Newsletter #7 — The Poetry Problem
April 7, 2021
Newsletter #7 — The Poetry Problem
Design Considerations — Although The F Words calls for a fairly simple (but interesting!) design, it does contain an element that challenges the design: poetry. Maybe twenty-five poems. And these poems have to look good on the page. They have to fit in with the narrative but at the same time stand out from it. They are poems. They are different. But they are part of the story and thus part of the narrative flow. Fit in, stand out. Stand out, fit in. A problem.
Designer Ana Christina Ochoa came through with flying colors. The sans serif font of the poems contrasts with the serif font of the story. The tighter leading of the poems contrasts with the more open leading of the narrative. (Poetry feels more intimate than prose, so a more compact leading really works.) The poems look good with the narrative. They stand out — but not out in left field, and not out of the universe. They stand out in an Oh-look-at-this kind of way, not in a What-the-hell-is-this? kind of way. With this design the reader becomes more alert and more attuned to what's coming up.
I'm very, very happy with the way the poems work with the narrative.
Something About the Title — Every day I check the internet for any news about The F Words. As publication day draws nearer, I'll probably be checking several times a day. To my amusement, I've noticed that in most cases, on most sites, all I have to do is type in "the f words, b" and, Poof! Up comes my book! The b is the start of my first name: I don't have to go beyond that. With other books of mine, I need to type my entire name after the title in order for the book to come up. (This is annoying, because I have a long name.) For some reason, the search engines associate the phrase "the f words" primarily with me.
That's good.
I think.
Pre-Order Button— Still another Pre-Order button, this one from IndieBound. If you love buying your books at a local independent bookstore, this is the button to use. Unlike the other Pre-Order buttons, though, this one appears only after you've chosen the bookstore you want to shop at.
Point of View— In my April 1 blog I talk about Point of View in The F Words.