Book Reviews

Review by Joel Friedlander, TheBookDesigner.com

Our next book for review is Jillian’s Gold by Levi Montgomery. (5.5″ x 8.5″, 422 pages, ISBN 978-1448635535, CreateSpace.) Levi tells me in his email that “I have written and designed six books in just under three years, resulting in a rather steep learning curve, the top of which I haven’t found yet!” He actually sent me material for an earlier book as well. Because Levi has been refining his designs I decided to only review this, his latest, as a good representation of where he is on his learning curve at present.

Design Review—Cover

Before getting to this review I should add a short disclaimer. Darryl Sloan and I are e-friends (never met him, he’s in the U.K., I’m in the U.S.) and we’ve traded books in the past. This didn’t factor into this review, but it should be mentioned. Secondly, I come to this book about esoteric spirituality with a particularly esoteric worldview of my own. See this interview between me and and an atheist to read where I’m coming from.  It’s important going in because I’m predisposed to many of the ideas put forth in Reality Check.

That said, what makes […]

Our next book up for a Design Review is Waiting for Spring by R.J. Keller. Originally published in 2007, R.J. said in her email, “My book has been for sale for over a year. It’s printed by CreateSpace.” She designed and produced the book herself. Remember that you can click the images to see a full-size version.

Design Review—Cover

The cover of a novel is a special type of design in which the designer needs to accurately communicate the general feeling, tone, time period, or genre of the book without reverting to story telling. Here the author has relied […]

Well, it didn’t take long to get a submission. Brian Spaeth has gamely submitted his self-published book for a Design Review. I’ve attached his PDF including the front cover and first 58 pages so if you’d like to comment on the design you can download the sample by simply clicking the cover, or by using this link.

In his email, Brian says: “Disclosure: The typo on the cover is intentional. Bonus points if you can figure out what the front cover is of. All graphics and layout were done by me. Thanks – this is a great idea […]

I swear right now that everything your gonna read in here happened 100% true. Cauze when I used to look back at all this crap that went down with me, sometimes I wouldn’t even believe it myself. I used to trip a lot on shrooms and acid, plus get high off weed or hash in weird places which can mess up how your ass remembers shit. (Though shrooms can help you with other stuff, but I’ll tell you about that later.) The thing is, when you start writin’ down a story from your life, it totally makes you sort shit

Finders, Seekers, Losers, Keepers is a friendly, low-key novel that reads like a cross between a slightly obsessive diary and the script for a melancholy sitcom. The cover is positively adorable, the author photo oozes cheery goodwill, and the café flyer illustrations do a great job at setting the mood and making you feel like a part of the small community that lies at the heart of the novel.

Halia Frank is a middle school science teacher in a miniature New York hamlet. She’s something of a career loner, but she’s grown worse since an attempt at normalcy with a […]