As an entrepreneur, authoring a business book is a strategic move to cement your authority in your niche. It's not just about compiling your insights; it's about sharing your vision and lessons learned—invaluable both for your personal growth and your business's...
Cameron Chapman
Book Cover Design Awards — Winter 2023/2024 Edition
Welcome back to the third new edition of the book cover design awards. In the early days of The Book Designer, Joel Friedlander used to present monthly book cover design awards and we’re resurrecting the series (on a quarterly basis for now) to bring attention to some...
What Taylor Swift Album Covers Can Teach Us About Amazing Book Cover Design
There’s no denying that Taylor Swift has become a force of nature with her Eras Tour this year. There are even reports that her tour, along with Beyoncé’s, have been large contributors to keeping the US economy out of a recession. So what does this have to do...
Indie Author Essentials: 12 Tips to Kickstart Your Publishing Journey
Indie publishing offers an exciting and empowering pathway for authors to bring their stories to life and into the hands of readers. In a world where traditional publishing barriers often seem daunting, self-publishing emerges as a beacon of opportunity, providing...
To Kill a Mockingbird Book Covers: Inspiration from a Beloved Best Seller
I still remember the first To Kill a Mockingbird book cover I saw. It was in eighth-grade English class and it was the mass-market paperback edition with the lavender border on the cover. As a 13-year-old kid I don’t think I entirely appreciated or even understood the...
Book Cover Design Awards — Autumn 2023 Edition
Welcome back to the second (new) edition of the book cover design awards. In the early days of The Book Designer, Joel Friedlander used to present monthly book cover design awards and we’re resurrecting the series (on a quarterly basis for now) to bring attention to...
Book Formatting Essentials: The Ultimate Guide to PDFs for Print Publishing
Venturing into the realm of self-publishing is an exhilarating step for any author, particularly for those navigating this path for the first time. Among the myriad tasks you'll encounter, one stands out for its crucial impact on any book's physical presence:...
Magnolia Parks: New Book Covers Spark Controversy Among Fans
If you’ve spent any time on BookTok, you’ve likely come across the Magnolia Parks series by Jessa Hastings. And if you’ve looked any deeper at the series there, you’ve almost certainly seen videos talking about the change in book covers when Hastings signed with a...
Breathtaking Examples of Gestalt Principles in Book Cover Designs
In the world of graphic design, there are certain principles of design that are used behind the scenes to create graphics that are visually pleasing. Among these principles are the Gestalt principles—psychological principles and laws of perceptual organization that...
NaNoWriMo’s 25th Anniversary: But Can You Really Write a Book in 30 Days?
We’re approaching the 25th annual NaNoWriMo, as National Novel Writing Month is affectionately called, and every year a new crop of authors ask if it’s really possible to write an entire novel in just one month. The short answer is, yes. I’ve done it myself...
Using Real People in Your Writing: The Tricks and Traps
Do you ever worry about using real people in your writing? Fiction writers often worry about using real people’s names. Even memoirists and nonfiction writers identify people by name and worry about the ramifications. Can writers model characters after real people and...
26 Banned Book Covers to Inspire Your Inner Rebel
In celebration of Banned Books Week (running from October 1–7, 2023), we’ve put together this roundup of banned book covers to inspire your inner rebel. As authors, banned books can be a touchy subject—and rightfully so. The list of books that have been banned...