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 ~

The Changing Definition of a Book?

What's the Definition of a "Book"?

The rules and definitions in the book world continue to change at the virtual speed of light. As eBooks become more popular, the very definitions have changed.

On one of the huge LinkedIn author/writer groups, the perennial question - What's the difference between a writer and an author? - was asked.

Not long ago, an author was one who wrote a book that was published, printed and bound. A writer wrote anything shorter, and a professional writer got paid real money for those words. Simple enough.

But it made me wonder just what qualified as a book these days. So instead of smugly typing in the  old definition, I went to the Bowker* website for a what I was certain would be a quick, crisp answer.

           *Bowker is the company that sells and tracks all of the ISBN numbers used
            in the United States and would theoretically be THE authority on books.

There I clicked the Contact Us link and asked for the current definition of a book, thinking the reply would be 49 pages or more for a book. Oh, but I wasn't considering eBooks.

After carefully checking their database, the Bowker person couldn't find a definition by either pages or work count. Now, an 8 page, half-size booklet a "book" may look like a Hallmark Greeting, but the writer could call it a "book" if he or she chose to.

But wait! That doesn't seem fair. Doesn't "book" imply substance and depth of content? Only Rumi could produce a short paragraph that carries that kind of substance. A booklet or brochure doesn't.

So, my friends, I'm afraid we'll have to be very cautious about how we toss around the term "book." Even the rules makers don't know anymore!

Happy reading ~

Lin

Deciding What to Write About

Scanning bookstore shelves provides only a hint of the virtually endless nonfiction topics of books available - from Mayan calendars to missile defense, camping to cantatas, wrestling to Richard Rogers. That fact can muddle the mind of an author who's trying to decide on the topic of his or her next book.

Key ~ be sure you have the credentials and feel a genuine passion for your chosen topic. Without the first, book promotion will be tough. Absent the passion, and the writing will be boring and flat.

However, even if you've decided on the subject for your book, you'll need to decide what you want to tell your readers about your topic. (If you have the passion and depth of knowledge, you may cover different aspects in separate books!) Does one of these approaches resonate with you?

* How-To
How-To Build a Sand Castle;
How-To Create Edible Decorations;
How-To Please Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time.

* Learn from my Experiences
Setting Up a Referral Business;
Making Peace with Diabetes;
Legal Indoor Gardening.

* Learn from my Mistakes
How Not to Raise Creative Children;
Job Interview Comments to Avoid;
Don't Tie-Dye the Dog!

* Informational
Practical Divorce Guidelines;
Locating In-Home Help for Seniors;
The Nature Festivals of the Tropics.

Self Help ~ Cooking ~ Business ~ Relationships ~ Sports ~ Ecology ~ Chemistry ~ Humor ~ Entertainment ... the list goes on and on.

So before you start jotting down the points you want to cover in the book, write "Topic ... Approach ... Credentials" in bold across the top of the first notebook page. Then pause and visualize your reader. From those, the passion and words will flow!

Linda
nonfiction book coach ~ author