Absolutely! I read with a pencil in hand. To underline! To make notes in margins! To star, and smile, and frown! Enjoy reading my previous thoughts when I pick up a book again. Also enjoy other’s thoughts found in used books.
I once worked for a publisher in a large office building. A fellow tenant was alarmed when a colleague and I were venting about how a designer "just left art bleeding in the gutter."
There are book designers who do should be making sure this doesn't happen.
They also pick the fonts, paper, and approve bound covers and book jackets. Epic fail here. You'll wind up cracking the spine and the book falls apart.
The special circle should include the unemployment line.
Look at the margins to the far left and far right. They are very different. This book has been negligently guillotined. Poor production all round. You are entitled to a refund.
Sip N’ Talk—where stories come to life, and loose ends find their meaning.
Imagine gathering around a fireside, where conversations flow freely, laughter and tears mix, and each story reveals a new layer of our shared humanity.
The outer margins are pretty small for this one, but what I'm complaining about is the gutter (inner) margins being so small that I literally have to crack the spine to be able to read the text near the inner margins
An issue in many parts; if you commit to narrow inner margins, you can salvage the book by using proper bookbinding glue (more flexible vs hot glue popular for print on demand) or thread binding (which isn’t that much more expensive). This is cost cutting away potential solutions one after another.
As a hobbyist bookbinder I couldn’t even imagine releasing something like that, let alone as a professional project. That’s the kind of thing I’d expect from a first timer who’s never typeset anything before.
Analog is expensive. Demand for paper books has gone down.
Plus. The rise of online shopping during the pandemic drove paper makers to retool to make cardboard, so there’s just less paper.
So lower margins. Literally, I guess?
It's a traditional publisher (Orbit), who should know about gutter margins. But yeah, there's a lot of useful specialised knowledge to do with publishing that often gets ignored
There's also a place for printing company reps who tell you to adjust the carefully chosen margins on a skinny little book that shouldn't have any problem after trimming. You comply and end up with crappy little gutters when the originals would have been perfect. Not that I am bitter or anything.
It's not up to the writer, and it's decided WAY before a professional editor proofs it, and it wouldn't be changed at that stage. It's also something a designer or in-house editor are unlikely to be happy with, so I suspect it's a publisher decision. But yes, it's not the printer's fault
I looked into self-publishing but don't have the money for a pro edit. I have written about 10 or so (100,000+ words) fictional novels. It is therapy and keeps me busy in retirement.
Gutter margins used to be a thing useful for senior readers like myself, who liked to scribble on books - when there were enough trees for all the readers on the planet and when the word ‘carbon’ was associated with pencils and not footprints… we shall all burn to ashes and be blown away into dust😅
Text distribution function if also poorly (if at all) optimized. A good overall example of how not to print. Books ruined, readers' experience spoiled. Can concur.
I've worked in publishing for 30+ years. There are literal rules/guidelines for things like gutter margins, to ensure that a book is readable. This kind of margin is the result of cheapness (more text to the page, fewer pages to print), or sloppiness, or both
Some designers center text on the page with equal margins on either side. It looks ok while designing but when the book is bound, part of the margin gets glued in. I learned to make interior margins slightly larger than the outside. Some people weren’t taught how to do that.
It appears that some designers need to learn some basic book design principles. I've worked on educational books that were spiral bound, where you really do need to account for that in the gutter margins. But you need that extra space for any type of binding
True, but the issues you’re seeing are mostly in trade publishing, where the books aren’t really meant to last forever anymore. You may notice that a high end coffee table book however might be sewn not glued, and the binding will lay flatter. The glue is sometimes what’s causing the problem.
And people make fun of me being on sites like this. HA! They also "make fun" about me knowing everything (which is an exaggerated opinion of me) but NOW, I know MORE about something I never knew.
You'd think after e-books, publishers have finally begun to understand that their output needs to make sense as a physical product ... cover, paper, type font, layout. But no.
That might be a bit excessive! I’d say it was the result of layout people who only ever see the books they’re working on on their computer screens … but in fact I seem to recall that it was always a somewhat common problem with cheap paperbacks.
Same here, I never had the vocabulary to express how frustrating it is, to be forced to crack the spine of a book, because it wouldn't be readable otherwise
Well, if it's a hardback, and I can't see the crack behind the spine that's okay, but for paperbacks it annoys me. Though I agree, it is at least somewhat better if I made the decision and it didn't happen by accident
This is likely either the way the pages were printed or when it was bound together, the spine was trimmed too much to prep for the cover to be put on. I worked at a book binder many years ago. Still find myself inspecting the print/binding quality of random books. Shouldn't have been allowed out.
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They also pick the fonts, paper, and approve bound covers and book jackets. Epic fail here. You'll wind up cracking the spine and the book falls apart.
The special circle should include the unemployment line.
(I am 80)
Imagine gathering around a fireside, where conversations flow freely, laughter and tears mix, and each story reveals a new layer of our shared humanity.
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Great writer, lousy binder.
You literally can't read that book:
that circle
may they
be bound
in confines
most cramped
Plus. The rise of online shopping during the pandemic drove paper makers to retool to make cardboard, so there’s just less paper.
So lower margins. Literally, I guess?
I am married to a printer & 8/10 people have no understanding of margins, perspective, embedded fonts, on and on and on until infinity
The publishing printers just follow their instructions
Lots of money to be made on Amazon books.
Low price - high volume
OR TAKE HIM TO COURT FOR INCOMPETENCE and violating the terms of your contract...
Surely proper gutters was in your contract???
If I was back in college in the 60s I'd be chilling with a joint...
Thanks for ringing my bell.
I actually don’t understand why they do this
The rout of all suffering is a bitch
Kind of.
...You know what I mean.
I'm an editor, and when under a lot of deadline pressure I've had dreams where I'm editing or proofreading
Also, good book.
They never read books on paper.
If they ever read at all.
🤪
Just...
Ew.