"Hot pink is the navy blue of India."
--Diana Vreeland

Color is beautiful, but she is much more than mere decoration. Color communicates. If you treat her right, she can support and add impact to your book's message. Treat her wrong, and she will undermine your message and confound your audience. Do not make the mistake of choosing a color scheme solely on personal preferences--color can profoundly influence the impression your book makes on potential buyers.

Color Wheels are Useless

Most of us learned a little color theory in school. Wavelength, primary and secondary, cool and warm, saturated or subdued. These terms are specific and informative, sure, but I'd guess they did little good when it came time to choose a wall color for your first home. Don't let color theory convince you that there are absolutes and rules to which you must adhere. In the field of graphic design, confounding expectation is the best form of innovation. Color doesn't fit purely in the realm of science or completely in the realm of art: She lives in the mysterious cultural territory between the two. To understand whether a color "works" or not, you must understand the emotion it evokes, its symbolism, and--most importantly--its context.

How Color Makes you Feel

Color affects us on a subconscious and emotional level. Certain colors have the ability to raise blood pressure, speed up breathing, and increase pulse rate and adrenaline. Our visceral reaction to various shades can even be measured by Galvanic skin response. Reds, oranges, and yellows have been shown to promote appetite, since they tend to be positively associated with food. Not coincidentally, most chain restaurants use these colors for their logos, signage, and décor. Greens have a calming effect, which is why concert halls and theaters have "green rooms" to relax performers before showtime. For a fun, animated look at mood and color, check out this site by graphic designer Maria Claudia Cortes.

More Than Meets the Eye

Colors also have symbolic meaning. Culturally-rooted color associations can vary widely from country to country, or even region to region. In American culture, white signifies the concepts of peace and purity. In China, however, white plays a very different role as the traditional color of mourning. We often don't realize the deep messages basic colors communicate to us on a daily basis, and how much certain connections have been ingrained in us. Diana Vreeland, fashion columnist and longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue, is famous for noting that even the neutrality of colors is a cultural construct. And there are many distinct cultures--youth culture, corporate culture, gender culture, professional culture--each of which abides by its own constructed color symbolism. This table from Grantastic Designs illustrates the concepts colors convey in company websites and is a good example of how context can drastically alter a color's meaning. (Not a lot of positive color associations in the medical field...)

So... What Color Should My Book Be?

When choosing a color scheme, you and your designer must consider the target audience of your book, the mood you want to evoke, and the symbols that best connect to your book's content. Then capitalize on the power of color to send your audience cues about how perfect this book is for them. The covers below show how color, paired with compatible symbolism, serve as emotional triggers and help support a book's primary message.

The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval

Target Audience: general business readers
Mood: happy
Symbolism: the happy face
Predominant Color Scheme: canary yellow

Dying Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me by William Hablitzel

Target Audience: self-help/inspirational, gender neutral
Mood: hopeful, peaceful, introspective, tranquil, spiritual
Symbolism: cycle of life, death and rebirth
Predominant Color Scheme: pale green and yellow

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Target Audience: general fiction readers, predominantly female, parents of children with Down syndrome, book club members
Mood: somber, nostalgic, distant, detached
Symbolism: x-ray imagery, memory, regret
Predominant Color Scheme: black with ghostly blues

Fish! by Stephen C. Lundin

Target Audience: corporate managers, gender neutral
Mood: upbeat, fun, child-like, playful
Symbolism: childhood, simplicity, water
Predominant Color Scheme: white with bright orange, yellow, and blue

"It’s all pounds, shillings, and pence to me, darling." —Absolutely Fabulous

Just like most industries, book publishing has its own peculiar jargon—a language that may be confusing to first-time authors. To minimize confusion and miscommunication during your book’s production, here's a list of some of the more common terms you might come across:

General Terms

• Back matter: The text that occurs after the last chapter in the book (or the main body of text). Back matter often comprises such parts as the index, endnotes, author biography, bibliography, etc. The pages are numbered with Arabic numerals.
• CIP: Cataloging in Publication information is the bibliographic information supplied by the Library of Congress and printed on the copyright page. Librarians use this information when adding new titles to their collections.
• Galley/ARC: Often used interchangeably, these two terms refer to advance printed copies of a book that are used for review and publicity purposes before publication. (ARC stands for “Advance Readers’ Copy.”) These advance editions typically come out four months before the publication date.
• Front matter: The text that occurs before the first chapter in the book (or the main body of text). Front matter often comprises such parts as the dedication, acknowledgments, table of contents, etc. The pages are numbered with Roman numerals.
• Imprint: The company name under which your book is being published (e.g., Greenleaf Book Group Press, Penguin Classics, etc.).
• ISBN: The International Standard Book Number is a unique thirteen-digit number assigned to every book and obtained from the R. R. Bowker company. This is the number most often used to order a book or keep track of it in the supply chain.
• LCCN: The Library of Congress Control Number is the Library of Congress’s system of uniquely numbering books. Librarians use this information to access the book’s correct cataloging data.
• Trim: This is the physical dimension (measured in width and length) of your book after the printer has cut it to the desired size. Common trim sizes include 8.5 x 11, 5.5 x 8.5, and 6 x 9—in the United States, they're always measured in inches.

Images can add a lot to a book, or any printed material. But if you want to jazz up your pages with graphics (figures, drawings, cartoons, illustrations, etc.) and you’re printing professionally, you’ll need these tips:

Resolution
All images destined for print must be high resolution, which is to say 300 pixels per inch (ppi, sometimes also called dpi) or greater. Sometimes people try to fake the size of an image—an image is not high resolution if it was originally low resolution and then resized to force the resolution to 300 ppi, or if the resolution was simply changed. Using either technique does not improve the quality of the image and may make it worse. If you print a low-resolution image, the difference will show.

File Formats
The most widely accepted kinds of digital image files are:

• .psd (Adobe Photoshop native file)
• .tif
• .eps
• .jpg
• .pdf (Adobe Acrobat file)
• .ai (Adobe Illustrator native file)

Finding Images
Here are some popular stock image sources:

• www.shutterstock.com (a subscription stock house)
• www.gettyimages.com (also sells news, sports, and historical photos)
• www.veer.com (also has hip and interesting illustrations)

Obtaining Image Rights
Images are copyrighted, just like any other form of intellectual property. You can’t use an image unless you get permission. Make sure you have the proper permission and the image will look right when it’s printed with the following guidelines.

• Don’t use images downloaded from websites. Not only will they probably be low-res, you don’t have the right to use them. If you have found the perfect image online, try to contact the owner and get permission to use it. (Your lawyer and publisher will probably require that the release be in writing!) Also, don’t forget to ask for the high-resolution version.
• Don’t scan images from other publications without getting the rights to use the images from the copyright holders. This can cause big headaches.
• If an image is in the public domain (such as images from government publications), you can use the image without getting permission, but you must credit the original source of the image in a source line.
• Once you purchase a “royalty free” photo, you can pretty much do whatever you want with it. “Rights managed” photos are another animal. Not only are they significantly more expensive to purchase, they often come with strict usage rules and restrictions. Make sure to notice which category your candidates belong to while you are shopping. Falling in love with a $2,000 image can leave you brokenhearted, or just broke.
• Provide your publisher with all the information you received regarding use of the photo when you obtained permission.
• If you own images that only exist in hardcopy and are scanning them before submission, it is critical that the images be scanned in at 1200 dpi. If you are unsure of your scanning capabilities, submit the original hard copy to your publisher and they will scan it in.

Creating Original Images
If you are creating original images (vector or raster images) using imaging software, it is important that you provide:

• the original native editable file (fonts NOT outlined, layers NOT flattened)

• all supporting files, including fonts and linked or embedded images
• a high-resolution flattened version of the image with fonts outlined (for example, an .eps or .tiff file)
• a printout of each image submitted with your manuscript
• a document that explains the format of the images provided, the software and version used to create the images, and the operating system.

Image Credits and Source Lines

It is important that any image you obtain the right to use is appropriately credited or sourced in the book. One way to do this is to include a credits section at the back of the book listing the images by page and the corresponding credit information. Another possible method is including a source line for each image near the presentation of the image in the text (for example, a line just below a graph). When you obtain the rights to use an image, the rights holder will tell you how to credit the image.

With these guidelines, you’ll end up with beautiful printed images—and a printer and publisher that love you. Happy hunting!

Who Moved My Cheese?, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Chicken Soup for the Soul—their covers make self-respecting graphic designers cringe, yet they have astronomical sales. It’s common sense that attractive covers invite book shoppers and ugly covers repel them— so why do these unsightly titles consistently outsell their better-looking shelfmates? (And why do their creators keep producing similar-looking books?)

The simple answer is that, in a hypercompetitive, overcrowded market, branding trumps beauty.

What Is a Branded Book?

What exactly is a “branded” book? Well, a successful brand must be

• memorable,
• easily recognizable,
• attention-grabbing,
• and distinct from its competition.

But branding is more than a look based on a typeface, a color combination, or a trim size. These are merely symbols of a solid brand. In essence, branding is a perception. A branded book is perceived as having something special that nothing else can offer. When someone who knows the Chicken Soup brand walks into a bookstore to purchase an inspirational book for her teenager, she doesn't say, "Can you tell me where I might find an inspirational book for my teenager?" She says, "Do you have a Chicken Soup book for teenagers?"

A brand is an implied promise to the consumer that they'll consistently receive a particular experience. This is why publishers don't like authors to change their writing styles or cover designs too much, because change might upset the consumer who feels that the author’s brand hasn't delivered. This is especially true for nonfiction and genre fiction. Think of Sue Grafton’s A Is for Alibi series—even if you only saw R Is for Ricochet, you’d immediately know B through Q were also available, all with the same suspense trademarks. And you’d know what you’d expect them to look like.

A consistent look tells the consumer that your new book has the same or more merit than your previous book. But that still leaves us with the question of why so many successfully branded books look so bad.

How Ugly Books Are Born

The typical scenario goes like this: Author writes book. Book becomes huge seller. Book goes into reprint many, many times, keeping the same cover for recognizability’s sake. Author writes second book. To capitalize on the success of her first book, she and her designer develop a similar cover. By this time, trends have changed, and the original cover and title are out of date.

But that doesn’t really matter. Or, more accurately, it doesn’t matter as much as the brand equity the first book has gained over the ensuing years. The look and title may not be attractive by the day’s standards, but they are familiar and capitalize on consumer loyalty. The publishers aren’t relying on the cover to attract a consumer—they’re using it to remind the consumer.

That’s why so many “ugly” books are installments in powerful, consistent series—because the customer remembers and recommends the first book and associates it with the following books. If the first book doesn’t build a significant base, the design is much less likely to be repeated, and there’s little danger of it going out of date.

Why Their Brands Won’t Work for You

Many people see the ways brands work for well-known series and decide that’s the look they want for their books, too. But your book’s content is original, and it deserves a cover tailor-made to market its unique message. Imitation is not branding. Nor is it a sound strategy for marketing a book in an overcrowded industry. A copycat cover may do more harm than good by making a book indistinguishable from its competition.

Do what the bestsellers did: Take a great book, give it a unique look, and never disappoint your customers. Take the lead and soon enough others will want to copy you.

How to Brand Your Book

STEP 1: Create a great product.

STEP 2: Figure out what makes your brand unique and stick to it.

STEP 3: Be consistent in marketing your brand. All aspects of your brand need to communicate one core message. Your book’s content and visuals need to back that message up.

STEP 4: Deliver on the brand. Consumers are fickle. If you disappoint them, you'll lose them. Whatever your brand image, make sure that it signifies quality.

STEP 5: Continue to evaluate, build, and refine your brand. The only way you'll know you're doing it right is by the success you achieve. Trends come and go. Amend your look only when what you have in the bookstore is inconsistent with your brand.