On March 18th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with veteran author and publisher Walt Shiel about some of the most confusing topics for the self-publishing newcomer: print book design, typesetting, indexing, and even eBook production. Walts publishing company, Slipdown Mountain, has published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection. Its subsidiary Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers was spun off to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Walt addressed some of these key points in todays interview:

Book Design & Typesetting

  * Is there any difference between designing a book and typesetting it?
  * What are the key decisions a book designer must make?
  *  Isnt typesetting just pouring the text into the typesetting software, adding some formatting, and letting the software work its magic?

E-Book Design

  *  Does design and/or typesetting matter at all in creating an e-book?
  * Arent there software packages that can create e-books virtually automatically?
  *  Do readers even care if an e-book is well-designed as long as they get the content one way or another?

Indexing

  *  What is an index and how is it different from a concordance?
  *  Doesnt the author know better than anyone else what should be indexed?
  *  What do you need to know to create a useful index