Design: Your fourth step to getting published

In PublishMe's six-step process, the essential knowledge you need to become a truly successful self-publisher is accessible easily and provided freely. Self-publishing is where you are in control of the publishing process. You make all the decisions and keep ownership of the process throughout. The copyright for the work stays with you.

You may be reading through the PublishMe '6 steps to getting published' to learn enough information to get started on your project or just to learn about the design process or you might already have a work completed and ready to sell. It will be helpful to read through each step no matter where you are in the self-publishing process or what you hope to achieve.

However, if you are at the beginning of the process and your goal is to sell into libraries, bookshops, online shops or internationally we strongly advise that you thoroughly read, all the steps and the free downloads. Having a good understanding of the information and the process will assist you in making good decisions along the way.

4. Design and Layout

Though there is an old saying: "Don't judge a book by its cover", the fact is that most people do just that! This is the same for a CD label or the box of a board game.

The power of strong design on a book cover or CD label etc is critical to the initial impact of the work on the buyer. In the case of a book the quality of the interior design also adds considerably to how it is first perceived once a potential reader opens it. If the font is small or the layout jumbled the reader can be immediately turned off and this may influence their decision to purchase or not.

You need to think carefully about what you wish to achieve from self-publishing your work. If you are self-publishing a book, the genre, the audience and your final goal will impact on the way you will need to layout the inside pages and design the cover. It will also dictate the quality of the illustrations and photographs if these are required. All these things will help you decide whether you do the laying out and design yourself or you get a friend to do it or whether you contract a skilled person and if so, what level of skills they will need. It will also determine how much time and money you spend on it.

A family history will require less expertise (in fact you may be able to do the work yourself), time and money spent on the inside and cover design than a full colour children's picture book or children's reader that you are wanting to sell to bookshops or to schools. If however the picture book is to share with family/children/grandchildren only, then the time spent and level of design expertise required will be less.

If you would like the book to be purchased by a library and stand out on a library shelf amongst other books or be accepted into a bookshop then you will need to be prepared to invest some money into the cover design and the inside pages. Whilst the layout and design process may seem quite simple it is a specialised field and it is well worth the money to contract an expert to do the work.

Julia Anderson: Blessed Be
"Queries about costings, page settings and promotions - I always got prompt replies either by email or by phone."

Once you Join and are a PublishMe Member go to MyPublishMe, click the Free Downloads tab and download Designing and laying out your book, PublishMe standard book sizes inside page specifications and PublishMe standard book sizes cover specifications.

Designing and laying out your book
This information gives you the general information you need to either lay out and design the inside pages and cover of your book yourself if you have the skills, or give you the necessary knowledge to enable you to communicate more confidently with a contract designer or illustrator to ensure that any work is done to an acceptable market standard.

PublishMe standard book sizes inside page specifications
This is detailed information about laying out the inside pages of your book. It shows you what margins are required for PublishMe's standard book sizes and how to set each size up for print. The information is clear and is shown as a template for ease of use.

PublishMe standard book sizes cover specifications
Detailed information about laying out the cover for each of PublishMe's standard book sizes. The information is clear and is shown as a template for ease of use.

Service Providers

The team at PublishMe is well set up to co-ordinate the design and layout of your cover and inside pages and can give you a quote for this work. We will need to know what the final goal for your self-publishing project is so we can quote accordingly.

Or you can contact any of the service providers who have registered with PublishMe and contract them directly to do the work you require. Click Profiles, then the Design tab – then select from the following: Illustrator, Photographer and Layout Designer. We are happy to assist you to find a service provider who best suits your goals and your budget.

NOTE: All service providers are expected to operate fairly and state clearly what skills and experience they have within their field. To PublishMe members looking to contact a service provider, we encourage you to download the free PDF books available on the Download tab. This will give you an overview as to what to expect from the providers. Make it clear what service you require and ensure your expectations are understood. We encourage you to have any contracts viewed by an independent person with contractual knowledge so you are fully aware of what is entailed. The agreement is purely between the author and the service provider. PublishMe cannot be held responsible for the quality of service providers — work and how they conduct their arrangements with authors, but we do welcome feedback on your experience!

PublishMe's secret weapon — Adrian Wright, super designer

PublishMe designer, Adrian Wright is a real asset to the PublishMe — he's not only fast and extremely talented, he has a quality so important in top-notch designers — he listens to the client, and by understanding their needs can more quickly create just the right outcome.

"In 2000 I started 4 years study for my BVA Degree - majoring in graphic design, graduating in 2003.

"I have been working for Zenith Publishing Group/PublishMe since 2005. Having a design background I mainly work on book cover design and the inside page layouts for self publishers. I can also design any associated material to accompany your books such as posters, bookmarks and sales flyers.

"We use Adobe Creative Suite encompassing Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator & Acrobat so we have a wide range of software to cover all of your design and file output needs. We have membership to online photo libraries, both free & pay sites, with access to a wide range of images for both covers and inside pages to suit your book subject. We can also create computer illustrations, such as graphs, for your book."

Click here to see a selection of Adrian's work . . . and contact your client manager, Ocean, to discuss how your work will achieve an attractive bookstore-quality look with Adrian's touch. You work so hard on creating your book's contents — you need a super designer's touch to bring it to life and do it justice!