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The World's Greatest Book

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Tag Archives: Dave Bricker

Thoughts on 21st Century Literacy

The World's Greatest Book Posted on March 14, 2016 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

21st Century Literacy: Introduction The traditional concept of literacy was built on the assumption that the written word was confined to the printed page, but this is no longer the case. Text is accompanied by images, video, interactivity, and technology. … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Essay Writing and The Art of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

The World's Greatest Book Posted on February 19, 2016 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

This article explores the simple art of essay writing and how its principles can be applied to most any kind of written work. Even if you never write an academic paper again, the techniques discussed here will help you write … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Publishing Advice – Practices & Principles

The World's Greatest Book Posted on February 3, 2016 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
publishing-advice

The following publishing advice is based on my own experiences and those of my clients. I hope you find it valuable and encouraging, even if it changes your expectations. I’ve written and published 12 books. I’ve guided many remarkable people … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged Dave Bricker

The Singular They is Now Officially Correct

The World's Greatest Book Posted on January 21, 2016 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Find your favorite writer and give them this message: They no longer have to mire their writing down with awkward “his or her” and “he or she” and “he/she” usages. According to The Washington Post, the singular they/them has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Rethinking Book Cover Design

The World's Greatest Book Posted on January 2, 2016 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Book cover design tells the story of the story. It must convey the spirit and intentions of the author authentically, and it also has a few practical chores to perform. If a book cover design is to accomplish these things … Continue reading →

Posted in book cover design, Book Design, Self-Publishing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Book Design Basics: Choosing a Book Font

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 20, 2015 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Selecting a book font seems simple enough, but important subtleties and fine points of typography are not obvious to the average writer. This article offers insights into fonts suitable for book typography. Though it won’t turn the average author into … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Book Design Basics: Quotation Marks and Primes

The World's Greatest Book Posted on October 25, 2015 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Writers often ask about the difference between “straight” or “dumb” quotation marks and traditional printers’ quotes, commonly referred to as “smart quotes” or “curly quotes.” Add in the need to distinguish between left single quotes and apostrophes, and the primes … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing, Writing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Writing is Design: Boring Words & Generic Descriptions – Not Nice!

The World's Greatest Book Posted on January 5, 2014 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Generic descriptions are telltale signs of lazy writing. Add color to your writing by replacing overused and boring words. It’s such a nice day today. He’s very bright. My dog is really funny. Bill is a good soccer player. Shari … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Indie Publishers, Bookstores and Readers – the Indie Ecosystem

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 26, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
back2back

Indie publishers are everywhere and so are indie bookstores, but apart from their names, the two have little in common. “Independence” is a feelgood concept, but it’s often presented without any reference to that which a publisher or bookstore is independent … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged book distribution, book stores, bookstores, Dave Bricker, independent bookstores, independent publishers, independent readers, indie bookstores, indie publishers, indie readers, self publishing

Book Design Basics: Small Capitals – Avoiding Capital Offenses

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 19, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
electric chair

Use of Small Capitals—uppercase characters designed at lowercase scale—is one aspect of writing and book design that isn’t taught in grammar school. We all know every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. We all should … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged abbreviation, acronyms, big and small caps, book design, capital letters, capitalization, capitals, Dave Bricker, periods in acronyms, small capitals, small caps, typesetting, typography, writing

Self-Publishing IS Real Publishing-The Difference is up to You

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
publishers water fountain

The notion of real publishing­ as opposed to self-publ­ishing and the stigma surrounding it is obsolete. I have no objections to traditional publishers but every one of them started off as a “self-publi­sher” with a first book. I have pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged book distribution, book returns, Dave Bricker, POD, print on demand, publishers, publishing, self published books, self publishing, traditional publishing, worldsgreatestbook.com

Should Indie Publishers Lower Their Expectations?

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 12, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Many authors start down the publishing road believing that printing books is the same as printing money, only to be disappointed by low returns and the amount of work involved. This guest article by novelist, poet and songwriter Richard Geller … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged ablogaboutsomething, asiteaboutsomething, author, Dave Bricker, fiction, indie publishing, indie-author, nonfiction, novel, pod publishing, poetry blog, publishing, publishing success, Richard Geller, self publishing, writers, writing

Book Design Basics – Dashes, Hyphens and Dots

The World's Greatest Book Posted on December 5, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
telegraph

I particularly like this section on dashes, hyphens and dots because it goes beyond typographic aesthetics to explore how we can communicate more effectively as writers. The subtle intricacies of hyphens and dashes affect all authors whether they typeset their … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing, Writing | Tagged book design, colon, dash, Dave Bricker, dot dot dot, ellipses, ellipsis, em-dash, en-dash, hyphen, hyphenation, parentheses, punctuation, typesetting, typography, writing

Discussion Forum Etiquette – Promoting Your Book

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 28, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
cheerleader

Discussion forums are a powerful medium for promoting your book, your art or your business. Facebook, LinkedIn and other communities are a major source of traffic for blogs and websites, but whether you post directly or embed links in responses … Continue reading →

Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged book marketing, book promotion, Dave Bricker, discussion groups, facebook, forum etiquette, forum rules, forums, linkedIn, listservs, netiquette, promoting your book, publishing, self publishing, social marketing, twitter

The World’s Greatest Book

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 23, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

I’m Dave Bricker,MFA: speaker, author, editor, graphic designer, interactive developer, and design educator. I help writers turn well-crafted manuscripts into beautiful, high-quality books. My website offers straight talk for writers about producing and marketing excellent books, eBook technology, book design, … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-Publishing | Tagged Dave Bricker

Book Design Basics Part 3: Running The Numbers

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 21, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
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Part 3 of Book Design Basics explores better ways to present numbers on your pages. Numbers (called figures) look simple at first glance, but they present interesting typesetting challenges. Many digital typefaces offer several number styles but few designers know … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged book block, book design, bookblock, Dave Bricker, expert fonts, figures, fonts, InDesign, kerning, leading, letter spacing, lining figures, margins, numbers, oldstyle figures, optical margins, page design, page layout, spaces, tabular figures, type design, typefaces, typesetting, typography

The Single Most Important Contribution to Publishing

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 17, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 5, 2023

Though I create eBooks and write about them extensively, I’m a classic bibliophile who loves to feel the subtle emboss of letters stamped on paper with metal type. I was rummaging through the garage and came across an old copy … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design | Tagged antique books, book design, book typography, Dave Bricker, learning to read, linotype, literacy, literacy statistics, Progressive Road to Reading, publishing, self publishing, typography, young readers

Book Typography: The Crystal Goblet by Beatrice Warde

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 10, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
Beatrice Warde

Here is the first of a series of occasional posts that explore the contributions of great typographers and typography books to the book designer’s art. Designers, writers and publishers will benefit from Beatrice Warde’s eloquent perspectives on the craft of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged Beatrice Warde, book design, broadsheet, crystal goblet, Dave Bricker, monotype, printing office, self publishing, Stanley Morrison, this is a printing office, type, type design

Book Design Basics Part 2: Optical Margins, Indents and Periods

The World's Greatest Book Posted on November 3, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
wood type

Part 2 of Fundamentals of Book Design explores optical margins, paragraph formatting and spaces. Read about margins, layout and leading in Part 1. The self-publishing revolution is (aside from the Internet) the greatest thing ever to happen to freedom of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged book block, book design, bookblock, Canons of Page Design, CMOS, consecutive spaces, Dave Bricker, double spaces, indent, InDesign, kerning, leading, letter spacing, margins, MLA, optical margins, page design, page layout, spaces, Tschichold, type design, typesetting, typography, Van de Graaf

Book Design Basics Part 1: Margins and Leading

The World's Greatest Book Posted on October 24, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023
book designer

Book design is a lost art. Though book design discussions usually focus on covers, consider how much more time a reader spends staring at the text. An elegant book block is just as important. Decades ago, professional tradesmen practiced the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Design, book typography, Self-Publishing | Tagged book block, book design, bookblock, Canons of Page Design, Dave Bricker, leading, margins, page design, page layout, Tschichold, type design, typesetting, typography, Van de Graaf

Sewing Your Own Parachute – Advice About Book Covers

The World's Greatest Book Posted on September 23, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

I recently responded to an article on Publishing Perspectives by Andrew Pantoja that innocently advises self-publishers about sources for cheap book covers. It is technically easy to create your own cover; therein lies the problem. It’s also easy to sew … Continue reading →

Posted in book cover design, Book Design, Self-Publishing | Tagged 99designs, book design, cover design, Dave Bricker, David Bricker, graphic design, publishing, self publishing

Runny Noses, Sunspots and Thesis Writing

The World's Greatest Book Posted on August 17, 2011 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

Certainly, thesis writing is one of the purest forms of self-publishing which is why I’ve included this post here. In my work as a professor, I regularly encounter students who get “stuck” while writing their thesis papers.  A good framework … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged academic arguments, academic writing, Dave Bricker, design thesis, dissertation, graphic design thesis, MFA, research, self publishing, thesis, thesis writing, what is a thesis

POD, Vanity Presses and Publishing

The World's Greatest Book Posted on September 24, 2010 by Dave BrickerJanuary 2, 2023

There is a tendency to refer to “POD Publishers” with disdain, but POD is just a printing technology. Without POD, we’d all be sitting on stacks of books, handling fulfillment ourselves, and praying for the day when we get our closet space back.

Continue reading →
Posted in Publishing, Self-Publishing | Tagged amazon, authoring, book covers, book design, book printing, createspace, Dave Bricker, eBooks, iBook, iBookstore, iPad, kindle, lightning source, nook, One Hour Guide, publishing, self publishing, The Dance, writers, writing

Tips For Book Cover Design

The World's Greatest Book Posted on September 23, 2010 by Dave BrickerJanuary 7, 2023

Most book designers make the same errors. One sore spot for me and with many of my university design students, is typography.

Continue reading →
Posted in book cover design, Book Design, Self-Publishing | Tagged amazon, authoring, book covers, book design, book printing, createspace, Dave Bricker, eBooks, iBook, iBookstore, iPad, kindle, lightning source, nook, One Hour Guide, publishing, self publishing, The Dance, writers, writing
Want to talk about a book project? Get in touch at +1 305-490-5998 or email me.
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