How simple is too simple?

It can be easy to forget from where we/you/I came. As I like to frequently say, I didn't come out of my mother knowing everything that I know today. And that goes for any subject, not just the content related to my current career.

Why do I mention this today? I chatted with a client who was confused about some of the production process involved with booklets. The person was unsure about why a graphic designer was necessary if the primary sales efforts would be toward licensing a booklet, and wondered if the graphic designer would be the one to give prices for printing the booklet. Neither line of thinking was on target. Yes, sometimes printing companies do have graphic designers on their staff, that's true. However, it wouldn't be the graphic designer (even when a staff member of a printing company) who would know print prices. And the reason for getting the booklet manuscript designed even when licensing is so the licensing prospect sees your booklet in its best presentation possible.

It was all a sudden flashback for me as I listened to this client, to my earliest days in the booklet business. At that time, I enrolled the help of a dear friend of mine to go with me to talk to printers, since I didn't have Clue One about the questions to ask the printers. Today, 14 years later, I know a lot of the questions to ask. Note -- there's still plenty of questions I don't know to ask and keep learning all along the way, thanks to my clients and my vendors.

How this relates to you as a booklet author is very direct. People come to your content knowing a little of what you know, a lot of what you know, or none of what you know. I'd always encourage you to err on the side of simplification than complexity in how and what you write in your booklet. You can always go back and write an advanced version to add another product to your line, for those people who are ready for your knowledge at a more advanced level. Even when people know some of what you know, you'll lay a more inviting groundwork for them to come back to you to want more when you speak the language at a basic level.

Keeping it simple is a Good Thing.

Until next time,
Paulette
http://www.tipsbooklets.com