What color should my pages be for print and e-book?

starrystorm

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
2,987
Reaction score
605
Age
24
How many shades of white are there?! Just kidding. But I'm looking at self publishing, and I need to know ahead of time what color my pages are going to be. Someone suggested white for the e-book, which I can understand, but I think off-white (cream) will be better for a print book. Can I have two different colors? Which did you chose for what? Is it possible to get two colors for one book?
 

LJD

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
4,226
Reaction score
525
I didn't know you could pick page color for e-books?? I've never done this.

I have my print books (POD from IngramSpark) in cream and I think they look nice.
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,975
Reaction score
4,507
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
IMHO, I'd just go with white, or maybe a very light off-white... same throughout the book. For every person who thinks it's neat to switch page color you're going to have at least one who might find it annoying enough to quit reading. (Is the color change for a reason, other than to play with color?)

And for e-books, beware of fancy formatting. I have read fancily formatted e-books. They often read like crud on a dedicated reader like the Kindle or Nook, and even on a tablet they can be very irritating. (I can and do shave points in my ratings for formatting problems that interfere with my ability to read and enjoy an e-book.)

Again, JMHO...
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,721
Reaction score
9,700
Location
USA
(Like the other commenters, I didn't ever see a choice for the e-book page color. Only print.)

I chose white because the cream pages in the books I had laying around looked ... kinda dirty to me. But maybe they were older books.

My critique group mostly recommended I choose cream.

Someone said if my book was a 'beach read,' cream would be the right choice because of the glare from the sun. That actually made sense (but to be clear, I didn't write a beach read.). Anyway I went with white. I wanted the crisp feel of white.

It will also impact the thickness of your book. Cream pages are heavier (through amazon, anyway). I think. So if you want a thicker book, cream can help. A friend of mine has a humorous list started of how to make a 40,000 word book look like it's closer to 70,000. Cream pages is one suggestion of many that he has pulled together. It's a funny tongue in cheek list.

But also, your cover for print will either fit the formatting for white or cream but not both.
 
Last edited:

Marissa D

Scribe of the girls in the basement
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,071
Reaction score
365
Location
New England but hankering for the old one
Website
www.marissadoyle.com
I've never heard that page color can be set for e-books. Many e-readers allow page backgrounds to be adjusted to personal preference (ditto for fonts), so selecting anything specific might just mess up your book. For print, Amazon and Ingram offer either cream or white paper. I prefer cream myself, but it's up to you. The only thing you need to do is let your cover designer know which paper type you're choosing for print, as the thicknesses are slightly different--it affects spine width.

I don't believe it is possible to have two different page colors in one book.
 

Al X.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Messages
1,042
Reaction score
587
Location
V-Town, check it out yo
Website
www.authoralexryan.com
Another vote for cream color for the print book.

Also, I like to produce my ebook first, as in get it edited, proofread, etc... you want all the errors worked out before you format for the print version, or you will have a lot of rework to do. I suppose you could produce the print version first, but then you will need to undo a lot of formatting and it will probably mess up the ebook version. It's a whole lot easier applying print formatting to an ebook, than the other way around.
 

veinglory

volitare nequeo
Self-Ban
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
28,750
Reaction score
2,933
Location
right here
Website
www.veinglory.com
ebooks don't have a color, readers either use the device default or set all their books to their preference.

For paperbacks I don't think I have ever had a reader comment on it or ask about it -- I don't think there is a widespread preferred shade of white.
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
Long-time reader here. Unless there's a reason for something other than white, go white. Cream gives a general sense of 'older book', which is sometimes classy/sometimes grubby.
And, no, not unless you're doing some kind of novelty book, never do two colours in one book. It just looks weird, unless it's some kind of 'answers in the back' kind of thing.
 

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
17,864
Reaction score
4,639
Location
dunking doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts
Also consider file size and reader capability. Debbie Harry from the band Blondie released her memoirs late last year and for some reason, it didn't auto load to my nook GlowLight reader. I was able to get the file to load onto my phone and found several compatibility issues: certain pages and illustrations have color on them and the GlowLight series from Barnes & Noble is meant to be a basic e-reader; the only indication in the product description there might be an issue is a note the file might take some extra time to download. So file size and reader capability are two things to consider, in this case: I'd say you're bound by the K.I.S.S. rule, especially since formatting is meant to be uniform across platforms as much as possible.
 
Last edited: