Devotion Book Series Case Study
My father-in-law, in his retirement, wanted to share the devotional thoughts he had been writing over the years with his children and friends. My husband and I knew that if we sold the book through Amazon publishing, not only could we have copies for family and friends, but it could also have a broader audience. My sister-in-law could commit to making the illustrations but not formatting. With my English background, I stepped up to format, edit, and also contribute my own word art for the Bible passages.
The working title of the first devotion book was “75 Favorite Passages.” I highlighted the number of the devotion in a large circle in the top corner, and arranged the word art of the Bible passage around that. With the title changed to “What Really Matters,” my husband and I created a setup for the cover photo which included an old Bible that had belonged to my father-in-law. After a couple rounds of peer proofreading, and a second edition to adjust for a misnumbered devotion, it is up for purchase on Amazon:
The next year my father-in-law wrote a sequel devotion book, “What Still Matters.” We wanted to keep the same look as its predecessor but eliminate the numbering system of the devotions, instead simply referring to the devotion by the Bible passage reference. I also wanted to try my hand at handlettering rather than word art for the Bible passages. As this was more time intensive I opted to only handletter 17 passages and printed the rest in a centered sans-serif font. Other updates for the sequel included adjusted margins to allow space for the gutter, and a more professional placement for the page numbers. The cover photo continued the theme of a Bible, this time in a fall setting. You can purchase the sequel on Amazon here:
Future plans include a third book called “What Always Matters,” and publishing e-book versions of the books.
