Book Design Basics: Styling Novel Interiors with InDesign

Book covers create first impressions, but the interiors are where you spend the most time. 

In this class, designer and illustrator Neil Swaab walks you through the process of designing the interior of a standard novel, from practical page navigation to executing conceptual elements like mood, tone, and style.

Using InDesign, you’ll transform a basic Word document manuscript into a fully formatted and distinctively designed print-ready PDF or ePub file, ready for publishing to any of today’s devices.

Neil draws on his experience designing with every major publisher to demystify the book design process and clearly communicate what matters at each stage.

The beauty of the book lies in your skilled eye.

What You’ll Learn

In five progressively paced units, you’ll elevate your InDesign skills by developing a full novel interior ready for print or ePub production.

• Introduction. Learn context for how design happens at publishers as well as fundamental book-design vocabulary.

• First Steps. Learn key settings and style conventions as well as the type considerations specific to longform.

• Sample Pages. Go behind-the-scenes on every major element (master pages, folios, running heads, sections, baseline grids, and more) and add the "wow factor" to enliven your design.

• Front Matter, Back Matter, and the Full Book. Discover how to fine-tune details that create a professional final product.

• Export and Final Thoughts. Learn how to deliver files for a print-ready book and how to generate an ePub file for e-readers.

What You’ll Do

Deliverable. Using a manuscript in the public domain (or one you already have), you'll create a full novel interior ready for print or ePub production.

Description. What text will you wish to design? What styles fit the tone, mood, and effect of the manuscript? What front and back sections make sense for your project? How will you add design embellishment to enhance the reading experience? What details can lead your spot-check to ensure a clean, polished final product? Will you choose a final export for print, digital, or both?

Specs. By the end of the class, you’ll have a printable PDF or an ePub file that can be submitted to places like Amazon.