Coffee-Table Books
Write Stuff publishes company history books in all sizes, shapes, and formats, each designed to accomplish very specific goals for a broad range of audiences. Our research shows that a comprehensive corporate history, cleverly presented as a coffee-table book, is more widely read and browsed through than the standard 6” x 9” trade paperback. The coffee-table format is also larger and lavishly illustrated—two features that attract a much larger readership.
A company history book can be prepared in a variety of formats—including our innovative PortScape™ book format—and graphically designed with an array of artistic devices to keep the reader interested. Write Stuff has found in its market research that about half of the readers read an entire book from cover to cover; the other half browses, grazes, flips, and thumbs through a book.
Welcome to the Home of PortScape™
The PortScape™ format, Write Stuff’s new and proprietary coffee-table book format, shares the best attributes of both portrait and landscape designs, cleverly presented in a portrait orientation hard-bound book. Each two contiguous (facing) pages are designed as a single, landscape-wide layout, with 2/3 of the page devoted to a running narrative, and 1/3 of the page reserved for a timeline. Both the narrative and the timeline are highly illustrated with an assortment of historic photographs and illustrations unique to the printed word. This engaging layout philosophy allows today’s busy reader to learn much from the presentation, even if every word of the text is not absorbed. The PortScape™ book has been shown to promote as much as a 50 percent greater dwell time (reading, browsing, grazing) for readers and higher levels of retention.
Sidebars & More
Write Stuff’s company history books feature self-contained, strategic sidebars that are designed to highlight the most important points, activities, and people. These profile sidebars, technological sidebars, industry milestone sidebars, along with the illustrated timeline offer better assistance with getting the message across while educating the reader. In addition to sidebars, the company history books include either a foreword or introduction, as well as detailed notes to sources, appendices, and a comprehensive index. The company history book also has a creatively designed dust jacket featuring an eye-catching cover.
Top Notch Quality
Once a manuscript is complete, it will contain the best possible text, illustrations, and captions regarding a company’s history. While Write Stuff’s coffee-table books are both visually entertaining and educational, they also provide a wealth of benefits for other potential uses. As with all of Write Stuff’s award-winning company history books, a coffee-table book is designed to be easily updated and easily abridged for a variety of valuable uses. This thoroughly vetted history book can be used to vastly accelerate other related projects, such as adding a history section to a company’s website, video production and iPad development, newsletter content, museum-quality archival storage materials, and a catalog of high-resolution images for an company’s communication department library.
The high quality of Write Stuff’s coffee-table books are legendary, winning many top awards for writing, editing, graphic design, printing, and binding. When it comes to the book printing process, Write Stuff’s chosen paper is custom-made at some of the nation’s finest paper mills. And to ensure confidence throughout the entire book printing process, we are able to coordinate with FSC certifiable chain-of-custody requirements from the forest to the bindery to ensure that your organization’s image and environmental consciousness is dutifully protected.