicable. Not all book covers will have flaps.

• Front cover
• Spine
• Back Cover
• Inside Flaps
• ISBN and Bar Code

At a minimum, your front cover should contain the name of the book, its subtitle, and your name. Testimonials and endorsements can also be tastefully used on the front cover. Your front cover should be legible and easily read from a short distance. Use bold, contrasting lettering to make this element work right. On the spine, your name, title and publishing company name or logo should be listed and legible from a distance. On the back cover, you will want the book’s category in the upper left corner to help bookstores shelve it properly. The back cover should have a compelling headline directed to your target book buying audience, a brief description and a few bulleted benefits. Listing a few testimonials from recognized leaders in your field is very helpful. Your picture and bio may appear on the back cover, and these technical points need to appear as well:

• 13 digit ISBN number (buy from R. R. Bowker Co.)
• Price
• Bar code
• Credits for the cover designer and/or illustrator


What Other Important Elements Play a Role in Producing Excellent Book Covers?

Because your self-published book cover is critical for your marketing and branding, it will get you noticed either positively or negatively. Following are more elements that will help you catch the attention of your audience. A knowledgeable graphic designer knows all about these key elements and their proper usage.

• Chose the right font for the book and its audience
• Don’t use ALL CAPS for headings, subheadings or Table of Contents. They are too difficult to read.
• Eliminate ‘rivers of white’ with proper word spacing
• Be aware of ‘leading’ – the space between the lines. Font, type size, word spacing and length of line all come into play here.
• Line length should not exceed 65 characters for ease of reading
• Paper samples for your book cover are available from the printer. 10 point C1S is the standard for soft covers. Ask your book printer for house stock, as it is more affordable.

There is a precise science behind the creation of a successful book cover, as I’m confident you are now aware. Since the cover is such an important tool, being penny wise and pound foolish should be saved for other elements of your successful book publishing and marketing. Let an experienced, skillful graphic designer help you design your self-published book cover. You can use the key points in this article to check for his or her skill level. To your success!

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

January 2010 Issue

Designing the Inside Pages of a Professional Looking Self-Published Book

Once you’ve done all the hard work of writing your book manuscript, you’ll need expert assistance in getting the right cover designed, and then, making sure the design of the pages inside the book marries well with the book’s purpose. I am a book lover in my heart and I have been since I was just learning how to read. I love to go into a book store. I love the first smell of the paper and glue that fills their air space. I love to see the variations of design on the sales tables, and then I love to go into my special places where the things I’m most interested in live and see all the new and wonderful inside pages designs that have been published since my last trip. I a continuously delighted with the cleverness used in book design, an area where you might think there’s not a lot of room for innovation.

In this post, I am going to address the inner appeal your self-published book should have. These technological elements and inner appeal go hand in hand. Next month I'll address the key elements of book cover design for self-published authors. In that post, you will find the technological pieces that make your book work well and get sold.

Feelings

The artwork on the cover should induce a particular feeling that will match the message of the book. You wouldn’t use intense jewel tones, for example, on the cover of a book about meditation. You’d use subtle coloring. Once the cover is completed, you need to ask yourself what feeling you want to sustain on the inner pages as well. If your self-published book is more of a classical masterpiece around some deeply spiritual ideas, the inside pages might have higher quality paper stock.

It would be wise to go to a bookstore in the category your book will eventually appear and look at your competition solely for the purpose of how the book makes you feel. Hold it in your hands. See what kind of paper evokes the feeling you want your book to have. When you’ve chosen a printer, he/she can provide samples of the papers available.

Book Size

Sometimes a mighty message is contained in a very small, tastefully printed book. James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh and Don Miguel Ruiz’ The Four Agreements are two examples. These books have fairly wide margins; an extra blank page preceding each chapter and plenty of white space. Their fonts say “classical elegance” and their message is a classically spiritual message. Both books are in the general 5 x 7 size category.

You would be well served to think through the main impact you want to have on your readership. All of the key elements – cover, inside, color, paper, font, size – should portray that main message to your readers.

Readability

Who will be reading your self-published book? Choosing the right font style for your target audience is important for appearance, readability and for the requirements of your printer. Certain ages may have different requirements. If your book will appeal mainly to senior citizens, a larger font would be advisable. If it’s a children’s book, Oldstyle fonts are generally used. A slab serif font has very clean, easy to read lines and can help the eye move along the line easily. Again, a trip to your local bookstore to assess the competition for the ease of readability will help you make the right choice.

Consider a second font for your headers and book chapter titles. It should compliment the main font. Your graphic designer can assist you with these choices, but it’s always wise to have some idea in mind before engaging her.

Your self-published masterpiece deserves to have all the key elements lined up appropriately as do the books published by the big publishing houses so that your message comes across. The appropriate inside page design is one of the elements toward that end. Although you may never have considered it before you wrote your book, the design inside the book is equally as important as its cover.



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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

December 2009 Issue

Hot Tips for Logo Design Excellence

In our marketplace today, we spend hours and hours on a computer surfing the internet. According to research, it is estimated that many of us are exposed to over 200 logo designs or branding marks per hour. Your logo will be used on your business cards, your website, outdoor designs, various spots on the Internet, and on promotional items like T-shirts, mugs, key chains, etc. At that rate, in order to be memorable to our clients, that logo had better pop out and stick in someone’s memory, wouldn’t you say? Sprinkled below are several sample logo designs from our team portfolio.


What Makes A Good Logo

Big business knows how important it is to have success in all the elements of their business, so they attach a high value to branding and logo design. Strive to achieve the following characteristics:

• Consistent with all the other elements of your marketing
• Graphically enticing and memorable
• Represent your company and products meaningfully
• Be as unique as possible
• Appear professional drafted
• Function beyond the limits of time
• Not melt into the background of your marketing pieces

When you employ a graphic designer to craft your logo, you want it to:

• Last for a long time
• Be distinctive from your competition
• Appealing to your target market
• Communicate the right image.
• Be legible and easily understood

Paul Rand was a superb innovator in the arena of logo design. IBM’s logo is attributed to him. Without it even being shown here, you can visualize those three letters in horizontal blue stripes, can’t you? That’s a logo with all the key elements listed above. Rand united letters and found unique graphical ways of utilizing the letters of a word or a persons name through typography or engravers design and he frequently wove modern art styles into his logo designs.


Eye Catching Design

It’s not an easy thing to make a simple graphical symbol to represent the entirety of a company’s Mission Statement, and yet a good graphic designer can do just that. The very best logos are quite sophisticated in their simplicity, because they combine and refine symbols, colors, and typography as well as space into one tight, concise unit.

A good logo has a strong, balanced image without clutter surrounding it that might distract one’s attention from the logo message. Bold graphics are easier to see at a glance and they work better than logos with thin, delicate lines. Your logo should avoid trendiness in order to achieve the element of timelessness. Trendy fonts or images will distract from your message.


Color and Black & White

Your logo will mainly be used in it’s colorized version, but it’s wise to check its appearance in black and white as well. Faxes, in particular, communicate mainly in black and white and you’ll want your logo to be easily recognized without color.

You should record somewhere you can easily retrieve the PMS ink formula of the spot color(s) in your logo. If you ever have to use a four color printing process, you’ll need this information. You can check a spot-color-to-process-color conversion swatch book for this information, and you’ll be glad you have it recorded.

Full color logos are wonderful to look at, but expensive to print on your marketing pieces. It’s much more economical to print your letterhead, envelopes, business cards and brochures in one, two or three colors.

Graphics for the Internet

Here is a check list for what you’ll need from your graphic artist so that you can use your logo on the internet:

• A jpg or gif file format
• Resolution at 72 pixels per inch
• In the RGB color space

Your successful logo design can make or break your business. I’d recommend having your graphic artist provide several samples. Let your friends see them and place a strong value on their input. Then, let several people see them who don’t know you or your business and listen attentively to their feedback. And then, for this key element in your business branding, the final choice is yours.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

November 2009 Issue

Before and After: A Book Cover Case Study

Are you writing a book? If you are a consultant, speaker or coach, you may find that publishing a book may boost your credibility, open doors to more opportunities and help you land more gigs or clients. With the Internet at your fingertips and easy access to expert cover designers, editors, illustrators and page layout artists, it is much easier to self-publish a book than it was twenty years ago. You can take the role as general contractor and hire consultants to help assemble all the pieces.

To save money, you may be tempted to do more than just write the manuscript. But I caution you to not venture into areas outside your expertise. One area that should be done with care by an experience designer is your book cover.

Covers that scream “amateur” and have a made-at-home look are difficult to sell. A graphic designer or illustrator has the creativity, skills, software, access to stock photography, and printing knowledge that will make your cover stand out above others in the marketplace.

Shown below are two front cover designs. The first one is from our client, Cecilia Izquierdo, who asked us to use our magic and take her cover illustration to the next level.



The next cover design is the final version delivered by Marty Petersen, a talented illustrator and member of the MacGraphics team. When I first saw Marty’s illustration, it took my breath away. The clouds seemed more “real” to me than real clouds. Does it evoke any strong feelings in you?


Why does Marty’s cover have so much impact? In his own words, here is Marty's critique on the design elements that make this cover so powerful.

"Designing and illustrating a cover is always an exciting challenge, and I love getting involved with the concept, purpose and psychology of a book's message. Cecilia came to us with an endearing story and an illustration that provided great starting point, put lacked the punch and sophistication of a professionally designed cover.

I made her composition much more dramatic and evocative with better use of color, depth, balance and dimensional realism.

I created a darker overall illustration to bring the meaningful symbols —the halo, doves, light shafts — to life with dramatic bright tonal contrasts. The original’s softer blue sky and clouds lacked the visual pizzazz that is so important to grab and keep a book buyer’s attention.

The bold and evocative tonal contrasts forcefully direct the viewer's eye from the light source (halo), down the shafts of light and cloud bank into the lower text, quickly communicating the thrust of the book's message. The much more realistically rendered doves symbolize the real and spiritual nature of the book. I also used powerful color psychology by playing the colder, darker, less-soothing background tones against the radiant, uplifting tones of the golden illuminated light shafts.

In summary, the tonal contrasts, interplay of hot and cold color hues, and specific placement of dramatic symbolic elements creates much more powerful, communicative and effective cover image."

— Marty Petersen

Shown below are a couple more covers illustrated by Marty. Here's a little bit of information on him. He is an established professional commercial illustrator and designer based in the Colorado front range. He's been in the business for over 26 years, 12 of those being focused in digital media. Marty illustrates science fantasy and children's books, creates logos, event posters, interface designs, splash screens, static images & layered art for animation, digital photo retouching, technical and medical illustration. A very versatile artist, he can illustrate anything from basic line art to full color highly detailed illustrations in many styles; airbrush, watercolor, pen & ink. All of his creations are completely hand painted, digitally.


The Colony: A Political Tale, was named the First Place Winner in the General Fiction category of the Premier Book Awards. The author, Reggie Rivers received a letter from the Awards Chair who wrote, "The competition was fierce and it was a difficult decision choosing from so many deserving books. However, the judges were unanimous in their selection of The Colony: A Political Tale as a winning novel."




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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

You may scroll down to see the October issue of Graphics Image Builder, but first I want to share some fantastic news with you.

A card I created of my puppy for my mom won the "2008-2009 Best Heartfelt Card Design of the Year" in the SendOutCards Picture Plus Card Design Contest. This card had already taken first place in July during a monthly contest, but now it is recognized as the best heartfelt card of the YEAR! I am thrilled and honored to receive this recognition. If you want to know how I did this, or learn more about SendOutCards, just pop me an email or call me at 888-796-7300. Here is the front of my card:



This is the inside spread. It is a 3-panel card.


This is the fold-over panel:



October 2009 Issue

Creating a Successful Marketing Piece — 10 Questions to Answer

Are you ready to create a marketing piece, but don’t know where to start? Regardless if you’re doing it yourself or getting professional design and writing help, there are some simple, yet essential steps to follow that will make the whole process go smoothly and prevent costly mistakes.

Listed below are 10 questions to answer before beginning your project.

1. What is the purpose or objective of your piece — to entertain, inform or to persuade? What action do you want your prospects to take — request information, visit your website or call you? Keep your marketing purpose in mind when you write the text, gather visuals to support the text, and set up your design.

2. Who is your intended target audience? Identifying your audience helps you to grab their interest by using a targeted message, persuasive words and appropriate graphics, photos, fonts and colors.

3. What is your graphics theme or brand? Are you creating a multiple-piece campaign? Develop a storyline and stick with it. Your message, fonts, and graphics should all build and support the theme you’ve selected.

4. How will you compose your message? Will you be writing the content or do you need the help of a copywriter or editor? Have you determined the key benefits and persuasive words for your piece?

5. What graphic information will you include? Fill in any gaps you have in your content with illustrations, photos, tables, quotes, and other graphic elements. When you gather these elements first, you’ll have a visual sense of how much space they will take up as you prepare your design.

6. Have you talked with your print shop about print specifications for this project? It’s important to determine trim size (final size of a printed piece), binding, bleeds (the area of a graphic or photo that extends beyond the edge of the trimmed sheet), number of inks, choice of spot inks or process inks, folds and scores (creasing paper mechanically so it will fold more easily) and paper stock before you even begin your design. Get multiple print bids; compare prices, quality and turnaround times.

7. How will your piece be distributed? Get bids and research options for distribution. Will electronic or printed distribution work best? Will the distribution of this piece be scheduled with other media releases?

8. What postal regulations may affect your design? If your piece will be mailed, check with the post office for regulations regarding labeling, folding, size restrictions, the weight of the paper to use, proper positioning, postal cost and exact wording of postal information on the mailer you’re designing. Is it going first class or bulk mail? Will your piece need to be designed to fit into an envelope?

9. What is your schedule? You’ll need to determine a realistic timetable for all processes in your project: planning, conceptualization, writing, editing, designing, proofreading, printing, binding, labeling, distribution.

10. What is the cost for each step in the process in your budget? Create a budget, then take time to shop around for the best prices that come within your budget.

By answering these questions, you will be better prepared for the five steps in the production process—the natural workflow for your project.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

September 2009 Issue

Recommended Graphic Design and Marketing Products and Resources

I'd like to share with you some of the best graphic design and marketing resources I've found. These include magazines, books, conferences, blogs, webinars and forums. Some of these are free; all provide excellent value. I've added a page to my website and organized them into two lists: Graphic Design Resources and Marketing Resources. This is a long and comprehensive list, so be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see it all.

Click HERE to see this compilation on my website:

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

Check it out. My card design of my puppy, Logan was a winner in the SendOutCards Picture Plus contest:
Click here to see the winning card design.

August 2009 Issue

What to Include in Your Book Media Kit?

A book media kit can be a paper folder or a page on your website with the essential information and marketing materials about your book. The media kit should provide the media with all the information they need to write a story, or do an audio or video interview with the author.

For a hard copy media kit you can gather the following items and arrange them in a classy folder (a solid color in gloss is good). Paste a color postcard of your book cover on the front of the folder.

For an online media kit, add a page on your website called "For the Media" or "Media Kit" and upload the following items. You can upload pdf files, MS Word files, jpg photos, and mp3 audios and video clips.

Your media kit may include all or some of the following items:

Fact Sheet/Book One-sheet
Book Summary
Book Excerpt
Copies of Published Articles
Book Reviews
Praise and Endorsements
Story Ideas and Backgrounders
Your Biography/Author Information
Your Photo: Black and White and Color
Frequently Asked Questions
Interview Questions and Answers
Interview Topics
Testimonials
Cover Letter
News Angles
Interview Topics
Brochures
Tour Schedule/Calendar of Author Events
Media Clippings
Publisher and Purchasing Information
Press Releases
Success Stories/Case Studies
CD, DVD with Audio and Video Clips
Additional Resources
Color Postcards of the Book Cover


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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

July 2009 Issue

This month, my friend and teammate Mary Walewski of Buy The Book Marketing explains how to research your niche using resources found in your library and online.

Tailor Your Book to Your Market: 7 Tips to Researching Your Niche

By Mary Walewski Copyright © 2009

Most authors working on a first book never really give any thought as to who their book is for. “It’s for everyone!” I’ve been told with a radiant smile. As a marketing person, this declaration makes my heart go into my shoes.

If a book if for everyone, it’s really for no one. Probably the biggest mistake any first-time author makes is to think that just because they find their subject fascinating, that everyone else will too. Some people will find your topic fascinating; but a lot of people will not. Your job is to write to those people in that narrow little niche who are likely to buy.

But won’t that limit your book sales? Let’s take a hypothetical example:

Say there are 3 million people in the United States who are interested in your topic. Two million of them regularly spend time on the internet. One million of them discuss the topic on online forums. If you spent time networking and posting on forums, maybe 5% might like what you post, go to your website and buy your book. Could you live with selling only 50,000 books?

That little niche looks a lot more attractive now, doesn’t it?

Take some time during the first draft/research phase of your writing to really research who your potential audience is. Keep and add to your research as you write your book. Your payoff really comes when you formulate your marketing plan. You’ll know your market inside and out!

Here’s my seven best ways to research your niche:

1. Go to the library and throw yourself on the mercy of the reference librarian. You don’t really need to beg or anything - librarians mostly like to help people. Look for general books on your topic, also do a search of their periodicals, electronic databases, and depending on their collection, scholarly manuscripts. You want to know who’s writing about your topic, whether those books got any reviews or press, and whether the average public library has seen any demand for books or information on your topic. If your topic is more scholarly or esoteric, do your search at a college library.

2. Do keyword research to find out if anyone’s looking for information on your topic online. Go to Google’s keyword tool at http://www.google.com/sktool/. Type in keywords and see how many people are searching for information relating to your topic. This gives you two valuable pieces of information – how popular your topic is and what keywords should be included on your website so you can be found.

3. Set up a Google Alert on your topic using some of those same keywords. Go to http://google.com/alerts. You can have alerts from the news, websites, blogs, video, and groups. You can also decide if you want to receive the alerts daily, weekly, or as it happens. I prefer daily if I’m in a hurry; weekly updates if this is an ongoing research project.

4. Those alerts should include blogs and groups. Take the time to bookmark or subscribe to blogs you find interesting. Read them for a while, and then post comments on them. Hopefully you will develop friendships with bloggers on your topic. Consider starting a blog yourself so you can refer people back to your blog. Building this online platform will pay big dividends as you build an audience who will anticipate the arrival of your book. Join groups for the same reason. You can find hundreds of them on Yahoo Groups and Google Groups. Just remember to listen before your speak. Contribute to the group offering good information; don’t just promote your stuff. (In fact, if that’s all you do, you might get kicked off.) I also recommend following the Mom Rule when it comes to posting content on the internet: never post anything you wouldn’t want your mom to read.

5. Join local and national associations that have to do with your topic. Attend the meetings and conferences, read the newsletters, get involved.

6. Join groups on your topic on Facebook and/or LinkedIn depending on what’s appropriate. You’ll get acquainted with like-minded people and have the opportunity to ask and answer questions – a good way to build your reputation as an expert.

7. Use Twitter for asking questions and taking impromptu polls. As new as Twitter is, it has become an amazing venue for taking the pulse of your market.

About Mary Walewski
Do you want to market online, but you’re not sure how to start? Mary Walewski of Buy The Book Marketing, provides online marketing services including marketing plans, home study courses, and coaching to authors and entrepreneurs. Get free tips at my blog: www.buythebookmarketing.com.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

June 2009 Issue

How to brand your business and launch your brand online . . . without losing your money or your mind!

A great idea can hit you anywhere. It can wake you at 2:00 a.m., so compelling that you jump out of bed, put on a pot of coffee, and begin outlining your business plan.

Remember, though, in the heady rush of dreaming up the business, to build a launching pad for it. In other words, a presence on the Internet. Because in today’s buzzword search-engine climate, a website is the most powerful marketing and sales tool available to any company, large or small, cottage industry or inspired solopreneur.

You don’t need to be a cyber-genius to go online and get results. But unless you have a clear business objective and message, you could waste a lot of time and money without accomplishing much. Here are seven steps to guide you in developing your website. Use this system as a clear roadmap, so you don’t find yourself wandering in circles. Don’t lose your mind — just grab a grande latte, sit down and think things through; ask yourself questions you probably already know the answers to.

Step 1: Strategize

Talk strategy with your website designer — clarify how your business goals and objectives translate to a website. You can’t create an effective website design if you don’t know what you want the website to do for you.

Step 2: Define Your Target Market and Niche

What overall customer base do you serve? — that’s your target market. Who are they? Any particular field or industry? What characteristics, interests, or needs do they have in common? Within that customer base, find a smaller group that’s a more specific fit for your product or service, and which may not be served by your competitors; or both — that’s your niche. If your target market is people in job search, for instance, your niche might be people in job search, over 50, who don’t just want to change jobs, they want to change careers.

Why do you need to define your target market and niche? Because: (1) you can’t be all things to all people; (2) you and your customer base need to find one another; and (3) the more specific you get, the more your niche will feel you understand them and can serve their specific needs.

Step 3: Position Yourself

If you’ve done your homework, then you’ve researched the competition. Who are they? What sets you apart in terms of customer base, quality, service, and other aspects? What makes you unique? Look for gaps in the market that aren’t being served – those gaps will help you position yourself and define your niche. Plus, it’ll help you hone your offerings, making you the expert who is sought out for your know-how.

Step 4: Describe “What” and “How”

Whether you’re selling a product or a service, what you’re offering has to solve something or offer something for your customers. How it does that is key to making them choose you — delivering the goods. If you can’t describe the “what” element, your customers won’t know you have a product or service that might benefit them. If you can’t describe the “how” element, your customers won’t be clear that it is doable, usable, and of value. The “how” element also gives, in precise terms, the ways in which the product or service will provide the results customers want. It is a descriptive roadmap from Point A (their need or want) to Point B (the results or benefits).

Step 5: Brand Yourself

Let’s say you’ve already named your business. Now you need images, words, feelings, to make it distinctive. To make it a brand. Branding involves several elements:

• Perception – How do you want your customers/clients to think about your business? How would your customers describe you and your business? What value do your products/services provide, and how do you want the world to perceive that value?

• Logo – Clarify your message based upon the perception you want your customers to have about your business, your niche, and how you want to position yourself. Distill that into an image that will be the visual representation of your company: your logo.

• Tagline – Then translate that into a powerful, compelling tagline. Keep it brief (3-7 words). Make it memorable. Be sure it fits your business. The best taglines are evocative, meaning they conjure images, thoughts, and feelings.

• Graphics – Choose visuals that best express and integrate with your logo and tagline. Support your message with every visible aspect: colors, typeface, styles, and other graphic elements.

Step 6: Create Your Website

The nature of your business will drive and designate your website by topic — e.g., content, features, directions, contact info, blogs, links, biography, photos, itineraries. Then start writing your copy, making sure its tone fits the website design. State the key benefits clients will receive, the key values you deliver, the key concerns you share.

What topics your does website needs to cover? — use that list to create your website pages. For example, a lecturer or public speaker may need a:

• Home page
• About page
• Who We Serve page
• Presentations/Keynotes page
• Workshops, Classes, and/or Retreats page
• Products (books, CDs, DVDs) page; Shopping Cart
• Meeting Planners page; Contact page
• Blog page; Resources page; E-zine; Special Reports
• Media page/Press room

Design and develop your site using your visual brand elements (logo, color). Review and test it before going live, to make sure everything works, error-free. Offer a free report or e-zine that provides value to website visitors, while building your list at the same time.

Subscribe to an auto-responder program, to make it easy to follow up with prospects and send out broadcasts to your clients. Then go live and do a final testing to ensure accuracy on all platforms.

Here are a couple of websites we've recently created for speakers:
www.FlairForGenius.com
www.ClearPictureLeadership.com

Step 7: Optimize, Market, and Network

First, identify your search engine optimization (SEO) goals and your return on investment targets. Hire a specialist to do foundational search engine optimization with meta-tags and images. With your specialist, set up monthly, robust search engine optimization strategies, driven by your specific goals.

Next, establish search engine marketing (SEM). Set up pages on and participate in social networking sites. Post comments on blogs that relate to your business, customer base, and overall market. Write and publish articles offline and online for inbound links.

These seven steps aren’t simple, and they take work, but they generate results and this year you just might watch your business take off. With a powerful brand, backed up by a website that delivers.

Are YOU ready to create a powerful brand and produce a website that delivers? Visit my website to receive a FREE 60-minute audio “Put the Bling Into Your Brand” and to learn more about our extraordinary branding, graphics and website design services: www.BrandingAndWebsiteDesign.com. Or call me toll-free 888-796-7300 to discuss your project. My team and I would be happy to give you an estimate of costs.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

May 2009 Issue

Polish Your Book Interior with These Proven Typesetting Techniques

Choose Appropriate Fonts

A quick look on your software reveals myriad choices of fonts and you can always find more! But like shopping in a candy store, you have to make judicious selections.

It is important to select appropriate fonts to communicate your message to your readers, particularly when dealing with titles and headlines. Why? Because specific fonts can evoke a certain attitude and feeling that reinforces your intended message.

Fonts for Headlines

Choose a bold font with the right personality for your book. After all, fonts (like people) have personalities, and different designs will appeal to people of different ages and backgrounds. Some common bold fonts are Helvetica Bold, Gill Sans Bold, Eras Bold, Univers Black, and Franklin Gothic Demi. Steer away from fonts that are so stylized and decorative that they are difficult to read.

Typically book designers use a 13-, 14-, 16-, or 24-point size for headlines and subheads. Avoid using all capital letters for your heads, subheads, or table of contents, because they're difficult to read.



Fonts for Body Copy

The font you use for your body or text copy can have some personality, but make sure it is readable. Some easy-to-read fonts that are good choices for body copy are Garamond, Caslon, Goudy, Stone Print, New Century Schoolbook, and Janson Text. Typically, book designers use a 10-, 11-, or 12-point size for body copy. If your readers are either very young or senior citizens, then choose a simple, well-designed font in a larger size (13- or 14-point) so the font can be read without strain.



Paragraph Alignment

Most books are set with full-justified body copy, because the reader's eye can move more quickly across copy that has a consistent column width. Full-justified copy means the type is spaced in a way that both the left and right margins are straight and all lines are the same length. Using justified type makes a page look full and creates a tighter, more formal appearance than type that is not full justified (for example, text that is set ragged-right).

Set your column width to allow for at least a 1" to 1.25" gutter, and a .5" border for top, bottom, and outside edges. The larger measurement for the gutter allows the reader to see the entire layout without having to open the book to a point where the spine cracks and is damaged.

Word Spacing

Proper word spacing creates greater legibility and is also more pleasing aesthetically. Make sure there is neither too much space nor too little space between words. Too much space creates vertical "rivers of white" coursing through the pages, which is often seen in newspapers that have narrow columns. Page layout programs provide accurate controls for adjusting word and letter spacing (kerning).

Leading

Leading is the space between lines of type. Your choice of font, type size, word spacing, and length of line all affect the amount of leading you will need. Some visual judgment comes into play.

Length of Line (Column Width)

Reading many long lines of type causes fatigue. And lines that are too short break up words or phrases that are generally read as a unit. The length of line depends on the size of the type. Smaller type works best at shorter line lengths, while a larger type size is readable in a wide column length. A good rule of thumb is to set the line length between 40 and 65 characters long.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

April 2009 Issue

A note to my Graphics Image Builder ezine readers: Below my exciting news is some valuable information on how to create dynamic book covers that will attract book buyers.

The MacGraphics Team Produces a Lucky 7 CIPA EVVY Book Awards for Our Clients!


Happy faces from left to right are editor Joyce Miller, editor Melanie Mulhall, author Eric Jensen, myself, graphic designer Kerrie Lian and publisher Mary Anne Harvey.

The MacGraphics book design team produced 7 EVVY awards and one Tech award at the 15th annual Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) EVVY Book Awards Banquet held Saturday March 28th. The star of the night was my good friend and gifted graphic designer Kerrie Lian. She won a 2nd place Tech award for her compelling book cover design for Tears of a Warrior written by my clients Tony and Janet Seahorn. She also designed the interior of the book. Shown below are myself and Kerrie.


Tears of a Warrior also won a 1st place EVVY Award (overall book design, writing, editing and production) in the Non-Fiction/Experiences category. Tony and Janet had a previously scheduled engagement and were not able to attend the event but they were both very honored to receive the award. My friend and colleague, Karen Reddick did a fantastic job editing the book and Mary Walewski is helping the Seahorn’s market their book.


My client Eric Jensen took home two EVVY awards for his book, Forever and a Day. He won 1st place in the History category and 2nd place in Memoirs. Kerrie’s fabulous cover and interior design was very much a part of those wins. Joyce Miller did a great job editing the book.


Shown above are myself, Eric and Kerrie. Shown below is Eric's book cover.


Kerrie also designed the cover and interior of But I Don’t Want Eldercare! written by Terry Lynch and published by my client The Legal Center. Mary Anne Harvey of The Legal Center graciously accepted two EVVYs for the book: 2nd place in the Diet/Health/Fitness category and 3rd place in the Parenting/Family category.


Shown above are myself, Mary Anne and Kerrie. Shown below is Terry's cover.


My client Jim Keelan won a 3rd place EVVY for his book, How to Maintain Your Sanity in an Upside-Down World. My good friend and colleague Melanie Mulhall did an excellent job editing his book and accepted the award on behalf of Jim who wasn’t able to attend the banquet. Kerrie Lian had a hand in this book too. She designed the cover using Fred Eyer’s clever and whimsical illustration. Ronnie Moore designed the book interior. Shown below is Jim's book cover.


My client Dom Testa won his third EVVY. He took home a 1st place in the Juvenile category for Galahad III: The Cassini Code. This is the third book in his Galahad series to win an EVVY. It was a pleasure to design all three of his covers using David Hardy's fabulous paintings. Dom mentioned that his Galahad series may be optioned for a movie pilot. How very exciting!


I thoroughly enjoyed working with such a talented group of professionals this year, and I’m excited to create much more collaboration in 2009. Way to go team! Congratulations to all of you.



Tips for Designing Award Winning Book Covers

Keep in mind these elements when designing covers and interiors for your books, big and small.

Front Cover
The front cover presents your book title, subtitle, and your name. Golden opportunities often overlooked are including endorsements and short testimonials from VIPs.

I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the front cover. When choosing colors, consider how these colors will look when converted to black and white so your cover will reproduce well in black and white ads, catalogs, and flyers. Also make sure the font you use for the title is legible from a distance and appropriate for the book’s subject.

Covers that scream “amateur” and have a “made-at-home look” make it difficult to sell your book at all. That’s why it is best to seek the services of an experienced book cover designer. A designer has the creativity, skills, software, access to stock photography, and printing knowledge that will make your cover stand out above others in the marketplace.

Spine
Your name, book title, and publishing company logo show up on the spine. Make sure the information on the spine is clean, uncluttered, and legible. I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the spine as well.

Back Cover
Place the category name in the upper left-hand corner to help bookstores shelve your book properly. Write a headline that clearly addresses who should buy the book. It should be followed by sales copy explaining what the book is about and bulleted items listing the benefits to readers.

I recommend including no more than three testimonials and endorsements, as well as your bio and photograph. Close to the bottom, put “sales-closer” copy in bold print. Position the price in the lower left corner of the back cover. Also include the 13-digit ISBN number for cataloging and the bar code in the lower right corner (below ISBN number), which stores use for scanning information and price.

Don’t forget to include credits for your book cover’s illustrator, photographer, and/or designer.

Paper Stock for Book Covers
The standard perfect bound book cover (soft cover) is 10 pt C1S (coated one side). Curl-free film laminate that comes in gloss or matte finish will protect the ink on the cover. UV (ultra violet), aqueous, and varnish can also be used to protect the cover but are not as durable as lamination. Dust jackets are usually printed on an 80# or 100# C1S. In a casebound book (hard cover), the boards can be covered with a B grade cloth, leather, or paper and foil stamped. “Litho” (hard cover) books usually have an 80# C1S Litho paper laminated to a .88 pt. board.

Remember, book cover design is a form of packaging—and good packaging attracts buyers to products. That’s why successful organizations spend millions researching and developing the best product packaging possible.

Next month I’ll share my insights on how to design professional book interiors.

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What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

March 2009 Issue

How to Select Harmonious Colors

You experience harmonious colors in many areas of life: clothing, architecture, interior design, jewelry, gardening, as well as advertising, marketing, and corporate identity.

It becomes easy to select harmonious colors if you follow a proven color theory system. The steps below will show you how to create well-planned color schemes based on the “Bourges color circle” system. Albert Bourges based his color theory on a circle of 20 hues.

Complementary Colors
Complementary colors are exact opposites that enhance one another. When you blend the two together, you get neutral black. When used together, they both appear brighter and more exciting. To find complementary colors, just draw a line through the circle from a hue on one side to the hue on the exact opposite side of the circle. (Refer to the diagram below.)



M. E. Chevreul discovered that complementary colors create an unusual optical illusion. Stare at a color for several seconds, then shut your eyes. Open them, and look at a white sheet of paper. Immediately an image of the color’s complement will appear!

Split Complements
If you would like a palette of three colors, first find the true complement of your chosen color; then move one, two or three more spaces away on either side. A split complementary color scheme is usually more pleasing than a true complementary scheme. (Refer to the diagram below.)



Four Color Harmony
To create a color scheme consisting of four colors, first select a color and its complement, then draw a perpendicular line across the circle so that your lines resemble a cross. (Refer to the diagram below.)



This will create a balanced palette of two sets of complements and two related pairs of colors.

Select one of these four hues as your main theme color, then use a small amount of the other three hues to enhance it. You may include darker or lighter shades of these four colors for more variety.

For more information about the Bourges color circle and the science of color, see Color Bytes by Jean Bourges.

What if YOU could know more secrets from an award-winning graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.

February 2009 Issue

10 Easy Ways to Make your Flyer Stand Out in the Crowd

A flyer is an inexpensive and highly effective way to grab attention in a very busy marketplace. How do you make your flyer stand out in the crowd? Here are some techniques that professional designers use to make flyers "pop."

1. Write a snappy headline or title.

Make it memorable, unusual or provocative using a few carefully chosen powerful words. Popular titles contain one or more of these words: Easy, The Secrets to, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How to, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven.

2. Use colorful or striking graphics.

One large image will have more impact than many smaller images. This image will be your "focal point." A stunning photo or illustration grabs attention, creates a mood, and supports your story. It will draw your readers in. You can purchase inexpensive but quality stock photos on the Internet. Download individual photos or purchase a CD with hundreds of images.




3. Focus on the benefits of your product or service.

Your prospects will ask the question, "What's in it for me?" Write from the their perspective using the words "you" and "your." Avoid using the following words: we, us, I and our. Be sure to keep your text short and to the point. Some of the most powerful words to use are: free, save, love, new, results, and guarantee. Break up long paragraphs with bullet points and place them in a separate box.

4. Use compelling testimonials and case studies.

Be sure to include the first and last name, company name and location of the person providing the endorsement.

5. Organize your page with boxes, borders and areas of contrasting colors.

You don't need to fill your flyer with wall-to-wall text and graphics. Incorporate some white space to make certain elements stand out and to make the flyer easy to read.



6. Make your points easily identifiable.

Highlight titles and subtitles in bold, but avoid using ALL CAPS as they are more difficult to read.

7. Don't get too complicated.

Make it simple with two typefaces, and align items to a grid. Your page layout program will provide non-printing guidelines. Use the "snap to guidelines" function to align items easily to the grid. Be aware of printing margins. I suggest you create your layout with 1/2" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.

8. Don't forget to proofread.

Have someone else proofread your work. Check your contact information. Dial the phone numbers on the flyer to make sure they are correct, and type in the URL of your website to make sure it is correct, too.

9. If you are on a tight budget, try this.

Select bright-colored or unique paper, and print with black ink. Use shades of grey to provide tones and contrasting background areas.

10. Offer a discount or special limited-time price.

Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of the flyer. Be sure to clearly state the deadlines and limitations of the offer. If it is a mail-in coupon, be sure to include the payment specifications with areas for filling out credit card information, mailing address, etc.

You don't need to re-invent the wheel when creating your flyer. Use these proven techniques and you will see big results in your marketing efforts. What if YOU could know the secrets of a 1st class graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now at www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

Karen Saunders is the author of Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools! Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! To learn about this indispensable book, click here: www.BuyAppealMarketing.com

P.S. See that envelope icon below this posting? If you click on the envelope you can email this posting to a friend.