Inside Pages of a "Short Book"

Let's look inside a business-oriented Short Book~

10 Effective Ways to
Promote Your Seminar

The short book mentioned in the previous blog, 10 Effective Ways to Promote Your Seminar by Linda C. Senn (me), ©1998, had 48 inside pages:

Front Matter included copyright page and table of contents followed by the text pages and then a couple of back matter pages announcing a forthcoming book.

That was the 1st and last time 

I designed my own book cover!

The contents of the first inner page included a brief author biography, tiny acknowledgment, title, copyright, an "all rights reserved..." notice with publisher's mailing address.

                   <> The Table of Contents shows a variety of useful information <>

1. Brochures
2. Flyers
3. Testimonials & Endorsements
4. News Releases
5. Event Exposure
6. Articles
7. Newsletters
8. Electronic Media
9. Joint Promotions
10. Networking

Most computer word programs offer a template for 2-page-per-sheet document creation.

Being an optimist, I had w-a-y too many copies printed and bound (stapled), but when I opened the shipment, I was beyond excited. The cover is card-stock (heavy) weight and the printing is highest quality.

I sold a few copies, learned a great deal (including how much I still didn't know!), and now usually create these "in house" except for the heavier weight, color cover. 

• Covers are produced in color, on heavy card stock at a local printer.
• Inner pages are printed on my wonderful HP laser printer.



Strengths and Attributes of Mineral,
Plant & Animal Spirit Helpers

• They're "bound" by a heavy duty, deep-jaw stapler.

Short Books have as many purposes as your imagination can come up with.  Anytime you want an 8 1/2 " x 5 1/2" bundle of information-packed pages that can be produced economically, consider this approach.

Think about information about...

• your business for new clients, 
• a mini-workbook for your workshops, 
• a reference for terms, 
• symbolism, 
• idea stimulators, 
• short meditations, 

...and other short reference books.

The 28 page book on the right, Strengths and Attributes of Mineral, Plant & Animal Spirit Helpers by LCS, ©2002, 28 pages, was completely produced in my office*.The heavenly turquiose is simply 24# bond paper. This wasn't mean for bookstore sale and appeals to a small target market. So I offered it when I taught a related workshop. That's where the information was most useful and appreciated! 

* Sale of anything produced 100% by you in your office is virtually pure profit!

Next time, we'll look at the extraordinary range of uses for plastic comb-bound or wire bound books.

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰💥 Coming soon!    A SURVEY on...  

Where are you in the whole book writing process
& what kinds of information would you value most from me?

What does a "book" look like?

What's your mental picture of "a book"?

Soft cover 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Your Pocket Divorce Guide

First, most people think of a paperback (a.k.a. soft cover), then of a hard bound, textbook-like object. The minimum depth would be 1/2" with a seriously professional cover design.

I don't have a graphic of bits & bytes, but mentally we'd include audio books.

Nothing else qualifies!

You may think (!) that if you plan to write "a book," you need to create one of those.

But wait!

Comb-Bound Handbook
Add Pizzazz to Your Books

What about the 8 ½" x 11" HANDBOOKS and WORKBOOKS? Plastic comb-bound or wire bound, they're handy, useful and certainly don't need to be 1/2" thick. 

And SHORT BOOKS? Are you familiar with the 8 ½" x 5 ½" half-size short book that's "saddle stitched"? They're still called that, because in the olden days, the pages were literally stitched together at the center fold of an 8 ½" x 11" size sheet of paper. 

48 pg. Short Book
10 Effective Ways
to Promotes Your Seminar

This short book started life as a tri-fold brochure but then kept growing! I'll be writing more about it in the blog-future.

For this one, published in 1998, I was both author and cover designer. (I never made that mistake again!) But it was packed with 48 pages of useful information.

So you see, even in print versions, there's variety in style and production of our books. At least one of your local print shops can print and bind the handbooks in either plastic comb or wire binding, as well as the half-size short bookswhich are not stapled in the center instead of "stitched."

Many of us have valuable information to share, but we know instinctively that the standard hard- or soft-binding are quite the right form for sharing it. These options give us lots of room for useful layout and creativity!

Enjoy ~