Deluxe Editions of Children’s Books

Creating and Selling Special Editions

Have you walked into a bookstore lately and seen all the deluxe editions of books? Sprayed edges are in gorgeous colors, special papers, covers with spot gloss and other specialties, ribbon markers, and so on. Wow, gorgeous has become the word of the day. I use print-on-demand services, so it’s hard to figure out if this is feasible for me.

I’d like to offer a deluxe edition because it would be a higher priced book for collectors, gifts, direct sales, and project such as a Kickstarter.

I recently experimented with forced edge technology; I’m not convinced it will be right for my books, but here’s what I found and how I did it. I’ll also talk about other options before you go the route of offset printed books.

Forced Edge Printing for Children’s Novels

I’ve been watching this trend of Gorgeous build for a couple years and reading about it. The easiest way to accomplish this is to offset print, where you can build into the specs whatever you want: higher quality paper, dust jackets, spot colors or lamination on covers, ribbon markers, and so much more. For POD, though, Bookvault in the UK has the best set of options, even box sets. For children’s authors, though, the problem is that Bookvault doesn’t print picture books in the US, so everything ships from the UK. I would use them for a special edition for Kickstarter or other projects that would benefit from the glitz and glam.

I wanted, though, something for an everyday print that would make the books stand out. I decided to look at forced edge printing. This idea is that you print something on the very edge of the page and it’s visible on the outside edge. It’s the poor-man’s version of a sprayed edge.

Not Officially Recommended by Most POD Companies

First, you should know that none of the POD companies (KDP, Ingram, Bookvault, Lulu) recommend this technique. Because POD means each book is printed separately, it’s hard for them to guarantee that the edges will look right. I’m ignoring that comment and will forge ahead! Here’s what Bookvault says comparing sprayed edged v forced edges.

Looking at the Result of Forced Edges - My First Attempt

For this trial, I realized I would need to get a couple proof copies. My forthcoming children’s novel, STRAW HEART is about a scarecrow, a crow, a mouse and a whimsical wind. I slapped a quick cover on the book (the artist is hard at work on the final art—cover reveal coming!), and added the forced edge art. Because a crow, Smudge, is a main character, I chose a stock file of a feather that repeats, created files, and printed proof copies with Lulu. One is printed on white paper and the other on cream paper so I could see that difference, too.

As I flip through the book, notice that there are horizontal black lines on each page, lines which create the edge design. At the beginning of a design, there are few lines, but in the book’s center, they dominate the reading experience. The question is this: will a young reader be overwhelmed by this edge design? This story takes place in a popcorn field, so maybe you could interpret the design as a fence line? Does the design detract or distract a reader from the story?

Files for Forced Edges

Creating the files for forced edges is the first hurdle. Painted Wings partners with Vellum to create these files. Essentially, they take a design and break it into the pixels required on each page to create the image. You can, of course, do this manually, but I’m glad to pay someone to do it.

Notice:

1. You must purchase files for the correct size for your trim size. This is for an 5.5” x 8.5” book, and if I changed to 5” x 8”, I’d have to purchase a different set of files.

2. The edge can be formatted as a black-on-white edge as I’ve done here, or you can reverse it to white-on-black. You can choose to have the design once in the center of the edge, or you can repeat it. This allows for different page lengths of your novel.

3. Vellum and Atticus both allow you to import the design files and will apply it to the pages of your book. See below for tutorials and comparison on edge controls.

4. Be sure you know what you’re getting. Painted Wings designs are just on the outside edge, not the top and bottom, too. If you need all three edges, you may need to order a custom file.

Technology for Forced Edges

The technology is simple, if you use Vellum or Atticus for applying the forced edge images. They both have settings that allow you to customize and set it up the way you like. Here are a couple great videos to make sure all the settings are set up your way.

• Vellum how-to video: Apply the design to the entire book.

• Atticus how-to video: Apply the design to the entire book. They allow a couple extra settings such as fade on the edges, exclude certain pages, and so on.

The book shown in my video above was set up in Vellum, so I didn’t have the option to fade the edges. Would that matter? My illustrator is doing about five or six full illustrations and it would be great to exclude the design from those pages. Excluding one page won’t affect the overall edge, so I’d love to do that. Otherwise, the full illustrations must fall UNDER the edge illustration. Painted Wings is careful to say that the edge images must be on top of any other illustrations. I would have to account for that when talking to the illustrator so she can plan for it.

Forced Edges: Yes or No for Children’s Novels?

I’ll be talking with the illustrator laster this week after she receives the proof copies. I tend to think the variable edge treatment on the interior pages is too much for a children’s book. But I formatted these in Vellum, and Atticus allows for faded edges. Would that matter? I am undecided.

Creating a Deluxe Edition of a Children’s Novel with POD Printers

My goal has been to do a deluxe edition of a book without going to offset printing. The goal would be a higher priced book for collectors, gifts, Kickstarters, and direct sales.

I’m not sure the forced edges is the right answer. But there are other options:

1. Paper. You can always change the quality of the paper, no matter the POD printer. I ordered my test copies in white and cream versions to see how that affects the interior.

2. Dust Jackets. Ingram allows for dust jackets with casebound books or linen hardcovers (about $1 more). Lulu only allows dust jackets for the linen hardcover, not with casebound. Bookvault also allows dust jackets. In other words, check the specs from your preferred printer!

3. Duplex Covers. Ingram can also create paperbacks with duplex covers (about $0.30 extra) which allow printing on the interior cover. This isn’t end papers that we’d love for picture books, but it’s an extra cool formatting for paperback novels. Bookvault doesn’t do duplex covers in the US, UK only. Lulu doesn’t do duplex covers; although, if you print a magazine or comic, they allow duplex.) See this how to video for more on creating duplex covers.

There are options for going deluxe, just not many! Check out Bookvault’s Bespoke options—just keep in mind that BV ships from the UK. What options would give a children’s that something special worth paying more for?

One other question: do you need a separate ISBN for a deluxe edition? Maybe. ISBNs are tied to a certain format, either ebook, audiobook, paperback, or hardcover. If you set up a book everywhere with the same files, the same ISBN applies. But if you created a deluxe edition with better quality paper, forced edges, and a duplex cover only at Ingram, then you’d need a separate ISBN. You want that anyway, because you want to price it differently. Then the customer can choose the standard printing or deluxe printing and pay accordingly.

What do you think? Would you use a forced edge image on a children’s novel? I’d love to hear opinions on this because I’ve not decided one way or another yet.