Book design and formatting for authors and publishers who understand the difference.
Designing a book means shaping a visual form that serves the text, the genre, and the reader. It is not applying a template. It is not setting Times New Roman with half-inch margins. If that is what you are looking for, I am probably not the right person.
I have been designing and formatting books since 1979 — print, pre-digital, and print-on-demand. The work ranges from poetry to thrillers, artist catalogs to technical references, simple novels to books that took months to untangle. The portfolio below is the resume.
Most of my print-on-demand work is through Amazon KDP, with additional projects through Ingram Spark and Lulu. I have worked with what is now KDP since 2000 — through BookSurge, CreateSpace, and KDP proper — not just using the platform, but testing it. I have produced books whose sole purpose was to understand how KDP handles color, grayscale, images, and file preparation. That research informs every project.
Most commercial printers will share profiles, specifications, and guidance to help a project print well. Print-on-demand platforms are more closed — KDP especially so. Their guidelines tell you what to submit. What happens after that is not something they discuss. Knowing what the platform will and won't do — and why — is not a small thing.
More on working with KDP → ServicesEvery project starts with a review of the files. I quote based on what the book actually requires, not by the word or the page. A carefully edited manuscript with straightforward structure formats differently than one with complex image placement, unusual typography, or problems that only become visible once the pages are set.
Included in every project is a full editorial pass before formatting begins — copy editing, mechanical consistency, pattern and repetition review, continuity checking, and a skeptical read for logical gaps and staging problems. You receive a corrections package before formatting starts. Nothing proceeds until you return the accepted version. It is a floor, not a ceiling.
Design and formatting, like editing, is collaborative. It takes as long as it takes.
What's included → ServicesCovers and interiors from 1979 to the present. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art catalogs, technical books, pre-digital and POD. Click a cover to see the project.
18+ papers on typography, color, image preparation, bleeds, copyright, and more. No sign-up. No strings. The more you understand about how books are made, the better the results — whether you're doing it yourself or working with someone else.
Free Resources →Four reference books on prepress, typography, color, and image use — written for self-publishers and designers working in the POD world.
Books → AboutReady to talk about your book? Email is best — and please don't attach files to your first message.
Contact →