As the author of six books on graphic design and an adjunct professor at the Cooper Union I was asked to write an essay on the subject of writing books for graphic design students. The following is a shortened version.

1. Have a clear idea of what you wish to cover
David Belasco, the theatrical impresario, once said, “If you can’t write your idea on the back of a calling card, you do not have a clear idea.” Often authors want to write a book that will appeal to a wide audience: students, practicing designers, scholars, and their peers; they are afraid to leave anything out, lest they be judged poorly by their peers. I recall advice I received years ago from an editor, “Jim, the reader will never know what you leave out.”

Write as simply as you would speak or teach. Do not try to impress the reader with grandiose or pretentious words. As Churchill said, “Anyone who uses a big word when a small one will do is an ass.” Never use a term you haven’t defined. Following this advice, I knew my book Designing with Type had to begin with basics and build upon that. Do not attempt to invent terms, hoping that someday you will go down in design history as the originator of some timeless phrase. Or quote foreign sources without a translation — or something equally pretentious.

At the same time you don’t have to be an English major to write a book. Your liabilities may be your best asset. What I perceived as a personal liability — poor reading skills — turned out to be an asset in reaching my audience. I was determined to write a book that was accessible to someone like me. I resented having to read a sentence or paragraph multiple times in order to understand it. (I should add that I do read and write a little better now than I did forty years ago…)

I never considered impressing my peers with profound insights into typography. In fact some of my fellow graduates were rather embarrassed for me and thought Designing with Type was too basic. (I must have done something right because after forty years it is now in a fifth edition along with two web sites.)

2. Know your audience
My audience was the graphic design student. Generally speaking, I believe the majority of graphic design students prefer to practice design rather than read about it. And they certainly don’t want to read about typography, such as a lengthy treatise on the elegance of the Garamond lowercase “g,” or… This perhaps explains in part my original dedication for Designing with Type, “Dedicated to everyone who had to take typography and hated it.”

3. Find the right publisher
Research various publishers and make certain you approach one that serves the graphic design market. This can be done by going through bookstores, googling publishers, or studying their catalogs. It’s a terrible waste of time and effort to have a publisher accept your manuscript if they cannot sell your book.

Once you have found the right publisher you must sell your idea. Publishers have to see something before they can make a decision. To begin, make an outline consisting of the contents, parts, and chapters. Next, write a sample chapter and include all the relative illustrations. This will be enough for any publisher, or editor, to get an idea of both your book and your writing skills. This can be accompanied by a basic design illustrating a grid and and the overall design concept. The details will come later.

4. Select the right title
Like many authors I had a number of titles that I wanted to consider, I typed up a list of about ten and went in to see Don Holden, the editor-in-chief, at Watson-Guptill where I was the art director. He looked over the list and said, “Jim, if the book is any good the title won’t matter and if the book isn’t any good, a good title won’t save it.” So, Designing with Type it was.

5. Designing the book
Although most publishers have their own design staff, you may wish to design the book. Don’t be disappointed if it is rejected out of hand as being impractical, which will probably be the case if your format is not based on the standard sizes, or your design makes too many special demands. Books have to be printed within a budget, which may be a five or six times markup; that is, a book that costs $10.00 to manufacture, will have to sell for $50 to $60.00. Your ideas may be too expensive.

6. Contracts
If the publisher is interested in your book they will offer you a contract laying out all the terms and how you are to be paid: flat rate, royalties, etc. You will be assigned an editor who will work with you to make certain the book conforms to the publisher’s specifications.

7. Permissions
Most publishers will not print a book until all the permissions are in house. If your book requires a large number of copyrighted images, such as illustrations, manuscripts, posters, etc., allow plenty of time — months or years — to collect all the necessary permissions. This will mean contacting museums around the world who may not consider your request as urgent as you do.

8. Cost of illustrations
After you have attained the permissions you — and not the publisher — can expect to pay handsomely for reproduction rights, especially if the reproductions are in color or used on the jacket. The bill for my last book, Thirty Centuries of Graphic Design, was over $10,000.00 and all the illustrations were black and white… and that is 1988 dollars!

9. Advice from friends and peers
You will be tempted to ask advice as you proceed. A word of advice: While Designing with Type was still in dummy form I decided to go to my Alma Mater, Yale, to solicit advice from my august professors. They politely flicked through the dummy as they ate their sandwiches, ask a few polite (condescending) questions, but contributed nothing of consequence: praise or critique. I left rather confused and the book remained as it was before the visit.

After the book had been published I visited the one instructor I admired the most and had not seen earlier: Paul Rand. He did take the time to look through the book, and after considerable thought he spoke. Rand wondered why I chose blue for the cover — bad choice, he said, blue fades easily? Why had I chosen Helvetica as one of my five typefaces and not Univers or Akidenz Grotesk for the sans serif?

Why had I spent so many pages on type specimens — sixty to be exact — when all the student had to do was to get a type specimen book from a typographer (yes, if your name is Paul Rand). There were other short comings which I have conveniently forgotten. In the end, Paul Rand said, it was a shame I hadn’t come to see him earlier… before the book was printed.

Years later we had lunch at the Yale Cub and Paul Rand ask me how many copies of my books had been sold. By then I had written six books. I thought about it for a moment and said I would guess about a half a million. “That many,” he responded, somewhat taken aback “perhaps I should get a new publisher.” I explained that it was not a fair comparison as I was writing textbooks primarily for undergraduates while he was writing books for graduate students or working designers; my potential market was far greater than his. I think he remained unconvinced… meanwhile I picked up the check.

Looking back, I realize that had I followed the advice of the “experts” I am certain that Designing with Type would have been out-of-print within a year instead of into its fifth edition. The lesson here is, after you have to listened to all the experts, and weighed their advice carefully, follow your own best instincts.

10. Finally, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don’t expect to get rich by writing a book on graphic design
In fact, if you weigh the time spent writing against royalties earned you will probably find that you worked for less that minimum wage. Certainly less than you would have earned had the time been spent designing or teaching. You can also expect to drive your loved ones and friends crazy — writing a book might even be grounds for a divorce.

However, if you do decide to write a book, when it is published you can quote Gloria Steinem when she was asked if she enjoyed writing a book, “No, she said, but I enjoy having written a book.”

James Craig, well-known author of books on graphic design received his BFA from The Cooper Union and his MFA from Yale University. He teaches typography at the Cooper Union in New York City.