The Book Design Blog

The path winds and twists through the Dark Woods of Design… inexperienced book designers leap out at you to entice you into their lair of cut-price and low-quality work. ​Watch out! The Swamp of Major Hassles and the Lake of Won’t-Print-Properly will suck you deep...

So you’re writing a book and are looking for a professional to produce a gorgeous, truly glorious design and layout for you?You may have some preconceived ideas about book designers, perhaps. Some may be true and others maybe not.Let’s break down a few myths about...

You’ve heard of the digital revolution that is the eBook. And you want to turn your printed manuscript into a downloadable file that your audience can buy through marketplaces such as Amazon Kindle. It’s not a complicated process but it does need care. Your designer...

You’re producing an illustrated book and you’ve got a HUGE pile of vintage photographs, documents, and other printed material. On top of that are potentially hundreds of megabytes of digital photos on your phone, tablet, or hard drive. ​HELP! How do I organise all of...

Tech Talk is my semi-regular blog post to teach you some of the technicalities or specifications that will make your book perfect in print and divine in digital form. How DO you get quality photo reproduction in print? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as taking a photo...

We all have a story to share. An amazing autobiography, an incredible family history, a lip-smackingly good (and very personal) family cookbook…  You may be a fiction writer who specialises in paranormal romance, or you might have a very knowledgeable textbook on...

Every family has its own special delicacies, meals, and treats.  Maybe your mother made the BEST lasagne or your uncle made melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownies. Perhaps Grandma’s roast chicken with the home-made stuffing and gravy from scratch (never from a packet...

Right back to the dawn of time, humans have gathered in groups to share stories.  Humans are gregarious by nature: we still DO gather in groups to share, to work, to learn and to play. Sharing stories is a natural offshoot of that.  In former times, this sharing took...