I Am Making a Book!

On the occasion of this newsletter’s first birthday

Photograph by Harry Whittier Frees. This image is in the public domain and available for download from the Library of Congress website.

Some exciting news: As of tomorrow, A Book Designer’s Notebook is one year old!

It turns out that one year of writing online produces quite a few words. Enough, in theory, to produce a book. Maybe—maybe—even a decent one. To celebrate one year of publishing this newsletter, that is exactly what I am going to do.

It will not be available tomorrow. I am not that put together. Not by a long shot. But as this is mostly a compilation and editing job, I am hoping it will be ready within the next few months. At the very least, before this newsletter’s second birthday.

This book will be a curated collection of my favorite posts—both free and paid—from this newsletter’s first year. And at least one essay exclusive to the book.

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So, why turn the newsletter into a book?

• First and foremost: for myself. I am proud of the work I’ve done with this newsletter—and if I’m honest, a little surprised I had it in me. I want a physical representation of this work on my shelf.

• I think it’ll be really useful and valuable for others. Even if you’ve been reading this newsletter from the start, I think there is value in such a compilation. And if you’ve been a free subscriber, this will be a way to access some How to Design a Book Cover content without taking out a paid subscription.

• I’ve long toyed with the idea of selling products, but I’ve always stalled out due to an inability to sustain excitement and discipline. This is one I really care about.

Here is the tentative title for the book:

I Can Tell Your Book Was Self-Published: And Other Rants, Essays, and Manifestos from A Book Designer’s Notebook

I love this title—plucked from an early, popular newsletter of mine—but that is admittedly a looooong subtitle. So it may change when it comes time to design the cover.

I Can Tell Your Book Was Self-Published

Speaking of the cover: I’m not going to design it. I’m hiring a book design friend of mine. And then I’m going to write about this process from the perspective of a client—and include it as a book exclusive. It will include the design brief I sent, the price I paid, and all of my thoughts (and emotions) along the way. As fun as it would be to design my own cover, I could not resist this delightfully meta idea. It makes me giddy.

That’s about all I can share at the moment. Not because it’s secret, but because I don’t have anything else to share yet—we’re still in the early stages here. But I am hoping that as I compile, edit, and design, this announcement helps hold me accountable. This is truly a side-side-project that I arguably don’t have time for. But I’m excited to see it come to life.

I hope you are too! Stay tuned.

Until next time,
—Nathaniel

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