Resources for the Indie Community

Interiors that stand shoulder to shoulder with traditional publishing standards, using templates and instructions made by Drek Death and Doom. The community resource page also provides a free guides for ideal publishing prep, alongside the cheap as dirt templates to help your print files and epub exports succeed. You'll find package deals meant to get your book into the world with as little stress as possible. And if this is just too much—you can hire me to do it for you. Read the details below or skip ahead to the sales page.

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Free

Indie Publishing Guide

Steal this. This is all the trim size averages with margins I use, have used, and some thoughts about working with them. Included are the best export settings for a few programs that work best for Lulu, Ingram, and KDP.
Free Self-Publishing Guide

.indd & .dotx

Templates

Templates for various book sizes and style—each with instructions on completing your manuscript to book formatting as well as customization.

(4.25x6.875; 5x8, 5.2x8, 5.5x8.5, 6x9)
Purchase Templates

Looking for something like this?

The Real Deal—Whole Self-Publishing Package

All templates; the Drek Death and Doom Style Guide developed by me; basic cover templates; and a checklist on cheap, easy things you should prioritize for your launch.

Self-Publishing Windfall

The Works

Don't Want to Do Any of This Yourself?

Do you like our style? The flow of our interiors—the fonts we choose, the margins, etc.? If you want that for your own book, but you don't have the time or you don't care to learn it; please, consider utilizing my services posted here. I'd love to hear from you.

Get a Free Quote

*more about the self-publisher package

the whole self-publishing package full contents list:

  1. 10 interior design templates. Five trim sizes each for .dotx and .indt (Microsoft Word templates and Adobe InDesign templates.
  2. House Style Guide—These are the loose copy rules I developed for the books published by Drek Death and Doom & Nascent Night. The Chicago Manual of Style is a close starting poin; however, we have specifics about em-dashes, ellipses, numbers, Oxford commas; preferences with polysyndeton, italics, dialog, etc. ⫸ Many of these are rules first-time authors don't know exist.
  3. Formatting/typesetting instructions. Standard margins for each trim size, front and back matter development and ordering, font/type settings, styles settings and alternatives, hyphenation and advice on leading, widows, and orphans, and an export checklist for whichever platform you're using to publish your book. These are the steps I follow. The things I look for.
  4. Two to three simple, adjustable custom covers, made with a coordinated effort between the purchasing publisher/writer, and myself. Free revisions, within reason. (This is a huge perk.)
  5. Publishing platform tips & tricks cheat sheet. Includes tweaks to get the most out of your experience at Lulu, IngramSpark, KDP, Books.by, D2D, etc.
  6. Templates in this package include custom front and back matter. Want a CR page like the kind Two Dollar Radio has, customized by you? Specially designed colophon, specific to your book? I'll make them.
  7. Metadata BISEC instructions.
  8. Free checklist for pre-publishing self-promo

*To get right to it—you buy this package one time, you have the tools you need for every single book you ever publish.

Self-Publishing Windfall

Common Questions

What am I allowed to do with this stuff?

Use it for your books. All of it is yours. I would appreciate it if you did not distribute the files to friends. 

Presses—you get a better deal and experience in the Press Partnership Program.

What am I not allowed to do?

As above, give this stuff to others. Selling it, especially, is a big no-no with some big problems. Don't repackage them. Don't form some workshop around them. Essentially, distributing my content and profiting from it has legal enforceability.

How about cover licensing?

Each custom cover is licensed to you and only you, forever. Purchased once, use it wherever you want. Cover templates? The same as above. Do not distribute or sell.

Plain English - Licensing

Once you purchase, you are free to use all of the items and assets on your books. We just don't want you sharing the files or selling them. That's it.