Want To Sell Your Book?

Carl Shank • November 25, 2023

Want To Sell Your Book? Like some other POD (Print-On-Demand) or self-publishing projects, there are a number of considerations to take into account for selling your finely crafted or meticulously accomplished work. I have used a Kittl-based video* for this BLOG because it outlines so much of the basics for any self-published sale. There are, of course, other professionally written articles and online helps for publishing as well. I find the following points to be basic and helpful.


Be careful of what is called the "race to the bottom." That is, pricing your work so low that you barely cover the costs, let alone make a profit on your work.  One Kittl advisor notes that "You shouldn't deprive someone the opportunity to pay more for a product if they can." (Luna Vega) People are not merely looking for a bargain. They often are looking for something that they know is worth their money and investment. And they are willing to pay what not merely the market suggests, but also what it is worth to them. Having this business sense or savvy is important so that you do not undersell yourself or your book or product.


Understand ALL the costs involved. Book and project publishing requires much more than what someone may suspect. Let me use my own publishing ventures as an example. I use Adobe InDesign, which is a wonderful layout and design tool, but it costs me, in round figures, about $58 per month for a subscription. And, you cannot use this product without a paid subscription, unlike the old days of software development where you could outright buy a program and use it without a monthly cost or fee. Microsoft also sells their MS Word, PowerPoint and other programs for a monthly fee. Again, gone are the days when you could just purchase Microsoft office, say, and be done with it. To use their products on modern computers and modern software programming, you will need to update older MS software to accommodate the new computer hardware or software. Unless you buy or use an older computer and ignore Microsoft's updates.


Production and selling fees need to be considered. They include the charges a publisher, like Lulu in my case, will charge for their printing of a book or calendar or study guide. Consequently, they will "force" you to sell your book at their minimum pricing, which is usually far higher than the base publishing price they bill you. Added to this is your "time spent" cost for your project. You might not think this is a real cost, but all the time and effort and hours you have spent on a project should be considered in some tangible way. Then, there are always shipping fees and taxes that are charged by anyone you use to publish your work. So, in addition to my InDesign and Microsoft monthly subscription fees, I need to pay a yearly fee to host this website, which I use to advertise any project or book. And I need to pay for the domain fee and costs. Of course, many people, like myself, decide to "eat" such essentials and think they can still make money on their book or project.


Market and advertising fees and costs need to be added to any project. I use PayPal for the collection of funds, but they charge a seller's fee for every sale I make. While a small percentage, it is enough to cut into any profit margin you may want. Etsy and Shopify and ECWID and other vendors charge a fee for selling your stuff. You need to count that into the final cost of your book or project.


Research the market for your book or project. See what others are charging for a book of your chosen topic. You will need to find out what people are willing to pay for such a book or work. Consequently, I have designed some basic pictograph fonts I use regularly. However, similar fonts sell either cheaply or are given away online for just a notation of the author. This is due to the fact that the alphabet is not copyrightable, as are many images in the public domain. Unless you are a top-notch font designer working for a company like Adobe, you cannot make much money, if at all, for your font designs.


Will people buy your "brand?" Do they know who you are and trust you enough to spend their money on your book or project? This is always the problem with start-up authors and lesser known people. You might get lucky and somehow tweak an interest on Facebook or another social media program and end up selling mega amounts of your book. That rarely happens. I have been invited to go on book tours and book signing events, but I would have to pay for these events upfront, with precious little sales at the end of the day. That would be a loss to me. SO, I have friends and acquaintances that buy my books or projects. Even with major and known names advertising your work, selling is still hard and uncertain.


Understand what the market will bear. I sell PageMaker-to-InDesign conversion services. I have found that my base charge of $15 per file, though it may seem extreme to some, is what the current market will bear. I have converted old PageMaker files to newer InDesign files from across the world. No one has complained about the charge per file, knowing that I am one of a very few typographers that can actually do the conversion. I own all of the out of print previous PageMaker software in all its iterations and have the computer equipment on which to use this software. What will the market pay for what you are selling?


What is your overall goal? I cannot make a living selling what I sell. I understand that and am willing to collect what many would call extra or discretionary income from what I publish and perform. I have always had a full-time job or profession and have written and published books and projects out of my  brand as CARE Typography for the sheer enjoyment and challenge of such projects. I barely make enough to pay for all the subscription fees and cost of operation. That may seem like a losing proposition to many. But that is my choice. If you want to actually make money on your publications or projects, you need to do a whole lot of  market research and invest enough upfront money to see a return down the road.


Publish or sell for the sheer joy of the project and experience. This is what I have ended up doing. Whether or not something I have done "takes off," or no one buys what I have written or done, I have enjoyed the process. Maybe that is the real bottom line.


(* See the POD Pricing Video on YouTube produced by Kittl at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrxahpuMr1I)

Successful Layout & Design

French Typography History (Part 2)

By Carl Shank • August 24, 2026
Art Nouveau and Paris Between 1500 and 1900 typography evolved from Renaissance humanist forms to industrial mass production and artistic revival. Old style typefaces (like Garamond) moved to Transitional faces (like Baskerville) to Modern/Didone faces (like Didot and Bodoni) to Industrial display types (fat faces, slab serifs, sans serifs) to the Arts & Crafts revivals. Art Nouveau was a reaction against the academicism, eclecticism and historicism of nineteenth century architecture and decorative art. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the floral designs of William Morris, and in the Arts and Crafts movement founded by the pupils of Morris. Art Nouveau fonts ( REFERENCE ) grew out of the late nineteenth century Art Nouveau movement (c. 1890–1910). The style flourished across Europe and America in architecture, furniture, illustration, and typography. In lettering, Art Nouveau embraced organic forms, flowing curves, floral motifs, and asymmetry, reflecting the movement’s fascination with natural growth and hand-drawn ornament. Art Nouveau took its name from the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, a Parisian gallery that exhibited the works of artists and designers who were associated with the movement. The style was characterized by flowing, curvilinear forms inspired by natural shapes and motifs such as flowers, vines, and insects. It also incorporated elements from other artistic traditions, such as Japanese art and the Arts and Crafts movement. The work of Alphonse Mucha and the type of Eugene Smauel Grasset (1845–1917) are particularly important to understanding this period. (ILLS) Grasset taught design at the École Guérin from 1890 to 1903, at the École d’Art graphique in the rue Madame from 1903 to 1904, at theAcadémie de la Grande Chaumiere from 1904 to 1913, and at the École Estienne in Paris. Grasset had freely adapted the alphabet of Nicolas Jenson (1471) with the intention of using it to print a book on his own method for ornamental composition, inspired by the courses he gave to the Guérin school. (Wikipedia) The Grasset Typeface (ILLS) from Lewis F. Day's Alphabets Old and New , London, 1910, shows that art nouveau flair for which these men were famous. The font has been digitized by CARE Typography and is offered with a number of other historic fonts for a modest fee. Contact cshanktype@gmail.com for details. Auriol (1901, George Auriol, France). Produced by G. Peignot et Fils foundry, was one of the most widely used Art Nouveau fonts in Paris. It was inspired by Japanese calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, called Shodo or Shuji, heavily influenced Art Nouveau type. Art Nouveau was particularly popular in Europe, where it influenced a wide range of artistic disciplines, including architecture, interior design, furniture, jewelry, and graphic design. Some of the most notable Art Nouveau architects included Hector Guimard, Antoni Gaudí, and Victor Horta, while artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley, and Gustav Klimt were celebrated for their decorative and ornamental works. By 1910, Art Nouveau was fading. It was seen as overly decorative and was replaced by Art Deco, Plakatstil (poster style), and modernist sans-serifs (e.g., Futura, 1927). Still, Art Nouveau typefaces remained popular in advertising for certain luxury goods. In the 1960s–70s counterculture revival, fonts like Arnold Böcklin were rediscovered and associated with psychedelic posters, bringing Art Nouveau back into fashion. In short, Art Nouveau fonts were display-oriented, highly decorative, and tied to the broader artistic revolt against rigid academic styles. Fonts like Eckmann, Auriol, Bradley, and Arnold Böcklin remain the most recognizable products of the period.

French Typography History (Part 1)

By Carl Shank • August 24, 2026
Parisian Typography History Parisian typography refers broadly to the traditions of type design, printing, lettering, bookmaking, and graphic design that developed in Paris, particularly from the early days of European printing through the modern era. Paris became one of Europe's most important centers of typographic culture, alongside Venice, Rome, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, and later Berlin. What makes Paris especially significant is that French typography repeatedly combined technical innovation with an unusually strong concern for aesthetics and cultural identity. The French Renaissance established some of the foundations of Western book typography, The Romain du Roi introduced a rationalized approach to letterform construction. Didot transformed the Roman into a highly elegant Modern style, while Parisian poster, fashion, and advertising design subsequently made typography an essential component of visual culture. For a study of European typography, Paris is therefore best viewed not simply as another printing center, but as one of the places where the craft of type, the art of the book, state patronage, intellectual culture, fashion, and graphic design repeatedly converged. Parisian typography in perspective The history of Parisian typography can therefore be understood as a progression through several major phases — Gothic manuscript tradition, to Renaissance humanism, to French Old Style Romans, to Royal/Rational typography, to Romain du Roi, to Didot Modern Roman, and to Industrial display typography. Another way to organize this history would be to note several recurring characteristics of French typography. French typographical elegance can be seen in the developing of refined proportions and carefully controlled letterforms. There was a strong early connection to Roman inscriptions and Renaissance typography. Mathematical order was especially evident in the Romain du Roi typography. Didot established high contrast in lettering and there was strong emphasis on readable, beautiful text typography. Ornamentation became particularly important in the Art Nouveau period. Display typography defined much of posters and advertising typography. Type was often treated as part of French intellectual culture, and Paris repeatedly absorbed international design movements.
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