In a picture book, layout decides how the story reads. Text has to sit where it can be read easily without covering the important part of an illustration, page turns should land at moments of surprise, and images often need to run right to the edge of the page.
That edge-to-edge printing is called bleed. Images are extended slightly past the trim line so there is no white edge once the pages are cut. Our Standard Layout at R13 per page includes images and bleed images, which makes it the usual choice for children’s books. A 32-page picture book on Standard comes to about R416.
Layouts for Centurion’s children’s authors
Many Centurion authors writing for children are parents, teachers and grandparents. Some arrive with finished illustrations; others are still working with an illustrator. Either way, we plan the layout spread by spread so the words and pictures work together.
Children’s books also need the right type: a clear, friendly font at a size young readers can manage, with short lines and generous spacing. For early readers we keep each spread simple so a child is never faced with too much text at once.
Books we typeset for Centurion authors
Picture books
Spread-by-spread layout with text placed around illustrations and full-bleed images.
Early readers
Large, clear type with short lines and simple pages for new readers.
School and learning books
Activity pages, instructions and images laid out for children and teachers.
Layout packages and what you receive
- Basic Layout
- R12 per page: chapter headings, paragraph indentation, drop caps and basic formatting
- Standard Layout
- R13 per page: adds running headers with author and title, bullets and numbering, images and bleed images
- Premium Layout
- R20 per page: everything in Standard plus tables, structured content and ebook conversion
- What you send
- Your final manuscript as a Microsoft Word (.docx) file, plus any images, fonts or references
- What you receive
- Print-ready files for your printer, with the Word source file included
- Review
- You check the typeset pages and we make requested adjustments before final files are delivered