Richard, I have to think about composition concerns for the day job, so I find them interesting. I started to think about these questions when I began submitting manuscripts, figuring that the more like a book the package looked, the more attractive it would be.
I had to do my own page layout for my first book, and I decided to copy the look of the many Wilbur-winning books I own. The books done by Evansville's two presses are set in Baskerville, usually ten on twelve, if I remember correctly. The typical Able Muse font looks very similar. The trim size for both is 6 by 9.
The Waywiser/Hecht prize books are quite different. Their trim size is 5 by 7 3/4 and they use a sans serif font. I'll get out the type book later today and see if I can identify it. *Editing back: It seems to be Optima. The book that lets me figure this out is Rookledge's International Type Finder.
Unless your poems are very uniform in line length and number of lines, you're probably going to need to experiment with a few different fonts, sizes, margins, and amounts of leading. Long lines (like dac-hex) in particular are a challenge.
Another major conundrum is getting the poems in the order you want, while still allowing the two-page poems to begin on the left and occupy two facing pages. (I couldn't always do this!)
Enjoy the process!
Last edited by Maryann Corbett; 03-28-2015 at 04:56 PM.
Reason: ID of Waywiser type
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