How I Collaborated on My Poetry Book Design

With that said, I was strapped for time and needed more time to produce a striking book cover as I was months away from the release date. I still had to draft up a publishing and marketing strategy: e.g., which publishing platform to launch my book and whether I go exclusive on Amazon for ebook or wide, while handling business tasks like filling out tax information, copyright, LCCN, and ISBN plus which social media channels to focus on and specific type of content to publish that’s not “salesy.” 

In my previous post about the edit collaboration, where I chose the Reedsy platform to find and collaborate with an editor, I returned to the Reedsy marketplace to find and collaborate with a book designer. I thought I was prepared for the book design brief by referencing my book edit brief… well I was wrong, as the designers’ responses pointed out some details I did not consider, such as advertising material. Read on to learn more about the entire experience.

What type of book designs are available, and which do I need

While already familiar with the Reedsy marketplace, I went straight for the book cover design service—although there were a few other options that piqued my interest, which I’ll cover soon. In the selection boxes, I specify poetry as the genre. I sift through all the designers’ portfolios for a Gothic/Victorian book cover design. After the exhaustive narrowing down of the five freelancers I selected, I was ready for the next step, the book design brief. 

Before I go into that topic, the other services included are book interior design, illustration, production management, and typography. I was sure about the book cover. I could handle the book interior design (typesetting) with Vellum or Atticus. I was wrong again after experimenting with the Atticus app; it needs to be ready for poetry formatting. I now still need help manipulating margins for poetry types of books. 

As for illustration, I envision each sub-theme section with pining and heartbreak, for example, to have a beautiful sketch that encapsulates what those words visually symbolize. There was no need for production management; I preferred to manage the whole project myself and enjoy every bit. As for typography, I needed to find out where it fits in the picture. 

I read that it’s mainly custom font designs like decorated drop caps. After some contemplation, I passed on this option as well. So that covers what services are available for design now, we can finally move on to the book design brief.

Book design brief

After the experience I had in the book edit brief, I was more comfortable filling out the design brief—until I found out I wasn’t. First, I specified the format I wanted: EPUB and Print-ready PDF. Then, moved on to the questionnaire, which had similar questions to introduce yourself and the book and provide details about the book. I gave the same introduction about myself and the date of publication for the book with similar questions to the editor’s brief.

• Set a deadline: when would you like the professionals to return with quotes?
• When would you like the project completed? (optional)
• Services required: book interior and cover design
• Which formats do you need? EPUB formats, print-ready PDF
• Trim Size: 6×9
• Genre: Poetry
• Introduce yourself and your book
• Book Details: describe what your book is all about.
• Target Market
• Book Cover Elements: title, author’s name, subtitle/tagline/review
• Design inspirations

The book trim size is 6×9 for both paperback and hardcover; also, I need an eBook and audiobook. Black text on crème paper. Amazon KDP for their ebook, paperback, audiobook, and hardcover on Amazon. IngramSpark for print on all else. I will use Draft2Digital for Apple Books, Google Play Store, B&N, and all else. I need seven non-color illustrations for section themes. 

I will need graphics for my website (virtual book cover), Instagram post, LinkedIn banner, email promotion, and GoodReads (I wonder if it pulls from Amazon or requires its own graphic). 

I will leverage Amazon, BookBub, GoodReads, and list services (FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, and BookBub) for paid ads. I would like to learn more about your rate (book cover design, per illustrations, formatting [typeset], collaboration process, number of concepts, and revision.

Book Details

This collection has 64 poems with varied forms and style/language more akin to classical poetry 1600s in their sparse uses of old English words and romanticized sentiment found in the 1800s. Past poets: William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, and Andrew Marvell inspire this collection. The sub-themes include pining, being in love, love of life, power of love, temptation, erotic, regret, lust, fulfillment, carpe diem, heartbreak, grief, and sorrow.

Book covers I’m drawn towards are the ornamentals, clothbound-like designs that best represent classical bodies of work, and it fits the language of my poetry collection as well. I provided nine links to the book cover designs I like the most. I envision my book covered with repeated hearts or rose patterns, primarily red with a couple of black ones to represent the pain of love (sorrow, heartbreak, etc.).

The title of my collection is called “The Warmth and Cool of Hearts,” where the “warmth” represents the positive attributes (stars, sun, light, heat, life, joy) and “cool” the negative (cold space, void, night, death, pain).

Then I could submit up to 10 book cover design inspirations; this part is where I nerd out a bit, given my love for vintage hardbound covers and mainly from classical literature. Here are some examples I included in the brief:

• Pocket Book of Romantic Poetry
• Love Poems
• The Sonnets and a Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare
• The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

And that’s it; I submitted the book design brief and what awaited me next.

Interviewing the best fit

In a similar situation I had with the interviewing process with editors, I faced an eerily identical interaction with designers. Some went straight with an offer letter with their rates. At the same time, a couple was curious enough to learn more about the project. It provided their own questions to better facilitate the scope and need. In the end, what ultimately won me over was the same experience as before. 

The one designer was patient and showed interest in the project even though it would be a couple of days between communication because she lived in Italy. There was a little language barrier, mainly around the colloquial use of phrases which I had to explain in further detail. She impressed me with her communication and asked me specific questions before settling on an offer and project scope. Once approved, we moved on to the collaboration process.

Collaboration process

It definitely helped kickstart the project by filling out her questionnaires, and my responses are in bold text:

Do you already know which will be your book’s trim size?

6×9

In which formats are you going to publish? (ebook, paperback, hardback, etc.)

ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook

What about the type of paper? (white, cream, color, etc.).

Crème

Which publishing platform are you using? (Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, etc.)

Amazon KDP for their ebook, paperback, audiobook, and hardcover on Amazon. IngramSpark for print on all else. After I go through the 90-day Amazon KDP Select, I will use Draft2Digital for Apple Books, Google Play Store, B&N, and all else.

Is your manuscript already edited? I ask as the final page number affects the cover’s spine width. 

The manuscript is currently proofreading and will be completed by 11/20. I don’t expect significant changes, as most of it was done during the developmental/copy edit phase. 107 pages on a 6×9 template but with consideration of illustrations as a one or two-page image spread with headings: prologue, pining, in love, heartbreak, love of life, power of love, and epilogue; would result in 114 pages or 121 pages in a two-page image spread.

As for the illustrations, do you have an estimate of how many poems you’d like to illustrate? You mentioned you have 64 poems, correct? The usual ratio of illustrated poems is 1 every 4-6, depending on their length. So a good number would be between 10-15 illustrations. What do you think?

I like the idea of illustrations, which I considered in the past where each section/heading theme opens in a one or two-page image spread; how much would it cost for 7 illustrations?

For the illustration style, do you have a specific approach in mind? Poetry books commonly use more minimal illustrations, only with the linework and a hint of color in grayscale. I’m attaching some examples from previous works. Let me know if they’re similar to what you had in mind!

I don’t want color for illustrations, but something that speaks to what the opening and closing poem conveys, especially each section’s themes like pining, heartbreak, and love of life. This leads to my question, is part of your process for visualizing the art by reading through the manuscript to find the visual language for an illustration by the poem and its title and section theme? I envision the book looking and feeling more like a Victorian/classical vintage than modern.

As for the cover, thank you for attaching the examples. Those designs are gorgeous! I’m attaching some examples of books I’ve worked on previously with this vintage. They’re mostly fantasy books (imitating an old tome or magic book). Still, we can use more decorative ornaments and frames around the title for your project.

Considering I chose the opening poem as my book’s title, the opening and closing poems have a cosmic sensibility. In contrast, the rest of the poems in the collection are more grounded and personal. I envision a Victorian decorative pattern or patterns combining heart, flower/roses, and/or flame motives with a corresponding typeface. Still, of course, I don’t want to restrict your expertise either to my vision. I love the penguin books’ repeating patterns and am curious to know how many concepts and revisions/refinements are included in the quote.

Besides the cover and illustrations, are you interested in other design services? I also work with manuscript formatting and advertisement material (social media posts).  

I’d like to know your formatting cost. Because I initially planned to do it myself with formatting apps (Atticus.io), but I learned that given my poems are narrative-like in their length. After testing the margins, it didn’t sit well with me in my attempts so far, and I may have to consider 6.14 x 9.21 (let me know your thoughts on this). I will need graphics for my website (you can see some dimension examples on there for virtual book cover), Instagram, LinkedIn banner, email promotion, and GoodReads (I wonder if it pulls from Amazon or requires its own graphic). I will leverage Amazon, BookBub, GoodReads, and list services (FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, and BookBub) for paid ads.

As you can see above, with my level of detail, a lot of what I planned to do with the book, such as illustration and publishing on multiple storefronts, I was going to do my own book interior design (typesetting). Atticus is not equipped to handle poetry formatting around margins did not pan out. I underestimated the project cost and timeline added to the illustration and an unfortunate lack of support for poetry formatting in Atticus. By this point, we’re in the middle of November, three months away from the launch date. I still needed to develop a publishing and marketing strategy, and I had no choice but to forgo the illustration.

Once we worked out the fine details, we finally got around bouncing ideas with the book cover design. The brief provided information about what I was looking for. I included various design elements based on the book’s theme in the communication. I described the top part as having icicles while the bottom contains flames and the center of the book feels this cool warmth at the center.

Then I shared with her the decorative ornamental designs I like to see in the book. I wanted the book to have a vintage appeal and emulate a classical poetry collection where most of my inspirations come from. However, initially, I envisioned a repeated geometric pattern of roses found in the Penguin classic clothbound books. Instead, I received my first design concept:

I was thinking of a slight variation, yet I liked where this was going. I offered feedback that the red background color is a bit pronounced and harder to read the title and the choice of font style is thin and generic. I shared with her a few books and fonts that closely matched my visual language. Then she sent me a design update based on my feedback. Meanwhile, I provided her with the final draft copy of the manuscript for typesetting.

Next, I wanted to see several side-by-side fonts that convey a poetry book and received several copies to compare.

On the same day I received these designs, I went with version three (the one on the right), harmonized the best with the rest of the design elements, and shared this with her. Now the final front cover was approved and onto the back cover design.

I love the back cover’s contrast with the front and the emphasis on the back text. I gave her some feedback about placing a heart at the center with flames and frost to separate the top and bottom with a quote and book blurb, and I received this:

The heart was too large and different from how I depicted the flame and frost to encapsulate it. What I had in mind seemed harder to accomplish and required custom illustrations to show. Given the timeline, I couldn’t stretch the project further, so she updated the revisions I’d made in the manuscript. There were quite a few (Something I believe plagues many creatives in our work which never seems done, and in fear of falling into the perfectionist trap—I set a hard deadline date for final manuscript changes).

I shared with her an ornamental heart divider that matched the curves in the ornamental borders. Still, at the same time, I had doubts about whether I was requesting too many design elements on the back cover, so I asked her to provide four copies to compare and here are the result:

So carefully choose the heart divider and color contrast between the top and bottom text. Yet, something irked me, and I did not adore the different font types and requested to see a side-by-side copy of the two:

Even though the fonts are the same size, the one on the right appears larger and fills the space best with the overall book appeal. I asked several sources from family, friends, and designers in forums to ensure my bias was not affecting the overall image that best conveyed the book’s message for readers. The majority agree with the same font design I’ve picked. By now, you would think that’s it.

The book design still needs to be completed. Design inconsistency bothered me, mostly the letter spacing at the bottom. I shared this with her, plus I was not fond of my book blurb and hired a poet who has written hundreds of poetry book blurbs one last time. I requested to apply the latest book blurb and any letter spacing issues, finally receiving the final book cover design.

What made the collaboration process worthwhile was the ongoing bouncing of ideas. With each interaction, she helped carve from stone bit by bit the form and my language that spoke the essence of the poems in the book came together like a symphony. That is different from saying it was straightforward; the most challenging part of the collaboration was finding a place between my imagination and designer eye for design for the book. As progress was made in the cover design, I wondered about the book’s visual look. I sought feedback from others on Reddit and design forums.

Furthermore, I kept looking for imperfections in good faith with the manuscript and making final touches after another. I knew I was asking too much of my designer, and forever grateful for her patience and professionalism. If you’re ever at this stage of your book collaboration journey, take the time to pause and look deeply within if there are bad habits that are surfacing and affecting the project scope—if so, take time to sort out what that is because if not then it will continue to show itself in other areas of your life as well and take from you the peace enjoying the journey. It’s a matter of finding that balance and adhering to it.

The Gist

• I recommend preparing as much as possible and leveraging experience when collaborating with others on what to look for and expect in the project scope. 
• The best measure of working with a professional on a book project is not just their level of engagement or communication but how thorough they’re about what you’re looking for and the patience to put themselves in your shoes, especially when you’re new to the book production process.
• The same recommendation applies when dealing with a marketplace like Reedsy by deliberately reviewing each designer’s portfolio. They have produced any design that touches the visual appeal you’re seeking in your book. 
• Be specific in your brief, and it is okay to ask questions even when you think you’re being unsure it’s worse to get stuck in a project with someone where the collaboration is more of a hassle than a teamwork base collaboration for the success of the book for the reader.
• The collaboration is where the magic happens—don’t treat it as a one-way relationship where you hand off some ideas, give vague feedback with each iteration, and expect everything to go well. 
• The book is ultimately for the reader, and it’s in the reader’s best interest that the author and professional designer create the best quality experience for them, including asking questions, bouncing ideas, and finding harmony.
• Even when you’re new to the game, feel free to share your feedback and learn more about the design decision the designer is making by trusting them. They’re the expert; giving feedback is okay, but only assume they know what they’re doing. Your feedback will play out better than you think if you are concise. A fun, collaborative process, in the end, should delight readers when they see it on a bookshelf.