Book-design

The road from an author’s manuscript to files that are ready to print in book form is a complicated one. Most authors focus on the front cover design, and rightly so, as it plays an enormous role in influencing a reader’s decision whether or not to buy. But the design of the back cover, not to mention the spine, are also important in giving your book that professional look.

Good cover design can make or break a project, as people make judgements based on the split-second viewing of a cover or author website, so getting it looking right is vital to achieving success.

Often overlooked also is the interior design and layout of the book. Choice of fonts, size, margins, spacing, colours and style, all combine to make a book look like a book and not just a reformatted MS Word document.

Our dedicated design team includes specialists in graphic cover design and typographical layout. The team work on creating books from manuscripts every day of their working life; they know what makes a good cover, what’s ‘on trend’ in cover design, what layouts are right for books in different genres. Working with you on a one-to-one basis, our designers will make the most of your project.

Book or eBook cover design

A good cover design has many functions to fulfil, including attracting a reader, communicating genre and audience, and peaking interest. The cover is the first thing a potential reader looks at, so if your cover is poorly designed and badly presented the chances are that you won’t get beyond the first hurdle.

Cover design is a particular art that goes far beyond simply choosing an image and adding the title. A good cover sets the scene, it gives a flavour of a book, it tempts a reader and it sets expectations, all in a split second. Get it right and a cover can help propel a book on to success; get it wrong and, well… you get the picture!

Our designers specialise in book and ebook cover design; they know the book trade and what retailers expect, they know what design trends are prevalent and they know how to get the best from both images and text. Above all, they have a designer’s eye for what works and what doesn’t.

Our designers work individually with an author to discuss the project, looking at the market, design trends in the specific genre, what images you may have available or what can be sourced from elsewhere, and what typography and cover text could be used. Ours is very much a collaborative process where we help you to interpret your work visually for the cover, while bringing our industry expertise to the table to create something that helps your book or ebook get noticed.

Cover design starts at just £100 for a front cover only (suitable for a book or ebook); for a full cover design (ie. front, spine, back cover), the charge is £180.00 – both depending on the complexity of what is required and whether graphics are supplied or illustrative work required.

Recent design projects

Book interior layout

The interior of a book can be designed in an infinite number of ways, but most follow the same conventions in terms of the order of sections and how those sections are laid out on the page. So many self-published books ignore publishing conventions, and as a result they look amateurish. Indie-Go has a team of experienced book designers who can take your manuscript and transform it into a professional looking book.

The process starts with a ‘style proof’ that the designer creates using your manuscript, the first 20 pages or so laid out exactly as the designer envisages the book will look. There’s usually some discussion with the author at this point to refine the design, until the author is happy with it. Then and only then is the rest of the book’s interior laid out to this agreed style.

Book interior layout costs from £100, but may cost much more as it depends upon the length of the manuscript, whether images/tables/graphs are used and the complexity of the design involved. We can only confirm the cost of interior design/layout once we have full sight of your complete manuscript.

How it works

Because no book is the same, it’s impossible to give a costing instantly, as costs will depend very much on the design work required. Most authors usually want to discuss their book’s cover or interior design with the designer anyway, so our process is very much a personal one for each project.

We ask that you contact us by email, giving details of your project. One of our designers will then take a look and be able to give a preliminary costing to you for the work involved, and you’ll be able to discuss the design/layout work with them before you decide to go ahead.

For a cover design: let us know whether you want just a front cover design or the whole cover (back, spine, front); tell us about your book (genre, your ideas for the cover) and send copies of any images you may have.

For a book’s interior layout: send us a copy of your manuscript so that we can evaluate the work involved. If you have any particular requirements from your layout then let us know.

Other production services

Our Indie-Go Book Production Department can carry out any work required in getting a book ready for publication. Things like scanning photographs, typing manuscripts into electronic format, checking files to see if they are ready for print (pre-flighting), image research, outputting from InDesign to PDF.

If you need any assistance with any aspect of book production, then just let us know and we’ll see what we can do.