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. 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 and 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 dropped the paperback’s price to $29.95 USD (half price) on Amazon to clear out our remaining inventory of printed books.
In June, our book designer colleague Hadley Hendrix very kindly transferred our 78(!) blog posts to her Substack so they’ll remain available to you after our website shuts down at the end of October 2026. Here’s where to find the archives:
HADLEY HOUSE SUBSTACK / Book Design Made Simple Archives
And our 31 InDesign how-to videos can now be found here:
Book Design Made Simple / YOUTUBE VIDEO ARCHIVES
We can’t thank Hadley enough! Several of you asked if we were planning to archive our posts and videos, and we didn’t see a way to do that until Hadley offered to help us. You can bookmark the Book Design Made Simple Archives on Hadley House, and feel free to subscribe to Hadley’s Substack, Hadley House, if you’d like to continue reading about book design and self publishing—she discusses similar topics to us!
In September, 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.
Best wishes on your retirement!! Such an invaluable manual, thank you! Sad for your followers though! Your graphic made me laugh and reminded me of my desktop days at Woodward’s in Vancouver, lol!
Thank you, Lynne!
Our blog posts and videos are going to live on, thanks to one of our generous followers. We’ll send details when it’s all ready.
Glenna and Fiona
Dear Fiona and Glenna,
I’ve been a book designer for decades, and have really admired your generous and detailed book and website, and found it often so useful. It was so thorough and well thought-out and gently helpful. And nicely designed. I also used to teach book design in the publishing program at Ryerson/Toronto Metropolitan University, and always recommended your book and website to my students. I think we are a similar age, I too am winding down a bit, but I couldn’t help buy your second edition as a partner to my copy of your first edition, just in case I want to give it to a younger designer.
Thanks so much and all the best!
Linda Gustafson, Counterpunch Inc.
Dear Linda,
Thanks so much for your kind words. We are always excited to hear from designers, and especially design teachers.
It was Fiona’s original idea to write the book and share her (and then our) knowledge as best we could. We found that generosity with writing and advising folks paid off in many ways, the best of which is satisfaction.
Now one of our readers has agreed to archive our articles and videos, so our online nuggets of wisdom will not fade away anytime soon. We’ll let everyone know how to find the material when the transfer happens.
Best of luck as you wind down your design work, Linda.
Glenna and Fiona
I am a read the manual kind of person [i.e. a dinosaur :)] and your book was perfect for my needs and my brain. I am very much in your debt for putting all the information in one place and in an accessible manner.
There are one or two books trapped inside of me and your book will allow me to give them their freedom :).
Also you generously, provided me with my 15 minutes of fame when you mentioned me, by name, at the end of the May 2022 Writing in InDesign: Why and How article.
Again, THANK YOU!!! and best wishes for the future!
Hi Donald, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! Glenna and I are both dinosaurs too, in that we prefer a printed manual any day! We’re glad that our book came in handy for you. And you’ve given us a heads up on a couple of occasions–first in encouraging us to write “Writing in InDesign,” and more recently about our ePDF. We appreciate you and wish you all the best with your upcoming book(s)!
Fiona and Glenna
Sad to hear you’re closing shop! Have you already sold you the paper back inventories? Amazon price is $78.00 now : (
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Design-Made-Simple-2nd-dp-0994096925/dp/0994096925/ref=dp_ob_image_bk
Hi Gary, we haven’t run out of inventory, but Amazon didn’t keep enough books in their Fulfillment By Amazon warehouse! So they are shipping more books from their regular warehouse now, and we hope it doesn’t take too long. Please do wait for the 1/2 price books that are sold from Book Design Made Simple. Thanks for letting us know about the third-party seller (and their outrageous price), and we appreciate your interest in our book!
Fiona and Glenna
I’m sorry to see you go. You have helped me a countless number of times throughout my book design journey. Best of luck to you both!
Hi Karen, we’re so glad that we could help you with your book design journey. We, too, relied on other designers to help us along the way, and it’s such a wonderful community! We wish you all the best!
Fiona and Glenna
Oh my goodness—what a bittersweet post! I am so sad to hear this, but I wish you both a happy retirement. I will miss all your amazing articles. Your book and your blog posts have been a huge help in helping me start designing books. I am forever thankful for all that I’ve learned from you both. Thank you SO much. <3 Hadley
Dear Hadley, we’re so pleased that we were able to help you get started designing books! That was the whole point of writing our book. 🙂 We wish you all the best in your book design career, and thanks for letting us know. <3
Fiona and Glenna
That’s very sad news for us who regularly rely on info from the site. I have my copy of the book, though, and it will have to do. I design books, but not consistently, so I often go back to it to confirm and learn when I’m on a project. And you’re right, there was nothing like Book Design Made Simple anywhere!
Congratulations on your new ventures!
Adriana, how nice to know that you often referred to our site! We appreciate it!
All the best, Fiona and Glenna
Thank you, Fiona and Glenna, for assisting me in book design and self-publishing. It’s disappointing but understandable that you are now transitioning to other adventures.
I relate to that myself. Although my writing is comparatively limited, it takes more time than I am willing to commit to it.
Have a great rest of the year!
Thank you, James. We were glad to help you and hope your writing goes well. It certainly does take time!
Fiona and Glenna
I’m really sad to hear this! Your book has been invaluable to me, and I’ve recommended it to so many others. Thank you for everything you’ve done!
Thanks, Gilly! We’re so glad to hear that our book helped. 🙂
Fiona and Glenna