Good covers get readers to pluck your book off the shelf and thumb through it. Poor formatting, interior design, and typesetting will cause them to set it back down—costing you a sale. A well-formatted manuscript is vital for publishing success. That’s because, ultimately, readers care about readability.
Readability is the ease with which a book can be read. Not to be confused with reading level, readability refers to formatting books in ways that are conducive to reading.
Books need to look their best, inside and out. To compete with traditionally published books, it is important for self-publishers to evaluate their book’s readability. Before uploading a manuscript to one of the many self-publishing services and paying for a proof copy, dedicate time (and money) to properly formatting the book’s interior.
Book formatting, or typesetting, refers to the composition of the text as it appears on the page. The goal of typesetting is to create a book that’s pleasing to readers. It involves: Continue reading
The topic of my most recent article for
‘Tis the season to celebrate cats. Halloween cards and decorations feature black cats sporting witches’ hats, slinking through graveyards, and riding on brooms. Halloween is synonymous with fun—and frights, but for cats, Halloween tricks can seem all too real. Strangers slink through the neighborhood. Unusual smells and horrifying noises fill the air. Costumes turn ordinary people into monsters. Make no mistake, Halloween is a spooky time for cats. Those frights come with an even more frightening history. 
My political cartoon ran in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News this morning.