BOOK GENRE OR MARKET
USE STORE TO CREATE & SELL BOOKS
   How it works
   Marketing techniques
SELECT BOOK GENRE OR MARKET
   "Personality" of book
   Usage dictates binding
FINALIZE BOOK MANUSCRIPT
   Sections of a book
   Covers & spine
   Front matter
   Body text
   Back matter
BOOK LAYOUT, MARGINS, IMAGES
   Typefaces & font sizes
   Pagination, headers/footers
   Setting margins
   Wire-O margins
   Outside & inside margins
   Inserted images
SELECT BOOK SIZE & BINDING
   Types of binding
   Book sizes available
   Paper color & weight
   Uploadable file formats
   Pricing
CREATE PDF FILE
   Recommended software
   Create custom sizes
   Embedding fonts
   PDF checklist
   PDFHelp
DESIGN BOOK COVERS
   Use cover templates
   Back cover treatment
   Image sizes, bleed & safety zones
   Designing spines
   Image formats
   Cover font sizes
   ISBN + bar code
   Cover checklist
UPLOAD PDF & COVERS
   Media basket
   Document basket
   Image basket


BOOK GENRE OR MARKET


Select Book Genre or Market

Books come in all types, fiction or nonfiction, and for all ranges of audiences. Children's books can be activity focused (how to count) or just plain fun (coloring books). Nonfiction books can be serious history, how-to (i.e., building guitars), or cookbook recipe collections.

Note that CafePress also publishes numerous books which are intended "For Personal Use Only" that are not categorized in the book directory or made available for sale to the general public. If this describes your book, some of the discussion that follows will not apply to your needs.

Choosing the subject matter of your book is very important, of course. But selecting the book's title (and possibly subtitle) may be the most important piece of writing you will do for your book. As Dan Poynter, the guru of self-publishing, claims: A great title will not sell a bad book but a poor title will hide a good book from potential customers. Both your title and subtitle must be a selling tool. They are the hooks that help sales."

"Personality" of book

When you choose your book's subject, you're also choosing how it will be categorized (what genre and sub-genre), how it can be marketed (business books for business people, mysteries and romance to fiction genre readers, graphic novels to comic-book lovers), and what kind of cover will appeal to its intended audience.

CafePress offers a wide range of genres and sub-genres that will both fit your book's personality" and be easily found by book buyers. For example, crime-related novels can be further classified into eight sub-genres:

     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Action & Adventure
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Detective Stories
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Espionage Thrillers
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Political Thrillers
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Psychological Suspense
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     Pulp Adventure
     Crime, Mystery & Thrillers     True Crime

Because our product browser uses narrowing technology, it's actually better to classify your store/book at a deeper level (i.e. "True Crime" instead of just "Crime, Mystery & Thrillers").

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Usage dictates binding

If your book is a novel or collection of poems, perfect binding like that used for mass-market paperbacks is the most common choice. On the other hand, comics, magazines, and coloring books typically use saddle-stitch binding that lays flat. Technical manuals and how-to books that need to be open wide so pages can be easily flipped usually work best with Wire-O binding.

Choose the method of binding which provides the most usability required by the book's content and your target customers' needs. Look through your chosen genre to see what types of binding are used most often to help make your choice.

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