Business
Book Design FAQ ⭐️
Answers to some of the most common questions I hear: How does publishing work? When should I contact a book designer? …
November 1, 2025
I believe the world is better when we share ideas. I never stop learning, growing, or seeking new inspiration, and I take joy in sharing my knowledge with others.
I invite you to join me as I delve into technical topics, design considerations, industry trends, recommended resources, and other arcane subjects. I also share my artistic explorations in printmaking, photography, book arts, collage, and other fascinating endeavors.
Answers to some of the most common questions I hear: How does publishing work? When should I contact a book designer? …
Part 4 of my review of Midwest Book Awards finalists and winners, I look at book covers, and the rookie mistakes I found.
In the third part: I look at books where image and layout play at least as much importance as the textual content—picture books, illustrated stories, and other large-format books, including children’s illustrated books, coffee table and art books, and layout-heavy large-format nonfiction.
Second up: I continue from Part 1, looking at books that are primarily text in small formats—novels, memoirs, general nonfiction—where typography is the design, but implementation falls flat. For each issue area, I’ll include the percentage of books where I saw room for improvement.
Good design isn’t just about adding bling or making things “pretty”—it’s about making it easy to read your book, easy to navigate, and comfortable to spend time with. Examining the 2025 Midwest Book Award finalists showed six recurring structural design problems.
Recognizing the Value of Professional Design, I want to compliment designer Andrea Reider for her guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog last week. It really did get me thinking…
Paul Nylander and three other designers discuss their career paths at this AIGA Minnesota Lunch and Learn. Design is more than the rules!
As a small indie press you might actually prefer that people could buy your latest book at the local book store. The irony is that the system is set up to make that very difficult and very expensive for you as a publisher.
Strengths and weakness of of the primary “print-on-demand” (POD) printers for small indie publishers (including self-publishers): Amazon’s KDP versus Ingram’s IngramSpark.
A wrap-up list of the useful podcasts on the publishing ecosphere I’ve listened to lately: business, promotion, and production.
“The paradox of Paul Nylander is that I’m proudly enigmatic myself, but I’m driven to understand how the world works, and share that knowledge with others.”
A simple example to introduce the idea of publishing economics.
