How good are these subsidy publishers?

I am sitting here looking at two books published by Trafford Publishing, a formerly large subsidy company that now belongs to Author Solutions. My readers and those I teach know that I go into a lot of detail about book design because your book is your best marketing tool. And it has to be perfectly designed, or as near as perfect as you can get it. There are industry standards about book design. It isn't something I just made up.

The first thing I notice is that neither of these books have laminated covers. Scuffing is starting along the edges and spine of both books. Libraries won't purchase books unless they are laminated, which is sad because one book in particular is a great read. Book covers need to be protected, particularly any dark colour because is scuffs too easily.

The interiors of both books are insipid and uninspiring. Gutters are too small, typeface looks like Times New Roman (which is a computer font), running heads are dull, and pagination is inconsistent. But they look "okay" and you could sell them at booths and book events. Just don't fool yourself that the booksellers and librarians don't know what a properly designed book should look like. They tend to pass up "okay."  Both books are non-fiction but neither one has an index, which is a big selling feature for booksellers and librarians.

The big subsidy companies have templates that they use. Their design, while "cookie cutter" is decent enough. But they are not the only ones out there offering to publish your book. There are smaller outfits, usually connected to a printing company, that offer the same services. Well... sort of. I have seen some very badly designed books done by these little companies - unsaleable books. I don't think they mean to produce such poorly put together books. Most of them just don't know better. I have met with upset authors who have a product no one wants to purchase. It's sad that someone has poured their labour and money into a book no one wants to buy.

All this being said, subsidies do work for some projects. I will go into that in the next post.  Meanwhile, if you want to know how to design a book properly, go to http://www.selfpublishing.ca/ and order Self Publishing in Canada: A complete guide to designing, printing and selling your book.