Wild Pines Press

Who needs book design? Anyone and everyone who publishes a book. Self-publishing authors who ignore the need for good book design and cover art risk putting off their readers with typefaces that are difficult to read or covers that look anything but professional.

Many self-publishing authors purchase the services of their printer, POD company, or eBook distributor to design their books for them. The text is laid out according to a template, typeface is selected from among a small library of choices, and the author may ever create her own cover by picking from stock photos or illustrations.

Maybe you will be happy with the choices your prospective publisher offers you. Maybe you want something more. If so, there is another option.

Hire a book design artist.

It's your book. The cover should reflect your vision of what the book is about, not simply what you're willing to settle for from picked-over stock photos. The typeface should be beautiful as well as easily readable, with drop caps or chapter titles if that's what you want.

Whoever designs your book should incorporate your desires into the final product. That's exactly what I do for the authors I work with at Wild Pines Press. Because I am a writer of poetry and prose myself, I understand the longing for publication that goes along with the writing process. Because I am an artist, too, I understand the longing to produce something beautiful as well as functional.

You will always be kept informed at every step of the process while your book is being designed and your approval of the final product is important to me.

Making your manuscript camera-ready.

Whether you hope to publish your work as a chapbook, a full-lenth POD, or an eBook, having your manuscript converted to an electronic format that your self-publishing service can work from is essential.

I will take your electronic text file (.txt or .rtf preferably), do a professional page layout and design on your text based on the specifications of your self-publishing service, then convert the layout into a PDF (portable document format) file. PDF files can be used by any printer, POD, or eBook service.

The cost of Wild Pines Press book design services

While actual fees will vary depending on the length and complexity of your project, if you hire Wild Pines Press to create your book you should estimate $2.00 per finished page. (A finished page is the laid-out page that I create for you, not the number of manuscript pages you send.)

All scanning of any photographs or illustrations to be included on the pages is included in the final price. (Never send your only hard copies of photographs or your manuscript through snail-mail. Only send duplicate copies. Keep all originals yourself.)

The creation of original art for the pages or original cover art will add to the cost of your book based on the size and complexity of the art required.

Minimum fee is $100.

Payments can be made in installments; half in advance, half when you recieve your PDF file.

Payments should be made to "Wild Pines Publishing" and are accepted only through Paypal.

Write to me to discuss your project or any questions you have about my book design services. To see some of the books I've created, visit the Wild Pines Book Catalog.

Finally, distribute the book to your audience.