I’ve designed books for myself and others since the mid-1980s. Bergsland Design book production has increasingly been the focus of my teaching, mentoring, and design work. My font designs are commonly font packages for book design. My textbooks and training manuals are directed at book production [or font design].

Bergsland Design book production: Simple book packages • standard production charges
I specialize in complex designs for authors who need the power of InDesign but do not have the time or the inclination to learn the software. I thought I’d better give a basic idea of my charges to help you decide if my services can help.

On retainer, by quote, or by the hour

On retainer: I’ve simply served as a developmental resource for several authors on a simple month by month retainer basis. I answer any questions, do simple reviews with commentary during the writing of your book, and help with design ideas. This avoids any hourly charges.

By the hour: I try to keep my rates low. The industry standard is somewhere in the $60 to $150 per hour range. For hourly work, I charge $50 an hour for design work, production work, and consulting (extended email discussions, video discussions on Facetime or Skype, or webinar presentations). Consulting and presentation work varies widely and charges are negotiable.

Learning book production

If you want to learn InDesign for yourself, currently my best explanation on the book production process is found in Niche Publishing for Believers Using InDesign. In it I share extensive teaching on typography and paragraph design. I cover the use of InDesign for graphic production and cover design. In addition, I share the procedures necessary to make professional conversions to ebooks: downloadable color PDFs, ePUBs, ePUB FXLs, Kindle books, and Kindle Textbooks [print replica].

I received this testimony from an evangelist I have worked with for many years:

Thank you for all the great publishing work you have done for our ministry. You have helped us to produce professional-looking books and products that have been a blessing and benefit to many people. I have recommended your publishing service to a number of people and each one comes back with the same report—they are very happy with your work and have enjoyed working with you. You are doing a great job helping many of us to bring forth the vision that is within our hearts and out onto the printed page where it can be read and received into the hearts of men and women. It reminds me of the skilled workmen who God anointed in the Old Testament to craft the tabernacle and its instruments so that God could have a place to dwell among men. Likewise, God has anointed you as a skilled workman to craft books and materials that can bring forth the presence of God in this New Testament dispensation. You are truly an asset to the Body of Christ.

Tom Shanklin • World Evangelism Fellowship • Scandia, MN 55073 • Website: www.tomshanklin.org

Bergsland Design Book Production includes

By quote: My basic production charges include a PDF for a print version and a downloadable PDF and a reflowable ePUB. In the basic package, uploading your book to your account on Kindle KDP, Draft2Digital, and Gumroad is included. Smashwords is now part of D2D, included in their upload. My goal is to help you get published, so you receive all the royalties. I will mentor you through the process. I will give you a firm quote before work is begun. You will pay a non-refundable 50% down if you accept the quote. Once the downpayment is received, I’ll start work.

Additionally, I can add an ePUB FXL version, a large print version, or whatever you need. If you are using Lightning Source, SnowFall Press, or any other book printer (on-demand or traditional) I can produce the artwork for you and upload it.

I began teaching digital print production in 1991 after I was the in-house art director of a large, full-color, commercial printer for 8 years. After developing an all-digital book production workflow in my curriculum, I created the materials to teach the process. Delmar Publishing gave me the opportunity to publish the first textbook on the all-digital print workflow in 1995. Since then I have been a very early adopter of Lulu, Createspace, Scribd, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks, and Gumroad.

You can find my basic cost and production policies for Bergsland Design book production here.