Design Process

What to expect

Your book is your child. You’ve nurtured it and watched it grow, and now you’re finally ready to debut it to the outside world. But that can be a frightening prospect. Naturally, you want the world to embrace your child with open arms and love it as fiercely as you do. That’s where I come in– I will help you shape the design of your book, so it will align with the amazing content in your manuscript to bring your vision to life. Of course, you want to be confident that readers will fall in love with your book at first sight. But it doesn’t stop there because, as we all know, what’s on the inside is just as important as what’s on the outside. This is why I offer a book cover and book interior design made specifically for your book, inspired by your story. 

book design process

What you’ll get

  • A print-ready, high-resolution book cover as well as a low-resolution cover to display online
  • A beautiful, carefully designed book interior with all the elements, including photos, illustrations, front and back matter (i.e. title page, copyright page, table of contents, acknowledgements, bio with photo, bibliography, and index)
  • Print preparation of any images, illustrations, and other visual elements
  • All final digital print-ready files, so you can keep your print-ready book for the future
  • 3D, realistic mockups for marketing purposes
  • You own all rights to the designs (cover and/or interior)
  • I’ll be in touch with your printer to ensure the book will print free of errors
  • Consultations and follow-ups throughout the process
  • Guidance and advice when uploading your book to Amazon KDP or IngramSpark

Steps in the process

  1. FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION

We’ll start with a free 30-minute discovery call to discuss your book, target audience, and ideas for the cover/interior and get to know each other a bit before deciding on working together. I will provide an estimate based on the project outline.

  1. QUOTE

After discussing all the elements of the book in-depth, I will prepare a final proposal.

  1. STARTING WORK

Upon signing the proposal with a simple contract and receiving your 50% deposit, I’ll send you a detailed questionnaire that will help us establish a visual direction for the project. After that, you’ll provide me with all the content needed for the design (manuscript, images, illustrations, etc.) and I get to work! Based on our discussions, I’ll prepare 2 or 3 designs for your pages from which to choose (chapter page + two-page spread). Once you select the final design, I’ll create a template for the final book layout. You will get 3 initial concepts of the book cover to choose from. Once chosen, we’ll work further on one of the concepts.

  1. TYPESETTING THE BOOK

Once your manuscript is edited and proofread (a very important but often overlooked step in the publishing process!) I will typeset it into the template, format the text, and run a book check. Your book will now have a title page, copyright page, table of contents and any other front or back matter you’d like to have inside the book. After that, you’ll receive the PDF for review. 

  1. PROOFREADING PAGES

Because your book will not look the same as your manuscript, it’s important to print it out and review the book page-by-page to ensure it’s all error-free. You might want to run it by your proofreader for the final check. I’ll update your pages with all the corrections. 

  1. PRINTING STAGE

This step will vary depending on where you’ll be printing your book. If you’re publishing through Amazon KDP or IngramSpark, I’ll guide you through the process upon receiving the final payment, and you’ll order your proof, so you can make a final check of the actual book to be sure that the book is ready to land in readers’ hands. If you’re using a traditional printer, I will be in touch with them to get the technical specs and instructions, so they can print a proof for you. 

  1. PREPARING MOCKUPS AND FILES

While your book is being printed, I’ll send you your final digital files together with the book mockup and low-resolution images for online marketing purposes.

  1. WELL DONE! Congratulations, you’re now a published author, and I’d love to get a (signed, preferably) copy of your book!

Sound like fun? Contact me today!


your Dream Book Cover