These Are the 10 Best Fonts for Books – Fonts to Choose for Your First Book
If you are planning on publishing your first book and becoming a new author and you have just completed the manuscript and planning on starting the book formatting then this blog is for you.
This is because today we are going to talk about some of the best 10 book fonts to use for books and while some people might not give this a thought, a lot depends on fonts.
Fonts can totally express the character of the book and excellent medium to convey ideas and can just be that little bit of detail that helps your book reach perfection.
The most common issue new writers have with fonts is that they find it very difficult to choose the right one. There are so many fonts in existence that it is really difficult to choose one among the hundreds and thousands of choices.
In fact, there is a very vibrant and thriving market in place for fonts and typefaces because there are designers who design new fonts and licence them and there are authors, publishers as well as news agencies and media agencies that buy those licences.
The global font and typeface market is estimated to be in the billions just because of so many active choices of fonts generating revenue through licences.
So, what do you do? Which font do you choose? Do you choose something that is very popular as a web font or do something that is popular with mobile applications?
We are here to answer all these questions and much more and eventually help you choose from among the most popular and most utilised as well as some of the best fonts for books to use for print medium.
But before we do that, we need to understand what is a font.
What Is a Font?
The simplest definition of a font is that it is a specific style of text with specific sizes that is used for digital and physical printing.
A font is the style of the character in the form of a displayable typography that has custom spacing and design and distinguishes it from other styles of fonts.
Fonts are basically collections of symbols and typographic letters that comprise everything from numbers to punctuation as well as different symbols with a distinct stylistic identity.
When you get a certain style set of fonts together in a particular font family, you get a typeface. For example, when you see fonts that look similar but have different proportions in the form of thin or bold, black or italic, they are part of the same family.
The entire collection of the font with the typeface is called the font family and that is actually what we commonly call as fonts.
This Is Why Choosing the Font Is Important
Readability
Choosing a good font for books is important and the first and most important reason is because you want your text to be legible to the readers.
This means choosing a font that is not very complicated to read and does not take up a lot of space as well and gets the job done neatly.
You must also consider the type of readers you have when you are choosing a font because if you are writing a children’s book then you obviously need to have larger and simpler fonts for children.
Theme Relatability
The second thing you must keep in mind is the theme of the book because if your book is based on something very serious then you should not choose a font like Comic Sans.
Authors usually do not go too crazy about fonts and they choose standard fonts even when the book is about something comical. Comic Sans does not count among great book fonts.
However, you can definitely experiment with the font style nowadays because books printed today are done digitally without a lot of physical font carving.
But you must always consult your publisher in order to find out if you can use any kind of font you like or if they have a selected choice of fonts.
Brand and Licencing
For a person who understands marketing, everything is a branding opportunity and that can also be the case for you.
If you have managed to create a network or you are trying to build a new network as an author and you want to create that network with everyone in the publishing industry then font designers should also be on your list.
The thing about fonts is that we can’t really utilise every kind of font we see by just downloading the file because there are issues with licensing. There are of course fonts out there that can be utilised without a licence but you must be careful about that.
If you want to turn this into a marketing opportunity and a networking opportunity then you can reach out to new font designers and ask them for the licence of any of their cool fonts for books and in return you promote their font in your book.
You get a good font to utilise and they get promotion.
Best 10 Fonts to Use for Books
Serif
The first font we are going to choose is definitely going to be Serif because it is one of the most common book fonts out there. This font is also popular for any kind of commercial purpose.
If you do not want to take any risks regarding the kind of font you are using for a book and if you want to do everything traditionally then this is a very good option for you.
Authors utilise this kind of font when they want to showcase their authority on different topics as this is a serious font and yet it is a very traditional and comfortable font.
If you don’t want to experiment with new fonts and if you want your readers to be comfortable with something they have seen multiple times then you should use this font.
Garamond
The second font we are going to talk about is Garamond as this is also a very traditional font and is one of the best book fonts out there.
This is not at all a new font because this font was utilised all the way back in the 16th century and even have to do a little bit more digging to find out when this font was invented which might be even earlier.
The reason why you can choose this as an author is simply because it is easy to license as there are no exclusive expensive licences you need to worry about for this font.
You can find this font on any word processing software and utilise this very standard font that commands authority and seriousness.
Caslon
The third name on our list is also a very traditional fond and it was invented all the way back in the early 18th century and signifies timelessness and stability.
If you are interested in classic fonts that have very balanced proportions with a very balanced thickness of letters then this is a very good option to choose.
This font is very comfortable for the eyes of readers as all characters are very easily distinguishable no matter the type of paper or the type of ink you use. This is also a very good font for ebooks.
Lora
Moving on from classic fonts here is a modern and contemporary Serif typeface that actually has its roots in calligraphy.
We are of course talking about the popular modern font Lora and this can be an excellent choice for book publishing.
This is because this font is excellent for large amounts of text and is very easy on the eyes with excellent readability.
The best thing about this font is that it is very versatile which means this can be used for very formal purposes and it also has an essence of casualness to it.
Baskerville
As with any traditional font, Baskerville also has its roots in calligraphy and was invented in the 18th Century by John Baskerville.
This is as classic as it gets and this is an excellent font choice if you are writing novels because this font is very elegant with very high contrast between thick and thin strokes.
This font is one of the first choices for authors when it comes to poetry and fiction books. This is also one of the most popular choices when it comes to fonts for textbooks.
Montserrat
If you are looking for something very modern and very clean that is completely different from classic elegant styles of fonts then this is a very good option for you.
Montserrat is excellent in terms of readability and was actually developed to be read on digital screens which means it is even better on paper and there are so many variations with this font.
You can utilise this font if you want your novels to have a very modern and professional look to it.
However, if you are looking for something classic and traditional then this is not the font you are looking for as Montserrat is of a very different kind of style as you can see.
Bembo
Up next we have a font that might look 18th century but it was popular all the way back in the 15th century and is one of the oldest and most traditional and classic funds we have on the list.
This font was popularised by the Italian poet Pietro Bembo and got its name from him and this is a very rare case that a font gets named after someone who has used it and not invented it.
This font has a very rich and deep history to it and if you are looking to write a book with a very traditional font that is timeless then this is a very good option to use and is also good in terms of legibility.
Raleway
Since we just showcased one of the earliest classical fonts in the previous point, it only makes sense to talk about one of the most modern fonts in this list which is Raleway.
If you are looking for a very contemporary sleek font with very clean and elegant lines and minimalism then this is one of the best choices you can utilise for your book.
This font can be utilised anywhere you like and has very good readability and can be excellent for your book if you are writing something contemporary and if you want a modern touch to it.
While you can’t really expect sophistication from this kind of font but if you want your books to have a very fresh and modern appeal then you can utilise this.
Roboto
While this is unconventional but if you are looking for a font that showcases authority and strength with very straight lines and very good eligibility then this is a very nice option for you.
Roboto is a very modern and professional font with a very contemporary look and geometric shapes that are nowhere close to the traditional styles we mentioned above.
It might be taking a creative risk if you decide to use this font for your book but if you are writing things like science fiction or something dystopian then this is a good font option.
While we do not recommend this to you for any conventional novel or story book but you can definitely try it out if you feel like it.
Janson
And finally, at number ten we have yet another traditional font that was created all the way back in the 17th century when it was utilised in printing presses.
This is a very formal font and some experts even call this a very good font for eBooks and it is definitely good in terms of readability for the print medium.
If you are looking for a font that has been used for nearly 300 years and you want something classic without taking any design risks and this is a very good option for you.
We hope this blog will help you find out the best font for publishing your book and we hope you now know more about some of the most popular fonds in history.
If you are still not able to choose the perfect font for your book then we are here to help you.
We are Orange Publishers and we are a legacy publishing company. We have been in the book publishing industry for decades and we would help you with everything from book formatting to book cover design and fonts that go well with the theme of your book.
If you are looking for a reputable and experienced book publishing company to assist you in book publishing, we are here for you and we welcome you to visit our website and check out everything we do.
