Monday Aug 27, 2012
I have grabbed the habit of making prototypes of books I want to make. I use cheaper paper, I check and re-check the content for errors such as spelling, grammar, and placement on the page, and I make small and large adjustments - sometimes incredibly large adjustments - before making the actual book. One example of this approach is the 2013 Calendar/Diary which I'm currently slowly working on. There are at least 365 places where mistakes could creep in in a calendar and it has to be checked and rechecked again and again. That was redundant, wasn't it? Yes, but it had to be said.
The 2013 Calendar/Diary consists of:
- two yearly calendars (2013 and 2014),
- 16 monthly calendars (from January 2013 to April 2014),
- several sections of lined diary,
- a bookmark,
- a strap to keep it closed, and
- pictures of the local scenery.
The calendars are at the front, starting with the yearly 2013 calendar, zipping through the months, and ending with the yearly 2014 calendar. The lined notebook portion follows. The calendar section takes up two signatures of five sheets each for about 40 pages. The prototype has four signatures of lined paper for about 80 pages for a total of 120 pages. I think this is a bit thin, especially since I'll probably use 2 mm thick book boards. The final product might have five or six lined signatures. Which, if my calculations are in the ball park, will result in 140 to 160 pages.
I also experimented with a cover. I cut out the numbers for the year (2013) out of the cover paper. Previously I added a thin colored paper to the book board that would eventually become the cover. Then glued the whole shebang together. I am not a paper artist, that has been determined beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Why the pictures? To localize the book. Generic (cough Hello Kitty cough) diary/calendars sell a few gazillion every year but they are the same for anyone who buys it. Since I'm attempting to sell locally, I figured, hey, why not localize the content? However, I'm not taking the typical local touristy pictures. I include the tourist trap places but from a different angle. I also take pictures of well-known stores or parks that tourists usually don't end up in as they are beyond the touristy areas.
The pictures in this episode, by the way, are of the prototype. The final product will be using brown paper and have, perhaps, a one-tone cover (plus the numbers in a different color.)
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