How to choose a premade cover for your book

There are hundreds of designers vying for every author’s attention with premade book covers. And let’s face it, premade covers are a great deal all around. You can get a high quality, beautiful cover, sometimes from designers who are no longer taking custom clients, at a fair price that you can afford. Not only that, but it’s also a quick turnaround so you have your cover in hand within days instead of waiting months for a custom slot. You also know exactly what you’re getting before you shell out the cash. What’s not to love?

Sometimes though, when your choices are so broad it’s hard to know if you’re making the right decision for your book. How do you know if the cover you fell in love with will actually attract your target audience? And sell your book? That’s where doing some market research will come into play along with choosing a designer who specializes in your genre, or at least works in your genre regularly.

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1099’s and Cover Designers

First, I am not a lawyer, I am not an expert in taxes, and I’m not even an accountant. So all of the information below I’ve received from other professionals who’ve advised me of the following in regards to 1099’s, in addition to online resources. 

It’s that dreaded time of year again in the US. Taxes. You’re trying to figure out what all you need to get started or to send to your accountant. Your accountant may even be telling you that you need to collect W9’s and send 1099’s to the freelancers you’ve hired. In some instances this may be true, but in others, you don’t need to collect and send them. Below I’ll help you navigate based on what I’ve been advised.

Did you pay your designer (or freelancer) through a third-party (PayPal, Stripe, etc)?

If the answer is yes, then you do not need to obtain a W9 and please don’t send a 1099-MISC to your designer. Why? By using a third-party processor, PayPal (or another third party) is already reporting the designers income through a 1099-K, so if you report it too using a 1099-MISC, it’s considered double-reporting and that can trigger an audit along with a whole hassle of issues for the designer. The IRS will consider it as extra income and the designer would get penalties for “not reporting it” even though it was actually reported twice and not additional income.

Documents to back this up: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099msc#idm139665634587392

Here is the line about the 1099-K and how those payments made are not subject to reporting on a 1099-MISC:

Form 1099-K.
Payments made with a credit card or payment card and certain other types of payments, including third-party network transactions, must be reported on Form 1099-K by the payment settlement entity under section 6050W and are not subject to reporting on Form 1099-MISC. See the separate Instructions for Form 1099-K.

Now, did you pay through PayPal and pay them using Friends and Family?

First, this is a BIG no-no because it’s against PayPal’s terms of service, so if your designer is requesting this, this should be a BIG red flag to you. Always, always have your designer (or freelancer) send you an invoice for their work. Always. I cannot stress this enough.

In regards to taxes, if the designer has a business account it will report it on the 1099-K that PayPal sends, but if they just have a personal account it will not report it. In the case of the latter, you can send a 1099-MISC to the freelancer, but you’ll have to ask them before sending it.

Going forward, have your designer send you an invoice!!!

Did you pay your designer (or freelancer) by physical check or cash?

If the answer is yes, then you can send a 1099-MISC to your designer if you paid your designer $600 USD or more in cash/check during that tax year. Simple as that.

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SOURCES:

https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/how-does-paypal-report-my-sales-to-the-irs-will-i-receive-a-1099-tax-statement-faq729

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099msc#idm139665634587392

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/307779

Troubleshooting KDP Error Messages

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) can be both a cute adorable bunny one day, and then a raging dragon the next, so take a deep breath, let it out, and look through the error messages noted below to see if you can locate the one the fire-breather is currently throwing at you.

These mainly focus on the book cover upload portion, but if you receive other error messages, toss them in the comments and I’ll add them, and the solution, to this post as well.

Error message: Adjust the design of your cover to accommodate a barcode size of 2″ (50.8 mm) by 1.2″ (30.5 mm) tall that does not overlap with another barcode.

Solution: Your designer has included the barcode on the back cover. Therefore, in the “Book Cover” section on KDP where you “upload a cover you already have (print-ready PDF only)”, there is a small box that needs to be checked that says “Check this box if the cover you’re uploading includes a barcode. If you don’t check the box, we’ll add a barcode for you.” Screenshot below.

ISBN 101 for Authors

More often than not, the authors I work with have questions about the purpose, use and how to purchase an International Book Standard Number (ISBN). I’ve found that many authors confuse the ISBN with the Bookland EAN barcode that goes on the back cover of printed books, thinking they are the same thing. They are also confused about whether they need to buy their own ISBN or if they should just use the free ISBN that some print-on-demand companies offer. If you fall into any of the these categories of confusion, I’m here to help.

About the ISBN

The ISBN became an international standard in the 1970s to solve the issue of it being difficult to locate a particular book since titles and author names can overlap. It allows each version of a published book to have its own unique identifier making it easier to track. The information associated with your ISBN includes your title, author name / publisher name, price and more.

Who needs an ISBN?

If you plan to publish and sell your book through any retail channels, you will need an ISBN.

You don’t need an ISBN if you are planning to create the book for private use only. This could include:

• Personal publications: ex) recipes, family history, photo book
• Workbooks for seminars or presentations
• Training manuals, handbooks or other material for internal use within a company
• Books or materials that are only intended as incentives or for giveaways

However, if you plan to eventually publish it for commercial use, you’ll need an ISBN at that time.

Copyright Page

There have been times where I’ve received a book to format and the author hasn’t included a copyright page. I always add in a very minimal one at that point, but it makes me wonder how many other authors just don’t include one.

Elements of a copyright page for U.S. authors

There are only two elements that are required for a copyright page.

1. The copyright statement.
   Copyright © 2015 by (Author Name)
2. All rights reserved.  Which it can be as simple as just that statement. However there is additional information that can be added like the example below.

Picking Your Trim Size

Book sizes in printing terms are called trim sizes. In the last stage of production a book is trimmed, which is how it gets its name. There isn’t a set size that you should choose, but there are a few things to take into consideration when picking your trim size.

Most authors will be using a print-on-demand service like CreateSpace or IngramSpark. Both have a large list of trim sizes to choose from. So, how do you know which one to choose?

First, break it down based on what type of book you have written. Then look at your word count and determine how many pages your book might be*. Once you know that, look at the cost of producing the different sized books and make your decision from there. Also, take into account the page color, as that can limit your selection as well.

Pagination Styles (Widows & Orphans)

There are two groups out there when it comes to pagination style, so you’ll have to decide which group you fall into. There’s the “squared-off pages” group and the “no widows or orphans” group. Let me explain the difference.

Image 1

Through the years, different generations have learned alternative definitions of the word “widow” and “orphan”.
Here’s how I learned it:
A widow, is a lonely line at the very bottom of the page. It’s when only one more line will fit at the bottom and that line is the start of a new paragraph.
An orphan, is a lonely line at the very top of the page where the paragraph ends.

(Image 1 depicts these two instances)

Now, other generations learned the opposite meanings. So for some, a widow is at the top of a page, and an orphan is at the bottom. Regardless of how you learned it, the information below is still the same. For this, we will use the words as defined above.

Paragraphing Style

There are two types of paragraphing styles used in the book industry and I often see them misused. Now, you may be wondering what is a paragraphing style? Writers organize their books into parts, chapters, sections, and then into paragraphs. Paragraphs have become a standard way for writers to organize their ideas into a book or story. When there is a new paragraph, it breaks the flow and sends an important signal to the reader. This is the author letting the reader know that a new thought or change is happening and by using a new paragraph you’re sending that subtle signal. Readers barely notice this interruption since they’re familiar with the conventions of written language.

These are the two basic ways to signal a new paragraph:

1. You indent the first line of the paragraph. This indent is typically about .25″ and gives a clear, visual signal that a new paragraph has started.
2. You add space between each paragraph. The width is typically a line space, which is the same amount of space between one line in the paragraph and the next. With this style, it appears that there is a blank line between each paragraph, which is the signal.

The second method is due to the internet where this is utilized all the time. For instance, I’m utilizing it right now. However, reading on screen is very different than reading a printed book. Having the extra line space on screen makes it a smoother read, however in a printed book it’s more of a disruption and doesn’t aid in continuous reading. Not to mention that there are times writers use a line space or paragraph break to indicate a scene change, point-of-view change, or different theme within the chapter. Therefore, it’s best for the readers if you stick with the “indented paragraph” style.

Headers and Footers

Headers and footers are often overlooked, yet play an important role in book design. They are the area above and below the main body of text that contain the page numbers along with other information. The official term for the text in the header is “running head” and the footer is “running feet”.

The running head usually contains the book title on one page, and then the author name on the opposite page. Typically, the author’s name is on the left page, and the book title is on the right page. Depending on your book, you can choose from different options for the running heads, which I’ve listed below.  Your running head can be located on the outside corners of each page, or the center of each page. I don’t recommend positioning them on the inside of each page as it can make them harder to read and a distraction. More advanced running heads can get away with it – for example, if you have information all the way across – but for your typical fiction novel, it’s best to stick with the outside corners or the center.

Page numbers can be located in either the header or the footer. The classic style is to have the page number centered in the footer, and then the author name/book title centered in the header. But, there are many different combinations that you can do. I recommend picking up a few of your favorite books and seeing how they treat their running heads and feet.

Paragraph Settings

If there is one thing that you change when it comes to paragraph settings, I beg you to change the first line indent. The default setting in MS Word is 0.5″ which is way, way too deep for even a 6″x9″ trim size. A good indent is 0.25″ for smaller trim sizes and 0.3″ looks nice for larger trim sizes.

Indent or not to indent? The first paragraph at the beginning of each chapter, subheading and after a scene break can be indented, or not indented. A majority of the time, it’s not indented because if you recall, the reason we indent a paragraph is to signal to the reader that a new paragraph and thought is occurring. Since it’s the first paragraph, you’re already signaling this by either space above the paragraph, a symbol, or another break in the flow of text (subheading), so it is redundant to signal them again.

Hyphenation is another item to take into consideration. InDesign has some great control options, whereas MS Word has less, but it doesn’t hurt to adjust the hyphenation settings to make the text easier to read and more appealing.