There has never been a better time to self-publish your own book. As POD (print on demand) becomes more prominent in the industry, small print runs are an author's best chance to get their books into the world. Unfortunately, the printed book alone doesn’t sell itself. This is where I can help.
Using our unique R.E.A.D.™ process, I combine my experience in brand strategy with book and website design to create a complete and comprehensive package that will give your book the best possible chance at becoming a bestseller.
Increase your profits and connect with your audience by selling directly to them through a well-designed e-commerce website. This will add to your credibility and professionalism as a published author.
The R.E.A.D.™ process has been developed to speed up the production of the book and personal branding simultaneously. This unique process makes the most of my skills as a designer with yours as a writer. Collaboration and transparency is the key here, and R.E.A.D.™ gives you, the author, a hands-on role in the production of your own book.
Before any design is undertaken, we must understand the market you are about to enter. Which books are doing well and why? Understanding your market is important. We want to exceed expectations for your chosen genre whilst not alienating your target audience.
We need to decide on a visual direction for both the book and your personal brand (these can be similar but don’t have to be). I use a quick and efficient mood boarding practice called ‘stylescapes’ to help align our ideas and define a visual language (colour palette, fonts, textures etc) we use as a guide moving forward.
Once we’ve agreed on the visual language (stylescape), things start to move very quickly. This is when I need your help. I use InCopy in conjunction with InDesign for the typesetting of the books. InCopy allows the author (or an external editor or team) to directly edit the book files I’ll be typesetting in InDesign. An InCopy workflow removes the need to manually markup corrections so drastically reduces the turnaround time of the book's production. I provide support and instruction on InCopy if you've never used it before.
Once the book is at the printer we can really focus on your personal branding. With our visual language locked in, we have all the ingredients ready to create whatever you require. I use Webflow to build and host your website. Using Webflow’s ecommerce plan we set up an online store ready for you to sell your own books as soon as they arrive. I provide support and instruction on using your website. It doesn’t quite end there, we formalize the visual language by creating guidelines on how to use your new branding online and in print. This creates consistent and clear messaging across all platforms.
The Design Dept is a boutique design agency run by Jess Kelly. Jess has over 15 years’ experience in the publishing and graphic design industry both as an independent designer and working as part of larger teams within the educational publishing arena. She lives in Ballarat, Australia with her husband and two young children.
