David Emery, Book Designer, Self-Publishing Consultant and Book Cover Illustrator

DAVID EMERY is an MFA Graphic Designer with over twenty-five years of experience. He's the author of five books: three novels, a memoir, and a popular guide to self-publishing. Though he doesn't care to edit professionally, he has a good eye; he often finds details that editors overlook.

As a publishing consultant, Dave offers guidance through the maze of options and around the many pitfalls you'll encounter. He'll answer your questions about copyright, ISBN Numbers, choosing printers, getting distribution and marketing your work. Expect straight talk about bookselling expectations.

As a designer, Dave loves old-school typography. Big publishers print in huge volumes; they use tiny type and thin margins to save paper and ink on huge print runs. By leveraging the advantage of print-on-demand technology, you have the opportunity to produce elegant books that are easy to read—like those produced with hot metal type in the early twentieth century. Whether you need something classic or a more contemporary design, book typography is a specialty.

A good cover involves more than slapping centered text with a drop-shadow on top of a stock photo; it requires the artist to become familiar with the message and spirit of your book. An experienced designer will also steer you past design clichés that may inspire a sense of false security to the untrained eye. An understanding of printer's specifications is just as essential. Have you written a remarkable book? Don't settle for anything less than a remarkable cover.

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Book Layout: This includes converting the manuscript from MS Word to Adobe InDesign, striping out errant tabs and double-spaces and going through the book page-by-page to get rid of widows and orphans.

Revisions: One round of minor revisions is included before the type is adjusted to eliminate widows and orphans. After that, additions or deletions that cause the text to repaginate will incur an added cost (usually $2 per affected page). Some changes may only affect a few pages of a chapter; larger changes can cause an entire book to shift by several pages, making it necessary to completely rework the bookblock page-by-page.

Book Illustration and Special Typography: Need illustrations, diagrams or special text elements like sidebars, running chapter heads or callouts? E-mail me to discuss your project. Work is priced according to the complexity of the job.

Cover Design: Most covers can be designed for $5–600. Others require special graphic work, 3D modeling and rendering, custom photography or other detail work that can affect costs. All cover designs are delivered set up to your printer's specifications.

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