The Design of Books offers a relaxed, casual approach to understanding how to put a book together. Debbie Berne, an expert book designer, helps authors and editors walk through the steps of a stressful task. Book designs are not for authors. I tried to design my first attempt at publishing though it has been flopped out. Book designing is a serious thing. No writer or editor can really succeed without the expertise of a designer who has the skill and patience. Burn gives evidence of other designs concerning covers, fonts, typesetting, and layout. The Design of Books includes all formats of books, such as print, ebooks, illustrated, self-published, and all genres.
This is a must-read for any author who is trying to succeed. It is true that self-published authors can become mad in the design phase and put their books out there without a designer. But it is a humiliation. Debbie Berne is a trustworthy source to reference. For an author and their editor to succeed, they need an acceptable design. She’s very kind in her approach; she offers more support than criticism.

Thank you, Net Galley and University of Chicago Press for this Advanced Reader’s Copy.

Really everything you need to know about books, including its parts, production, design, and formats, with important practical advice to boot. While written specifically for authors and editors in mind, it would be an engrossing read for anyone mad about books or anyone in the book industry. Librarians too!

And if not satisfied after reading this, a list of resources and recommended reading at the back should fill your need.

Easy to read and not boring at all. 5 stars from me!

Thanks to Netgalley and University of Chicago Press for letting me share my honest opinions of this eBook.

Give me anything to do with books and I’m in cloud heaven; books about books are one of my many favourite reads.

Though from chapter to chapter I wasn’t always clear who this book was for, Debbie Berne explains in the postscript that there isn’t a book like this for authors and editors to show the relevance of a designer.

In seven chapters and an appendix, Debbie Berne also describes the input designers make towards the finish design of a book. Each chapter is easy to follow and shows an element in book design or the differences between eBooks and physical books. The last chapter includes the design process from a manuscript to a finished product.

With its reference feel, I would call this a fascinating read rather than an enjoyable one, but I like how I now have more appreciation of what’s involved to produce a book.

Publishing date: 3/12/24
Rating: 4 stars

This book is very detailed in regards to book design, from the cover and spine, down to the nitty-gritty decisions that make up a book's interior. I definitely learned a lot and really had no idea how involved the book design process actually is.

I think I would've enjoyed this more had it been the final version, as the ARC was sometimes formatted strangely on my e-reader and phone.

The author definitely knows her topic, and she presents the information in a relatable tone. As someone who is not in the art design industry, some of the info was a bit too technical, so I just skimmed those parts. I'd recommend this to readers who have a serious interest in the book design process, and those who are already book designers.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions are mine alone.

As an avid reader and book devourer, I found "The Design of Books: An Explainer for Authors, Editors, Agents, and Other Curious Readers" by Debbie Berne to be absolutely fascinating. Throughout my academic journey in literature, I often lamented the absence of courses on the vital role of book design in shaping reader experiences and influencing sales. Berne's comprehensive exploration of the "anatomy of a book" — delving into everything from size and binding to typography — satisfied my curiosity and shed light on an industry that deserves greater recognition.

From dimensions and binding techniques to the nuances of typography, Berne leaves no stone unturned, providing a comprehensive understanding of the publishing and design process. Reading this book felt like immersing myself in a rich documentary, with each page offering valuable revelations. My copy is now adorned with countless highlights, a testament to the wealth of knowledge it imparts.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. "The Design of Books" has forever altered my perspective on the books that grace my shelves, and I am certain it will resonate with anyone intrigued by the artistry behind the printed word.

Being both a book lover and a designer (branding) this book was absolutely fascinating to me. It was the perfect mix of thoroughly informative, highly technically yet very digestible, deeply inspiring to see the behind the scenes of this commercial but also creative world of book designing. I recommend this to anyone either interested in the industry of book design or anyone even slightly curious about the making of books. Very well done! It certainly made me feel better about so often buying books based on its cover — a lot goes into designing those!

My only critique would be towards the illustrations. Color is such a big part of design and picking a book off the shelves, I would have wanted the illustrated, at least the actual book ones, to have been in color. A little wish in a lot of goodness though.

This was super interesting! I realized while reading this book that I really didn't know much about the book industry, and how a hardcover or a paperback is produced. I really loved the opportunity to learn more!

It’s a good book for someone beginning or interested in designing books. It definitely covers everything involved in the process.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: March 12, 2024

This book design guide is comprehensively helpful if you are an author or potential author, work for a publisher or are looking to get into book design. This may also be a fascinating read for those who love books and want more information about how they’re made!

The Design of Books by Debbie Berne is full of interesting information about every aspect of book design. It explains every detail of a book's design for graphic designers, writers, readers, and book lovers of all kinds. I like how some of the information is presented through example, however in the early reviewer document I read, the differences weren't visible. It goes into such detail, it gets a little repetitive and dull. I think presenting the material through anecdotes of personal experience with designs gone wrong, or exciting book design projects could make the material less dry. It was hard to review this book in this document format because it is a book about precise formatting, and the formatting was all off in my copy.

This is a must-read for authors, book designers, and publishers.
Berne's advice is based on decades of experience.
Her wisdom and insight is superb.

Amazing book. I enjoyed the writing quite a bit. The style flowed well. It was a compelling book and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Like the title suggests, Debbie Berne’s THE DESIGN OF BOOKS is indeed a comprehensive guide to book design. Berne goes touches on every detail, inside and out, in a very understandable way. If you are a book nerd who wants to know the little nitty gritty details of a book’s behind the scenes, this book will absolutely entertain you. If you are in the publishing industry at all—traditional or independent—this book will absolutely help you create the book you want.

Reading This Book Will Guarantee a Loss of Interest in Book Design

This book is divided into chapters on the dimensions of books, type, cover, interior, illustrated books, ebooks and the design process. There are some great illustrations throughout that glamorize the artistic book design process. However, the front-matter and the opening of “Chapter 1” are digressive, as the author rambles on about what design is, or if design will go extinct in the digital age. The section on the “Kinds of Books” also provides too much non-information without specifics. The first piece of relevant information seems to appear on page 12 in an illustration of “The Anatomy of a Hardcover” that provides the terminology for the book’s elements that are necessary to communicate about these parts. But then there is a very long and winding description of what a “case” is with details that should not be practically useful either for advanced or starting book designers or authors seeking a designer. Then there is a curious illustration of “A Sixteen-Page Signature” (17), but this style of folded book-printing was last used in the Renaissance… and is not at all relevant in the modern world where books are printed digitally and not on a manual printing-press. The second chapter begins by claiming readers “can’t understand the basics of book design without knowing a little about type” (32). The following paragraphs babble on without just giving the practical elements about type that starting designers would need to just go ahead and design their book. There are moments of useful knowledge, such as a section on “Font Categories”, but outside of the illustrations, the verbal explanations are almost entirely rambling and unhelpful. Here is an example: “The font marketplace forces you to understand something about how they’re made and packaged – for instance, you can buy just the bold face of a typeface, just the italic, just the bold italic…” (38) I have never purchased any type, as it is included in programs like InDesign, Corel Painter and Word, and additional fonts can be acquired for free from Google. Sending designers to purchase only italic font or the like is not at all helpful.
Do not purchase this book if you just want to figure out how to design books without previous experience, or if you are a professional in this industry and want to learn more about it. I cannot imagine what type of a buyer could benefit from this book.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2023 issue

The perfect book for any book lover or for anyone who wants to know more about the process of making books. I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about how books are designed and developed.

I loved The Design of Books! I had no idea the level of depth that goes into finishing/designing a novel but it was fun to read and learn more about it. I enjoyed that this was part how-to and part educational.

I've always loved books and this is the ultimate book about how physical books are made. When I was a rare books cataloger, we had to keep track of the physical details of every book to account for difference, and I think catalogers should read this before getting started.
This book is still great if you just love books, though. There are detailed explanations of things like binding, font, and the history of printing, but nothing long, drawn out, or boring.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I'm not an author (yet) but as a bibliophile found this book to be fascinating. It covers all aspects of publishing and design that I have always wondered about, and gave me insight into an industry that I think seldom receives its fair dues. Everything the physical nature of a book, to the type, to Ebooks are covered. It's detailed enough that you'll walk away feeling like you've learned a lot, but not too in-depth that you lose interest in reading.

There were a lot of sections that really grabbed my attention, but the one that stood out to me the most was the one on type and font. Reading so much makes me hyperaware of the type that is being used in a book, and certainly can sometimes make or break whether I'll stick with it. Berne discusses all of that and more.

I was fully ready to read about how Ebooks were destroying the book business, and to read a bashing of their inception and endurance. Berne, though, makes a good case about how its a new form of developing and publishing a book, not replacing the old ways. She makes a good point as to how ebooks make reading more environmentally sustainable and lasting. However, with proprietary DRMs, I can't help but wonder: what happens if Amazon were to go away? Are all of my (few) Kindle books lost forever? I think this discussion would be important to elaborate some more on.

Nevertheless, anyone who loves to read, or is fascinated by books should place to read The Design of Books. I have never encountered a book like it, and for that fact alone, it is worth a perusal. This book, if anything, will help the read gain a deeper appreciation for a book.

This book should be put into the hands of everyone working in the publishing industry. I am just a “Curious Reader” (as the subtitle puts it) so I read this purely out of personal interest and I have no ambitions to be a writer, but I can’t imagine that any writer would not benefit greatly from owning this book.

Debbie Berne goes through all the details you need to know regarding book design, from the history of typeface to the modern design process (including helpful illustrations). There is so much valuable and fascinating information in this book that I would stop reading to tell people about what I found out because I was amazed by what I didn’t know. These are the nitty gritty facts about every facet of publishing a book that I could think of. And more.

Berne’s writing is so conversational and pleasant to read that you feel you have a mentor sitting beside you showing you the ropes.

I will never look at a book the same way again! Highly recommended to bibliophiles and everyone in the publishing industry.

As an author and bibliophile, I really enjoyed this book! I love that it's broken into sections discussing each element of how a book is designed, from the cover to considering how a book looks on the shelf vs on a website. I love better understanding what's going on "behind the scenes"! Highly recommend. Would make a great gift for the book lover in your life!