An interview with Kim Dovey, Director and Creative Dreamer at Book Design,- What is your
background in book design?
I
started my career with an apprenticeship in typography at the Christchurch
Press and have been designing books for 20 years - the same age as my oldest
boy and I thought book design was an easier way of making a living compared
with all the tooing and froing of commercial graphic design. Books were bigger
and I could manage them better at home while bringing up my 2 boys. If only I
had realized then that they also pay way less. But it’s too late. I’m hooked
now.
As the
boys grew, so did the business with 6 staff working from our home studio in Christchurch
before the earthquakes.
- Two years ago you
moved your studio to Auckland – why?
After
the September quake we lost power for 5 days, the first of many losses. When
the February quake hit we were already looking at moving into larger premises
and I was booked to visit sites that very afternoon with the real estate agent.
All that went out the window and slowly staff departed and moved away.
The
total days for not being able to offer a service now topped 11 and we really
felt we needed to look after our Auckland publishers. We found a great space in
Birkenhead that was similar rent to the post earthquake costs in Christchurch
and started working towards the idea of opening a second studio. The two
designers we had left in Christchurch were very keen to move and in a very
short time we had relocated our production to Auckland while I remained in Christchurch.
Thanks
to Dexter Fry (our wonderful studio manager up there), this has been a
successful move.
- How do you see the
role of book design in the success of a book?
Most
readers don’t understand the role book design plays in a book. It’s the
invisible part that makes a good book great. Can you imagine what a bookshop
would look like if stories were presented as a bound manuscript? The
book just wouldn’t be the complete special package that captures all your
senses as it does now.
We
work with the person who publishes the book. They usually have the content
sorted and require us to turn it into the product that can be sold. These days that’s
either a printed book or an ebook. We create the feeling you get when you first
see a book cover, the feeling that makes you want to find out more, to explore
it’s pages and to see if this is the title that makes you want to spend more
time exploring its content.
Dexter:
When you browse in a bookshop the theory goes that if the cover and title make
you pick up the book, you turn it over and read the back. That’s what makes you
buy it or not. Our primary job is to make you pick it up!
- How do you work
with book publishers, what is the process?
The
publisher has the manuscript and images. They usually have an idea of how they
want to pitch and market the title. Once the editing process is complete we are
supplied with the manuscript and a brief. We use this brief to supply 3 design
samples. These are then tweaked and pruned to come up with a final concept that
is carried through the rest of the book. Proof 1 is a fully layed-out book that
goes through a proof reading and correction process before being ready for
finished art and sending off to the printer or digital upload.
- Explain the
difference in a physical book and an eBook design.
This
depends on the type of ebook as just like physical books there are many
different types.
Dexter:
There is an obvious difference in that the cover HAS to work and be appealing
at a very small size, so the cover design for an eBook has different
challenges. But saying that, the cover and all aspects of eBook design, are
still important. And while there isn’t a back cover for an eBook that persuades
you to buy, there are opportunities at the end of an ebook to keep the reader
wanting more, and an easy way to click and buy more. So the marketing
considerations at the end of an ebook are very important.
- Which publishers do
you work with in New Zealand and why?
Over
the years we have worked with just about every NZ publisher, large and small.
We let our books speak for themselves and we take everything we can get in the
current environment!
- ‘Digital is growing up & has
matured’ as reported from the Digital Book World Conference + Expo – readers
of eBooks are getting more discerning with their reader experience. Tell
us how you see this coming of age in the NZ market.
We see
the future as bright and think that a reader deserves a well-designed book
whether it is an ebook or a printed book. Currently a lot of ebooks look like a
word file manuscript with hyperlinks added. There’s no reader experience at
all.
At the
recent PANZ Excellent Ebook seminar the
feeling in the room was very positive towards digital books where ebooks are no
longer seen as a threat. The seminar confirmed for us that we are totally on
the right track and are ready to produce well-designed ebooks.
·
Designers
are used for producing print books, then digital companies were used for
producing ebooks. Is this becoming a more seemless process and if so, how?
Along
with the creation of ebooks also come new tools to create them. Designers no
longer need to be web developers to create basic websites, apps or digital
content. We can now do this with the standard design software that we use
everyday. Design and digital content have now come together and we have a lot
more control. This goes further than the ebook too as we can also develop an
app from existing artwork e.g. magazines, catalogues or a company profile.
Dexter:
This is why we see a bright future, because as designers of a page, we are now
able to see that page through to print and digital. And the digital page has so
many exciting possibilities.
- Self-publishing is
now universally widespread. What do you recommend to an author who wants
to self-publish? What are the pitfalls? Advantages?
The
basics of a good book haven’t changed. The first question I usually ask is how
do you plan to distribute your book. This is still the top question for an ebook
or a pbook. Unless you have a plan for getting your book in front of your buyer
the rest doesn’t really matter.
Next we
encourage everyone to have their book professionally edited. Then comes good
design for both the internals and cover.
You
almost need to start at the end of the process by looking at what the reader
will buy. This is what a publisher does. It comes down to publicity and
marketing and how much time a self-publishing author is prepared to put in to
this.
- How do you search
for New Zealand generated eBook titles rather than the massive jungle of
titles on Amazon for example?
Good
question. How do you? This is one of the barriers for NZ ebooks at present.
There are loads of reports that show how much Kiwi’s like to read NZ content,
but when it comes to ebook distribution, it’s still hard to find NZ content
when you search on Amazon etc. It will be interesting to see if the new Amazon
Australia store helps with this.
- Do you think ‘eBook
Clubs’ will be something New Zealanders will engage with?
Interesting
thought. As a reader I’d be keen to join.
- There has been much
discussion on the future of publishing in New Zealand and a lot of it is
not terribly optimistic. What is your feeling/opinion on both the print
and eBook publishing future here? – for small publishers?
We see
the future as being really positive and exciting. I don’t know many families
that do not have at least one ereader in their household. Purchasing a title
has never been easier.
There is currently a huge shift and realignment
for publishers and bookseller s business
models but once everyone gets their heads around
NZ digital books and they become more accessible to the NZ readers, it’s really
difficult not to see the NZ book trade really picking up again, with both print
books and ebooks supporting each other. It will just be a different market to
what we have now. Here at Book Design, we are ready for it and are all setup
and ready to go.
Book Design bio
Kim Dovey is
Director and Creative Dreamer at Book Design, based in Christchurch. Dexter Fry
is senior designer and manager of a full service design studio in Birkenhead,
Auckland. This passionate team has well over 20 years experience designing
books and covers, and employs all the latest techniques in the digital
marketplace to create print books, ebooks and apps for the best possible reader
experience.
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