We have greatly enjoyed, and learned from, our contributions to the book design world. We’ve loved answering your questions and helping authors and designers on six continents produce the most professional-looking books possible.
However, in late October, we’ll be saying farewell to you all, and shutting down this website. We encourage you to reread the articles that have been most helpful to you. At the same time, we’ll be stopping all of our book and template sales.
Winding down our self-publishing adventure
Back in 2008, Fiona came up with the concept for Book Design Made Simple. She designed and started writing the book, then caught Glenna’s attention a few years later, and our collaboration began.
The first ideas are shown in Fiona’s wonderful concept map below. Little did we know that the end result would be a 500-page paperback, a second edition, a blog, social media accounts, two EPUB editions, an ePDF, an InDesign book template, and a YouTube channel!
Original outline for Book Design Made Simple.
On our 10th publishing anniversary, we wrote about our self-publishing adventures. It’s hard to believe that Book Design Made Simple still remains the only book of its kind on the market. We’ve been asked when we’re going to write an updated edition, but the short answer to that is…nope.
Glenna and Fiona in 2015 at the book launch.
Instead, 18 years later, we’re planning to end our adventure in self-publishing. We’ve both retired from active book designing. When we get requests from authors to work on their books, we refer them to other designers. We’ve moved on to other interests: Fiona is an expert gardener in the Vancouver area, and Glenna is a pickleball enthusiast near Boston.
Our winding-down process
In May, we’ve dropped the paperback’s price to $29.95 USD (half price) on Amazon to clear out our remaining inventory of printed books.
In September, we’ll send an email to our subscribers with a reminder to copy anything from our blog that’s useful. And, if any inventory still remains, the paperback price will drop again, but don’t wait till it’s too late.
In late October, our web hosting and domain name expire, so we’ll be shutting down this website and our email address. At that time, sales of the ePDF and InDesign Book Template will also cease, as they are dependent on our website. We’ll also close our social media accounts.
By the end of 2026, all sales of Book Design Made Simple (all four editions) will cease, as we close our third-party vendor accounts with Amazon, IngramSpark, PayHip, and FetchApp.
A fond farewell
It’s been a real pleasure being part of the book design and self-publishing communities these past few decades. We’ve learned so much from you and hope you’ve benefited from us too! We send out a HUGE thanks to all of you who’ve supported us over the years—we appreciate you, and we enjoyed connecting with each and every one of you.
Wishing you all the best in designing and publishing success!
Fiona and Glenna
Read more: our SHOP page has links to all of our books and template » available while supplies last.
Book Design Made Simple. You can do it yourself.
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