Chris May

One of the most tricky decisions throughout this process of finalising the typesetting design for my upcoming novel has been the choice of font size. The first typeset sample was in font 12 which did look too big and would have run to almost 500 pages. Font size 11 was estimated to be just over 400 pages and font size 10 around 360 pages. This obviously affects the print pricing and quotes indicated a strong correlation between pages and costs; reduce the number of pages by 10% and save 10% on the costs.

Any of the fonts would have been acceptable though font 12 looked instantly too big. So it quickly came down to font 10 or 11. The former was equivalent to 39 lines per page while the latter came in at 34 lines per page. A quick review of other novels indicated that 34 lines per page was pretty much the norm these days. My previous novel, Silent Light, has 37 lines per page so 39 lines would have been on the high side. That said, I did find older imprints running at 43 lines per page. Clearly, the tendency has shifted over time for less to improve the reader experience.

I asked two friends what they thought. They both squinted at font 10 even though it was perfectly legible to me.

This decision is basically a balancing act between economics and readability. In the end, readability won out as it always should. 

So font 11 it is.