Design

Picture Books

Usually created for ages 3–8, picture books are very art heavy and thus need both a book designer and an illustrator. When working with an illustrator, be sure to provide any art notes of what you envision for each page. You can be as specific or general as you’d like, but it’s also recommended to provide the artist with some creative freedom and leave things up to interpretation. You can decide whether you’d like to provide art direction or have the designer work closely with the artist to do so (designers may charge extra for this). And it’s important for the book to be paginated properly before sketches are done. This is something a designer can definitely help with. 

The process generally starts with sketches, then moves on to sketch revisions as feedback is given, and once sketches are approved, the artist will start building out the final art. It’s important to review all pricing aspects up front before hiring an artist as some can charge by page and for rounds of revisions. Copyright retention of the artwork should also be discussed. Authors usually need to pay more if they’d like to own rights to the artwork. 

To take a deeper dive into pagination, art development, and more picture book-related content, check out the Picture Books page of The Book Design Process section.

Novels

Covers

Taking into account several factors, including the book’s content, tone, and audience, the designers work closely with authors (and illustrators, if applicable) to design the title and create imagery for book covers. Covers can be predominantly type-driven or incorporate a balance between an image and the tex, consisting of the title, author's name, and an optional subtitle or tagline. 

To take a deeper dive into cover design, check out the The Cover Design page within The Book Design Process section.

Interiors

Your final manuscript will be taken and flowed out using a book layout software. Most designers use Adobe InDesign. And it’s important to understand that your final page count in the word processing document doesn’t translate to the final page count of your designed book. The designer can make decisions on the text size, line spacing, chapter openers, and overall pagination that can impact the page count. 

If you intend to start your book self-published and sell to a larger publisher later on, it’s highly beneficial to have your book set in InDesign so it properly and quickly translates for mass printing after acquisition.

Most interiors consist of the front matter (half title, title page, copyright page and dedication), the story itself, and any optional back matter, which can include acknowledgments for novels and an index for nonfiction books.

Illustrations and other visual content can also be used in novels for chapter openers, infographics, maps, or spot art.

And check out “What Goes Into A Book’s Interior?” for more insights on this section!

Jacket

Hardcover books can have a decorative jacket that provides a protective covering. Space on the front flap is usually used to provide an engaging, short summary of the story to book readers, while the back flap has the author bio. Non-jacketed books (like paperbacks) will usually have flap info on the back cover. If you’re interested in the anatomy of a book, including the jacket, we give a breakdown here.

Design Pro Tip! 

Before you move on to the design stage, it really helps the designer to know if you have any specific requests for your book. Try visiting bookstores or checking out your own personal library to find books you admire. Look at things like the format, size, interior design, and any special effects. Make a note of the elements you like and even those you don’t like as much.