Design for Publishing

Colin Wright

In a past life, I was a designer.

Scratch that. In a past life, I made my living as a full-time designer. I’m still a designer today, I just use my design skills — built up over the course of four years of school and eight years practicing them daily — for slightly different purposes.

Instead of working for clients, I build businesses and publish my writing. I design websites for projects I care about, create business cards for people who work with me, and book covers for authors whose work inspires me.

Because of my background in design, the publishing learning curve has been far less steep, and success massively easier to achieve than it could have been. Some of the largest up-front costs associated with publishing are design-related, and those are costs I can avoid, doing my own layout, designing my own book covers, building my own blog, and keeping the brand consistent from platform to platform.

Design allows talented authors to set their work apart from the myriad other works lining the digital and physical shelves. Creativity transcends media — if you can write, you can draw, you can play guitar — you just have to learn the theory and tools required to bring that creativity to bear.

I believe a creative person should have as much control over their work as possible, from concept to final product. Being able to do your own design work makes you far less dependent on others to move forward, which in turn helps you survive and flourish as an independent, self-sustaining creative.

In a past life, I was a designer. Today, I’m a creative person able to build whatever I want, when I want. It’s a very good feeling.

I’ve put together a class through which I’ll be teaching the fundamentals of design, with an emphasis on how it applies to publishing. It will last a month, and each week will bring new videos and tutorials, new homework assignments, and a new round of critiques on the private board where we’ll be sharing and discussing our work. I’ll make myself available during ‘office hours’ each week, as well, for students who need to ask specific questions, or require help with a particular project or point of interest.

Each student will finish the class with a book cover of their own creation, and a knowledge of design and its process surpassing 99% of authors and publishers (and a solid number of professional designers).

Classes will cost $397 per 4-week session, but the first round (this May) will be half that ($199) because I will be using the students involved as guinea pigs. There are a very limited number of seats, so let me know posthaste if you want to reserve a spot.

For more information, visit the class page.

(photo by Spyr Media)