Publishing Learning Center
Select Book Genre or Market
Books come in all types, fiction or nonfiction, and for all ranges of audiences. Children's books can be activity focused (how to count) or just plain fun (coloring books). Nonfiction books can be serious history, how-to (i.e., building guitars), or cookbook recipe collections.Note that CafePress.com also publishes numerous books which are intended "For Personal Use Only" that are not categorized the book directory or made available for sale to the general public. If this describes your book, some of the discussion that follows will not apply to your needs.
Choosing the subject matter of your book is very important, of course. But selecting the book's title (and possibly subtitle) may be the most important piece of writing you will do for your book. As Dan Poynter, the guru of self-publishing, claims: "A great title will not sell a bad book but a poor title will hide a good book from potential customers. Both your title and subtitle must be a selling tool. They are the hooks that help sales."
"Personality" of book
When you choose your book's subject, you're also choosing how it will be categorized (what genre and sub-genre), how it can be marketed (business books for business people, mysteries and romance to fiction genre readers, graphic novels to comic-book lovers), and what kind of cover will appeal to its intended audience.
CafePress.com offers a wide range of genres and sub-genres that will both fit your book's "personality" and be easily found by book buyers. For example, crime-related novels can be further classified into eight sub-genres:
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Action & Adventure
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Crime, Mystery & Thrillers
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Detective Stories
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Espionage Thrillers
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Political Thrillers
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Psychological Suspense
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers Pulp Adventure
Crime, Mystery & Thrillers True Crime
Because our product browser uses narrowing technology, it's actually better to classify your store/book at a deeper level (i.e. "True Crime" instead of just "Crime, Mystery & Thrillers").
Usage dictates binding
If your book is a novel or collection of poems, perfect binding — like that used for mass-market paperbacks — is the most common choice. On the other hand, comics, magazines, and coloring books typically use saddle-stitch binding that lays flat. Technical manuals and how-to books that need to be open wide so pages can be easily flipped usually work best with Wire-O binding.
Choose the method of binding which provides the most usability required by the book's content and your target customers' needs. Look through your chosen genre to see what types of binding are used most often to help make your choice.
