Book designers. Type geeks. Coauthors. Bloggers. InDesign afficionados. Publishing adventurers. (Fiona and Glenna at Book Expo America in Chicago.)
Fiona Raven and Glenna Collett are book designers with a combined 60+ years of experience. After collaborating on designing books for self-publishing authors, they joined forces to write Book Design Made Simple, a 500-page comprehensive guide to designing and typesetting books for non-designers and designers alike. (See official bios in Media Kit. Otherwise, read on!)
Book designers and coauthors
Fiona and Glenna share a passion for all things relating to books and book design. One day the question arose, “Why isn’t there a book that explains step by step how to create a book in InDesign?” Both book designers have shelves full of books that explain part of the process—books about design, typography, InDesign, image optimization, publishing, and so on—but not a single book that walks you through the whole process of creating a book from start to finish in simple terms. And that’s how they came to write Book Design Made Simple … it’s the book they wanted when they were starting out as book designers!
Glenna, who lives on the east coast of USA, visits Fiona on the west coast of Canada, on a typical rainy day.
Self publishers
Self publishing their book made sense to Fiona and Glenna, since it was written with indie authors and self publishers in mind. This created a whole new learning curve for them, and gave them the opportunity to share with you everything they’ve learned (and are still learning!) about publishing along the way. They also share their experiences about publishing a Second Edition, a few ebook editions and, most recently, a companion InDesign book template for Book Design Made Simple.
Bloggers and book marketers
Nowadays authors need to build their brand/platform online to reach their audience and become authorpreneurs. Fiona and Glenna created this website and social media accounts to spread the word about their book. They entered book award contests, started blogging, and are still experimenting with ways to market their book.
And next …?
Fiona and Glenna started as book designers and colleagues, became coauthors and publishers, and are now bloggers and friends. What’s next?
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Read more: Design your book with confidence—even if it’s your first book! »
