Interior book design
Good book design involves more than just an eye-catching cover. If you’re self-publishing, it’s vital that your book looks as professional inside as it does outside, and that involves an understanding of typesetting, design conventions, and how to prepare your manuscript correctly.
I have many years of design experience and have worked on several types of publication, including fiction and non-fiction books.
I use Adobe InDesign to create your files and output them to the specifications required, whether for print or e-book. Please read below for further details.
What about cover design?
I don’t offer a cover design service, but I do know designers to suggest if you don’t already have one lined up.
I can work with your chosen designer to ensure the cover they create meets the requirements in terms of size, spine width, ISBN and barcode placements, etc.
Jane was really easy to work with. I found her to be clear thinking, efficient and sensible in all aspects of getting my book out to print, including the actual hiring of a printing company, and all at sensible cost levels. I am delighted with the finished result as are all those who have received copies of my book.
John, self-publishing author, December 2024
Print books
There’s quite a lot involved in preparing a book for print, including:
- selecting an appropriate book size
- typography – choosing an appropriate font
- page layout, including setting appropriate margins
- placing front matter and end matter (such as the title page, copyright page, acknowledgements and so on)
- understanding the specifications of your chosen printer or self-publishing platform
You might also have illustrations, tables and other images that need to be inserted. It’s important to check that those images are of sufficient quality for print.
And you’ll (probably) also need an ISBN. Some printers and self-publishing companies provide free ISBNs, or you can purchase your own. There are pros and cons of either approach.
I can advise and help with all these matters. Because there are several decisions to take along the way, there can be quite a lot of back-and-forth! But at the end of the process, you’ll have a print-ready PDF file which you can send to the printer of your choice or upload to platforms such as Amazon KDP or Ingram Spark.
You’ll need to send me your book as a Word document, preferably with paragraph and character styles applied to the text (although I can do that for you if necessary).
Cost
The cost will depend upon the level of work required.
As a guide, for a manuscript of around 80,000 words (no images), which has paragraph and character styles applied to the text, my basic charge for a print book is £200.
The cost will be higher if:
- I have to apply paragraph and character styles to your manuscript before beginning the design work
- your book is longer than around 80,000 words
- your book includes images, illustrations, figures, etc.
- you require unusual fonts
- you have other bespoke requirements
I highly recommend you proofread your book carefully after design, or hire a professional proofreader. You’d be surprised at the typos that have managed to remain hidden but which can jump out at you when you see the book in a new format!
My charge includes one round of (reasonable) amendments after the formatted book has been proofread. If there are substantial changes after formatting, this can be complicated and will probably lead to further charges. For this reason it’s important to make sure your book has been properly edited before it is designed (not necessarily by me!).
E-books
I can also create your book in EPUB3 format, ready for publishing as a reflowable Kindle e-book or uploading to other e-book platforms. This includes creating a clickable table of contents.
At this time, I only offer e-book design services for text-only books. I do not create e-books which include images, illustrations or figures.
Cost
Again, the cost will depend upon the level of work required. As a guide, for a manuscript of around 80,000 words, with paragraph and character styles applied, and which has no images, my basic charge for an e-book is £125.
Timescale
The time this all takes will depend on many factors, such as those mentioned above! You will normally need to book your proofread in advance so that we can agree on a schedule.
To enquire
Send me an email! Please include the name of your book, the genre and the wordcount; also tell me how you plan to publish/print (if you know) and any other details you feel might be important.
I’ll get back to you and we can take it from there!