My printer (LSI) will not accept more than a total of CMYK = 240 (cool or warm black).
Once again, easy fix; use values for rich black. Rich black mixes in some cyan, magenta, and/or yellow to darken the 100% Key. There are many different opinions on what is best, but there are basically two kinds; warm and cool. Generally accepted values (in order of CMY) are 70, 50, 30 (known as “designer black”), 60, 40, 40 (cool black) and 40, 60, 40, (warm black). All of these are mixed with k=100.
via 3 Deadly Sins of Print Design | Fuel Your Creativity.
This is rather mind-boggling. With an order to deliver a book in Italy, LSI printed the book in New Zealand and mailed from there.
One of the things that I like to do as an independent publisher is to follow my interests, and recently I have been reading a lot of books and articles about typography and book design. This note is to announce to authors and designers that I would welcome submissions of proposals for 60-120 page color interior “Nimble” books about typography. Please review “Publish With Us” for information about how Nimble Books does business.
I always like to have an idea of where I would like to take the field when I start publishing on a particular topic, and I do have some clear ideas about book design. In a nutshell, I believe that the economics of modern book publishing have inexorably compromised what we all should know and remember about readability. If you compare a modern book with a book printed a hundred or two hundred years ago, generally speaking, the older books are more readable. Today’s margins, columns, and fonts are too small. Fonts are intended to convey sophistication rather than clarity. Endnotes that require enormous page jumps have replaced footnotes that provide immediate access to the reference information. Covers focus on achieving visual impact for sales rather than on capturing and conveying the meaning of the book.
The book as an artifact needs to be redeemed. At the same time, we are finally reaching the inflection point for ebooks. Most ebook standards amount to dumbed-down HTML with text reflow, which, on the one hand, throws out 500 years of knowledge about book design, but, at the same time, returns to the fundamentals of readability. The Apple Tablet appears likely to present a golden opportunity for book designers to combine the best of classic print with modern electronic style.
I am looking for authors who have something to say along these lines–or who can powerfully refute my argument! I’m agnostic, I like to publish on both sides of an issue, and I never require that authors agree with me.
There are two issues peculiar to books about design that I will address here.
1. People who know enough to write on this topic can usually do a better job of layout than I can, so I will expect that final manuscripts be delivered in PDF, subject to some dialog with me to ensure consistency with the rest of the Nimble Books line.
2. Book designers also usually know enough to self-publish, so why bring your manuscript to me? Well, I have a batch of a thousand ISBNs and pay no setup fees, so it costs me a couple of hundred dollars less to get in print than it would cost you. And then you have the benefit of being part of a list, and working with kindred spirits. I can’t, in all honesty, claim that I will make you more money than you could yourself by being energetically entrepreneurial, but if your objectives are more about saying something substantively in a credible forum, this might be a good fit.
If this strikes a chord, use the Contact form above.
A review of BookScan sales statistics for books about torpedo boats shows that the Release To Date (RTD) sales for books with the words “PT boat” or “torpedo boat” or “MTB” in their titles would produce revenue for me that would fall within a range between 0.5X and 20X, where X is my average unloaded breakeven cost.
Average unloaded breakeven cost only includes direct costs, excludes labor and overhead costs, which, properly speaking, should be accounted for, but, given the shoestring economics of my scheme, currently aren’t.
When I look at publishing a book, I ask myself whether the likely sales would produce revenue > AUBC.
AUBC translates into average unloaded breakeven unit sales (X) as X = AUBC/(revenue per unit).
Score your own proposal to Nimble Books using this simple point schene, modeled on the famous Apgar test that is used to assess the health of newborns.
| author has major media platform (CNN, Washington Post, Boing Boing) or will very probably be reviewed in same |
+3 |
increases revenue |
| title of book = “unauthorized” + title of current bestseller + “commentary” or “analysis” |
+3 |
increases revenue |
| author has significant media platform such as popular blog (Zenpundit), well regarded magazine (The New Republic) |
+2 |
increases expected revenue |
| author is distinguished figure (Hugo/Nebula award winner, famous professor at Cambridge, etc.) |
+2 |
halo effect for Nimble Books reputation |
| author accepts standard contract as is |
+1 |
reduces cost |
| author has personal media site (blog, website, store) |
+1 |
increases expected revenue |
| author has publicist |
+1 |
ROI on publicists is quite variable |
| author is committed to getting at least five strongly positive reviews on Amazon within one month of book availability |
+1 |
point of sale is the most cost-effective location for marketing activities |
| author is leading authority in his field |
+1 |
halo effect, increased revenue |
| author is planning to purchase copies to resell |
+1 |
increases expected revenue, reduces breakeven |
| author is professional writer who submits very clean copy |
+1 |
reduces cost |
| author plays key role in specialized organization or community on same topic as book |
+1 |
increases revenue |
| author travels for speaking engagements and book sales |
+1 |
increases expected revenues |
| book is 60-120 pages for “Nimble Book” format |
+1 |
reduces cost, while revenue per copy stays the same |
| book is beginning of a planned series |
+1 |
series books have 20% halo effect on each other’s sales |
| book is complete |
+1 |
complete manuscript reduces publishers’ risk of spending time on something that never happens |
| book is on topics that have proven to be profitable for Nimble Books: politics, popular culture, maps, battleships, modern warships, naval history, torpedo boats (see the Nimble Books store for examples) |
+1 |
increases revenue |
| book is on topics that Nimble Books has targeted for development (children’s, science) |
+2 |
strategic alignment |
| book is part of planned series that can be extended to infinity |
+1 |
publishers love series |
| book is text-only and can easily be adapted to e-book formats |
+1 |
increases revenue |
| BookScan comparables RTD sales * .3 > my break-even |
+1 |
increases revenue |
| foreword by best-selling author X who has published <5 books |
+1 |
increases revenue due to the way Amazon includes forewords in lists of books by author X |
| topic not necessarily profitable, but of personal interest to me |
+1 |
increases my personal satisfaction |
| author has agent |
no effect |
I work with both agented and nonagented authors |
| author wants cover to be beautiful |
no effect |
data does not show that cover has significant effect on sales |
| book requires interior color or high-res grayscale |
no effect |
Nimble prices all formats to generate similar revenue per copy |
| author expresses frustration with publisher response times, seems likely to require substantial “handholding” |
-1 |
increases cost |
| author expresses suspicious attitude about protecting intellectual property from potentially nefarious publishers |
-1 |
increases cost |
| author wants to do cover |
-1 |
likely to increase cost, reduce quality |
| book is likely to sell more in e-book than print |
-1 |
margins are worse in e-book |
| manuscript is in PDF |
-1 |
likely to increase cost b/c there are usually problems in fitting doc to trim size |
| manuscript is In word processing format other than Word .doc or .docx |
-1 |
likely to increase cost |
| material inherently difficult to copy-edit: lots of acronyms, tech jargon, abbreviations, tables, etc. |
-1 |
increases cost |
| material is visually demanding (art) or requires specialized layout |
-1 |
likely to increase cost |
| non-professional writer, copy requires a lot of fix-up |
-1 |
increases cost |
| author and publisher have not firmly established clear and matching expectations of book format, trim size, and image quality |
-2 |
failure to establish matching expectations is likely to increase cost and reduce both parties’ commitment to the project, thus decreasing revenue |
| book requires interior color or high-res grayscale, is > 200 pages, and aimed at consumer market |
-2 |
color > 200 pages requires list price beginning around $40 |
| manuscript is in non PDF, non word processing format (examples: PPT, text, Illustrator) |
-2 |
likely to increase cost |
I have been pleasantly surprised by Twitter’s cost-effectiveness as an advertising medium. For little or no cost (the effort in composing a 140 character message) the system has been routinely generating 10-20 mostly US-based clicks to the Nimble Books Store per tweet. By way of contrast generating the same number of clicks via Google AdWords costs me anywhere from $3 to $10. (I don’t have good data yet about conversion rates). For 2010 I am going to experiment more systematically with an extensive Twitter-based ad campaign. Accordingly, if you Twitter, please:
a) forward me your Twitter handle and follow http://twitter.com/nimblebooks
b) forward me a list of Twitter friends and hashtag channels that you follow regularly
c) Tweet about your book once a month and include @nimblebooks in the messsage
d) RT anything you see from @nimblebooks that looks interesting to your network.
What’s going on with Nimble Books that are in production.
- U.S. PATROL TORPEDO BOATS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR, 1939-1945, by T. Garth Connelly(pub. 4/6/2010)
- SKEETER USES MANNERS, by C. Michelle Smith, illustrated by Amy Foreman (pub. 5/4/2010)
- A YOUNG CONSERVATIVE’S FIELD GUIDE (with author) (pub 4/1/2010)
- THE ULTIMATE UNAUTHORIZED GUIDE TO THE HARRY POTTER FANDOM (1st ed. out of print)
- FALLEN WALLS AND FALLEN TOWERS (previously HATCHING THE NATION-STATE) (final edit)
- BLOOD ON OUR HANDS (final proofing)
- HANDBOOK OF FIFTH GENERATION WARFARE (5GW) (needs substantive edit)
- COLD WAR SAGA (needs substantive edit)
- PERSUADER-IN-CHIEF v2.0 (needs substantive edit)
- PROFESSOR BARRISTER’S DINO MYSTERIES #2 — THE ARMORED ALLOSAUR (pub 6/22/2010)
- THE CLAUSEWITZ ROUNDTABLE
- [Interviews with James M. Cain]
- PT BOATS BEHIND THE SCENES
- PRINCIPLES OF WAR: ARCHDUKE CHARLES
- ECLIPSES OF THE SUN
- POCKET BATTLESHIP ADMIRAL SCHEER (c/e)
- HISTORY OF THE TORPEDO BOAT #8
- Yuri the Lion: School Stories
- HISTORY OF THE TORPEDO BOAT #9
- Two-Power and Double Standards: The Liberal Government and the building of the dreadnought fleet, 1906-1909
- HISTORY OF THE TORPEDO BOAT #10
- SECRETS OF THE MODERN WORLD — Fukuzawa
- The Regia Maria’s MAS Boats in World War II
- Illustrated Guide to Harry Potter Fandom, Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Nimble Books works off a production queue which determines the order of books worked on and published.
The order of operations is determined by a number of hard nosed factors such as contractual obligations and business prospects plus some squishier factors such as how much work is left to do and what human resources are available. In the meantime, the routine business of acquisition, marketing, sales, and accounting is always going on. Some books in the list require very small amounts of additional work, others will require a great deal of effort. Things that are closest to complete tend to be nearer the top because publishers (and authors, in the Nimble model) only make money when books are actually published. Naturally, manuscripts that are not yet received or complete are at the bottom.
This FOFI (first out first in) algorithm works for Nimble but from the author’s perspective it does tend to produce long bursts of inactivity followed by seemingly frenzied bursts of progress.
While at this point, Nimble’s scheduling is an art, not a science, it would be reasonable to assume that four to six books will be published each month. Firm publication dates for each title are issued only when the book has been accepted by the printer and there are no remaining obstacles that might produce inaccurate expectations.
I thought I would report the results of some experimentation with Twitter. I
have been using the web-based program Hootsuite.com to schedule Tweets, usually
one or two per day, on a “book of the day” from my list of ~100 titles. So far, the results have been encouraging. I use the URL-shortening service Bit.ly to track clicks per Tweet. Right now, with ~530 followers, I am getting from 10 to 18 clicks per Tweet, with a high of 45 for one title (MARINE OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD, which has the magic word “Marine”). While it’s difficult to track conversions for a variety of technical reasons, I am observing daily sales spikes that correspond to the books being Tweeted–generally speaking, 1-2 sales per Tweet over the “background” ales.
I can’t help but observe that this seems to be more cost effective than my Google AdWords campaign, which costs me ~$0.50 CPC and doesn’t seem to be as effective at converting. I am thinking about discontinuing the Google Adwords at the new year and switching entirely to a Twitter-based program.
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 TB Habana vol.2 HiRes.jpg "(154) TB Habana vol.2 HiRes.jpg")
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