Map Sizing for Print Novel

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Greetings Cartographers,

I'm looking for some advice from those of you with experience creating maps for novels and other books. I don't really have much experience in the print world, especially when it comes to sizing. How do you figure out how to size your map?

Let me elaborate just a bit. I recently received a commission from an author that hopes to go through the publishing process for their book in the future. However, they don't really know much about sizing themselves. I did some quick Googling and found an article about "standard" book sizes in the US and the UK (https://kunzonpublishing.com/2017/07...lf-publishers/), and asked the client which size they predicted their book might appear it. They gave me a soft guess of UK B-format (130mm x 198mm (5.12″ x 7.80″)).

So my questions are this:

1. When you receive a commission for a novel, how do you determine the size of your map? This map will be portrait on one page, which makes it a bit easier.

2. But what about if your map is landscape across two facing pages? How do you manage the gutter, or where the pages fold together?

3. And finally, if you're in a situation like this, where the client isn't 100% confident of their page size, how would you choose a size for your map? There's also the case of maps that appear in books of multiple sizes (hardcover, then paperback, for example). How do you manage that?

Thanks in advance, I really value having such great cartographers brains to pick.

[Tiana]

Usually when someone commissions a map for a novel they already know what size it will be. If they don't, I make it printer paper sized (which will fit across two pages or can be resized to fit on one) and ensure there's space to crop on all sides if possible. Just make the map bigger than the final size, never hurts with novel sized maps just in case the author gets some bright idea like a big paperback print or posters. I only do it exactly to the page size if the author requests that page size.

As for the gutter in the middle, turn on your ruler, look where the middle is, and make sure no text overlaps it, as well as about eh, a centimetre or so on each side for ideal legibility. It's not an exact science. Lots of programs will let you make a guideline at 50% (and wherever else you want) and that will let you see where to avoid.

This author sounds like they "might" publish in the future and I would go on the larger side because you don't know what their plans will be. A4 is always a good choice if it might be used on two pages or one, so go with that. To make sure you keep in mind the novel page, size the document on your screen to a standard novel sized page and make sure you can read it clearly at arm's length.

[Kellerica]

OK, my own personal two cents on the matter:

Simply put, I maintain that the map size is something that needs to be narrowed down before I start working. Having some wiggle room in terms of size is one thing, but at the very least, whether or not it's going to be one page or a two page spread is something I absolutely need to know when going in, and it cannot be both. I do my best to make the composition look nice and balanced, and trying to have it all the ways often means that none of them look very good. Vertical and horizontal page maps are very different beasts to make.

I always create the map in the page size, simply because a larger map would take more time to make and would force me to charge more. 6x9 inch map in 300 dpi is plenty big enough for online viewing at a very detailed resolution, and even when printing you usually can double the size without the loss of quality becoming painfully obvious, as long as the dimensions of the page are still the same. Printing always destroys some of the nuance of digital work anyway, so you can get away with scaling the work up to a point.

I've had a few clients who have been unsure about this, and for them I have just politely explained that they are simply going to have make some kind of decision before I can start on the map, and they have all been OK with that. If I ever come across someone who is incabable of making the call, then I probably would go with some form of what Tiana suggested, i.e. creating the map with enough space on the sides to leave room for cropping, etc.

But if a client wants to print the map as a giant poster, then they are going to have commission a poster and not a book page map. That is more work required on my part, and in my opinion a large poster map rarely looks good when printed on a tiny book page, and vice versa. You can't have it all the ways. Or, well, if you absolutely insist we can try, but I do prefer to at least try and talk the clients out of commissioning something that would, in my opinion, look bad.

[ThomasR]

Hey Zach,

1- I agree with Kell here, you gotta get the size straight with the client firsthand. In my book, size determines price so, that's a must have before starting. The other thing is that resizing (up or down) will mess your lineart and your labelling. I'd say it's something to set in stone for every project, I remember reshaping a map for a client because he changed his mind for the format and it unbalanced the whole map which was not pleasant to fix. My advice, aim for hardcover size (6x9 inches) and add a 1/2 inch margin on each side for breathing purpose and to avoid cutting of your map. You also have to consider the map will be reduced for some editions and label accordingly.

2- I've recently been confronted to the gutter problem and just added a colored mask to my map covering one page. After that, discussions with the client allowed me to avoid putting labels or important stuff there or move what might me hidden. The issue might be with labelling consistency as you will end up breaking some rules (position of a city name near it's marker for instance).

3- Never chose the size for your client, it's choosing the price for them. Propose a price for both sizes (simple page or double page or A5 or A4, whichever you fancy) but it's their map, their choice (their money). And for your last question, see 1-, it's really a matter of labelling because that's what suffers the most from resizing.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with

Cheers !

[Voolf]

1. When you receive a commission for a novel, how do you determine the size of your map? This map will be portrait on one page, which makes it a bit easier.

Client have to provide you the size, it is his job to do, not yours. Just remember to keep it at least in 300dpi for quality print.

2. But what about if your map is landscape across two facing pages? How do you manage the gutter, or where the pages fold together?

You don't. If a printing company dosen't do that, you can cut the map in half and one half will be printed on one page and the other on the second page. But i guess printing companies know how to handle that. If the book is thick and has wide inner margin, they will have to offset the map on the page and probably shink it a little. All of that is actually what client have to confirm and know and just give you the size.

3. And finally, if you're in a situation like this, where the client isn't 100% confident of their page size, how would you choose a size for your map? There's also the case of maps that appear in books of multiple sizes (hardcover, then paperback, for example). How do you manage that?

Again, you can't manage it. This is the first thing client has to get to know before actually commissioning anyone. It's like I would go to the paint store and ask for a paint without knowing what colour i want. What should the clerk do? Sell me any colour? Sure, but then i may decide that this is not what i actually wanted and problem arises. So don't try to figure out the size for the client... especially if it's for the book. Sure you can help him out if you have any knowledge about it, but ultimately he has to know what is required.

[Tiana]

But if a client wants to print the map as a giant poster, then they are going to have commission a poster and not a book page map. That is more work required on my part

Yeah, there's a point where it becomes proportionately a lot harder to do the art because of the scale... BUT... some of that can be mediated by you keeping the window zoomed out as you work to a size closer to the final book size. Text is the major inhibitor of use in different scale prints. A poster can have tiny tiny text and a book has to have larger eyeballable text. Also you don't want to overdo detail in small items when it will be printed small. All these can be compensated for if you are aware its final use will be small. It won't be a magnificent poster, but it might also contain reusable pieces that can be detailed a bit more and text that can be resized for poster density to save you trouble on the future possible poster.

Especially because some authors are in the process of writing when they commission a map, what they really want is, something they can reference while they work. So I always suggest my A4 pricing, and make sure the text is at a scale that reads for the final print size, but the map can be printed larger without blurring.

I wouldn't do this with say, someone wanting a 20x30 poster. But I almost always regret going at actual 6x9. I generally double it to 12x18 so there's the option of the author flare / two page spread.

Yes, it's almost vital to know if it will be a 2 page spread or 1 page going in. I always regret starting a map if I don't know that. Doing it right now, where they were like "oh yeah actually we want it to be a two page spread" and okay, I did size it appropriately that we can do that, it's not locked into a 6x9 print size... but now I have to move text around for the split because this was decided halfway into the commission. /real story happening right now T_T

3- Never chose the size for your client, it's choosing the price for them. Propose a price for both sizes (simple page or double page or A5 or A4, whichever you fancy) but it's their map, their choice (their money).

Ehhh... technically, yes, but I feel it's best to not bog a client down in choices and turn them into anxious wrecks when faced with the actual reality of the sheer range of possibilities, which are endless. It's best to never give more than three choices, and most people will go for the Goldilocks option. It's good to give a choice if someone comes to you with a question rather than a definitive "this is what I want", but my prices aren't based on size alone. I also modify them based on the density and customization of elements in the map, and whether it's going to be black and white ink art or full color. When we start getting into all of the slight adjustments that can happen to the price, sometimes I think it's best to just ask, "so, what was your dream budget for this project?" and then tell them what kind of map that can get them.

Anyway, if I make a map larger than was requested, I don't charge more than was agreed, because I based the price off my knowledge of how long the density of placement would take for me to create. Sometimes doing this has saved my butt when a client changes their mind halfway through on the two page versus one page spread. This has happened multiple times this year... so I really don't trust that at the getgo, a client definitively knows what they need, even if they should, not everyone who wants a map is a pro publisher. And ahem, one of the people who changed their mind halfway through was a pro publisher. SHENANIGANS. They changed it from a two page spread to a one page spread AND changed the resolution of the map to be bigger and a different dimension than before! Fortunately I could hack a solution and look like a genius but aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's always better to be able to over-deliver and say, guess what, you can print it twice as big as you paid for, but no extra fee. Or to have that extra wiggle room in case they are monsters who decide to add an extra inch to one side of the book like, 3/4s of the way through the commission. D: D: D:

It's fine, they paid me what I asked, and it was more than my base price to accommodate those shenanigans, lol. I'd work for them again.

[Falconius]

About the gutter issue, it's better to take that into account when making your map and leave a margin there on the inside. I've seen many times where the map is printed into the seam and it's pointless, and I've seen well done whee the illustrator restrained the map to what naturally fits on the page margins. It was just with blank space in between and works much better. This means the map width is actually a bit shorter than it would be if you were measuring a two page map.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone, especially the bits about starting larger, which is something I tend to always skew towards anyway, dreading the possibility that the text will be less legible when shrunk. My client at least knows that they want it one page portrait orientation, which yeah of course is the first hurdle to overcome.

Especially because some authors are in the process of writing when they commission a map, what they really want is, something they can reference while they work. So I always suggest my A4 pricing, and make sure the text is at a scale that reads for the final print size, but the map can be printed larger without blurring.

This is my case exactly Tiana - at the outset of this project it's mostly for their reference. And it's a good thing they had a cartographer on hand to go over it too; we wound up reducing the size of the landmass they wanted to depict by quite a lot based on what they'd originally said the scale was.

This isn't something that anyone necessarily needs to give specifics on if you don't want, but given a map request where you know the general density of the features the client wants, what's your general price range when you quote them a few options, like one quote a one-page portrait, another quote a two-facing-pages, another for a larger version, etc? For example, if you in your mind use a one-page portrait orientation of the client's map as your "base" quote, is a two-facing-pages map like, 150% of the base cost, 200%...

[armyforetell]

A4 is a good choice if you don't know what size you need to do. It might be used on one or two pages, so you already have two variants for your customer. I love books, and I'm often quibbling about the book's appearance. I hope you will do a great job, or if you have already done so can you post the result here? Unfortunately, I started to listen to books, not read. But thanks to this resource, it's pleasantly to do.
By the way, what kind of books do you like more: audio or simple ones?

[Tiana]

This isn't something that anyone necessarily needs to give specifics on if you don't want, but given a map request where you know the general density of the features the client wants, what's your general price range when you quote them a few options, like one quote a one-page portrait, another quote a two-facing-pages, another for a larger version, etc? For example, if you in your mind use a one-page portrait orientation of the client's map as your "base" quote, is a two-facing-pages map like, 150% of the base cost, 200%...

Well, this answer is long overdue, but currently I scale up like so.

Base price, I won't work for less than this anymore, is $150. It removes the bottom tier of clients. I used to take on some $75 maps, but it's never worth it. That can get you an A4 map if it doesn't have say, custom calligraphy or fancy stuff like truly unique compasses, frames, or "commercial rights" beyond putting it in a book, and that'll be the price of a single page map too if you just have an 6x9 book. At the time I originally posted I believe I was still doing lower tier price maps but in my experience everyone who wants a less than $100 map still wants to be treated as good as a $150 client.

Next up we're looking at legal sized paper print, or a work with something more complex about it. I don't double for that, I typically scale to $220 for the next size.

Then we're looking at small poster, 20 inches on the longest side. That's like $300, and at this price point I'll start considering doing cities but never cheaper unless it's like, more of a village.

Then we're looking at medium poster, that's like, 24 inches on the longest side, where I'll charge around $400. At this point I'll consider doing totally painted work, hand lettering, and other highly time consuming customization that make a map truly one of a kind. I can be talked into doing 30 inches at this point if it's not a city but typically that large poster size where it's 30 inches falls in the next category...

$500. At this point yeah, I might consider painting the whole map uniquely and not using any assets at all and you can get a poster sized print made of it. Weird one of a kind stuff is accepted at this point. From here it kind of abruptly scales up to...

$800. This is the "I do isometric city work" tier, "it's a totally unique poster sized painting" tier, "you want to sell this without asking me questions about what you can do with it later", etc.

Higher than that is ENORMOUS posters, work where I definitely have to do vector + painting, work where I'm doing truly weird or one of a kind things. Like I have one at the four digit tier now where I'm designing multiple conlang scripts for different races, and heraldry, and it's also going to be a unique painting in which every city for all of the countries is an isometric unique illustration that bleeds into the land.

Anyway, back when you asked I would have said that I double the cost for 1 page versus 2 pages in a novel ($75 and $150) and this sells well, and it's easy to upsell for the 2 pages because then you get a standard sized print and authors like flare. But I've stopped doing the 1 page only discount just because those clients are often far more fussy than they're worth, and I'd rather leave their commissions for people who are newer and hungrier than me. When you get people coming to you offering numbers like $800-four digit commissions it just isn't that appealing. And I get people emailing me with quotes like that now. Yay!