Me Too
Here, now I present my recommendations for anyone thinking of doing a PDF product.
Interesting Subject: Write about something that interests you. That way you'll do your best, and that will communicate itself to the reader.
Good Writing: Never publish your first draft. Once you've gotten words down on paper (or screen), look it over and see how you can say it better. Above all, let yourself have a voice. You're supposed to get people interested in what you're writing about, and a dry style works against that.
Art: Use art that's appropriate and place it well. If your art budget wouldn't pay for a music CD, use clip art (there's tons of the stuff on the web). Don't worry about putting art on every page. Select pages where art would enhance the reading experience, and illuminate a point or section. Such as, say, when talking about a character type. If at all possible, start each chapter with a piece of art, and end it with another. If a chapter ends on an even numbered page, and you don't feel like having a blank page, use a full page illustration. (That last bit has to do with layout)
Color Art vs Line Art: Use color art for the cover. It'll draw attention and could help sell the book. Use line art for the interior. For one thing, line art does not take up as much ink as color art would.
Font and Size: Sans serif for the screen, serif for print. This is for ease of reading. You want to use a font that is comfortable to read, at the size used. Size itself depends on the font.
In sans serif Geneva, Charcoal, and Chicago are readable onscreen at around 10 points, but other fonts need to be presented in a larger size to be legible. In serif New York and Times New Roman can be read at 8 points, while Monaco and Palantino are readable at 10 points. But, you really should save 8 point type for the legal stuff.
How much you can cram into each page depends on the font used. Monaco and Chicago are small fonts, and so more verbiage can be but on a page (it has to do with typographic design, an esoteric subject in it's own write. There are some fonts out there that are positively tiny at even 12 points). But a font that looks good at 8 or 10 points can be downright ugly at 12 points or higher.
It also depends on the look you want. Chicago is a straightforward, workaday font. It was designed at the Chicago Times to be easy to read. Charcoal is a little fussier, a bit more "artsy". As such it gives a different look and feel to prose. New York (designed at the New York Times) is a lot like Chicago, a working font for ease of reading at small point sizes. Monaco and Palantino are more elegant fonts, meant for prose that is comfortable to read over a period of time.
In any case, make sure the font and type size you choose are comfortable for you.
Headings: The font you use for text will not work in a heading. Here you want one that fits the theme of your book. That gives the reader a good idea of what's in your product. A font named, "Greek Capitals" will not make a good header font for a book on ancient Japan. At the same time, the title of the book and the credits shown with it really should be in different fonts themselves. The title font should be attention getting, easily read at a distance, and say something about the contents. With the name of the author or authors and publisher in a smaller type, but still readable at a distance. In addition, the title should be in a different color than black, with the author's name in a different color from the title.
Layout: Art on the left, unless it ends a chapter, or it's a piece in the middle of a chapter or section that would look better in the middle or on the right. Art should never take up more than a third of a page. Any larger and it overwhelms the writing. The pieces used should be appropriate to the chapter's subject. If you are going to be combining heading or title with a piece of art, make sure the two work together to communicate what you want to say.
At the paper size used for most RPG products the following guidelines apply: At 8 points, 4 columns; at 10 points, 3 columns; at 12 points, 2 columns. Interior illustration are sized in columns horizontally. So in a book with two columns (12 point type) an illustration will be one half to two columns wide.
Indent paragraphs. About 5 points (0.16") is best. Single space between paragraphs. (This double spacing crud is a waste of space and looks unprofessional in my opinion. Besides, it lets you put more into a page in the way of writing.) Double space between sections in a chapter. (Whether you double space between a section heading and the text is up to you. I prefer to double space between a major section heading and the text, but not a minor section heading and the following text.) Always double space between a title chapter and the rest of the chapter.
That's about it for now. If you have anything more to add, feel free. I'll see about putting together a document as an example of what I'm talking about.
Hope this helped.
