A plan for your
book, Brian.
Brian's job post: PDF Designer for Marketing Materials
Your post, as I read it
Hi Brian,

I opened both PDFs you shared and went through them properly before writing this.

The hard part is done. The 55 ideas read really well, and the "Idea Worth Keeping" boxes are a smart touch.

What the files need now is the book layer. One system across all 8 parts, clean page breaks, real part openers, and a contents page with page numbers.

Below is what I found in the files and how I'd take it from here.

Eric Hawley
In this
proposal

    A short video for you.

    What I noticed in your PDFs.

    All of these come from the two files you attached. None of them are content problems. They come from the pages being exported one by one, and they go away once the book is built as one file. Click any picture to zoom in.

    1Volume 2, pages 1 to 2

    A takeaway box lands on the next page, away from its idea

    The "Idea Worth Keeping" for Let the News Give You Ideas, Not Decisions gets pushed to the top of page 2. The reader turns the page and finds the takeaway on its own.

    Fix: each idea and its takeaway are locked together, so a box never moves to a new page alone.
    2Volume 2, page 4

    A new idea starts with one line at the bottom of a page

    Your Watch List Is Telling You Something starts at the very foot of the page with one sentence, and the rest carries over.

    Fix: a heading never sits at the bottom of a page. If an idea can't start with room, it moves over.
    3Volume 2, page 1

    The Part 02 title shows twice, and the opener shares its page

    "Read Price, Context, and Market Conditions" is in the banner and again in the box under it. The first idea then starts on the same page.

    Fix: each of the 8 parts gets its own opener page. The ideas start on the facing page.
    4Volume 1, page 1

    Cover, reader note and contents are all on page 1

    Everything sits on one page, and the footers carry no page numbers, so the contents can't really be used to find anything.

    Fix: a proper cover, a page for your note, and a contents page with live page numbers.
    A4, now
    8.27 x 11.69 in
    US Letter
    8.5 x 11 in
    Book size
    7 x 10 in
    5All pages

    The pages are A4

    That's a European size. For a US printer or Amazon KDP, A4 usually means scaling problems or a redo later. A 7 x 10 in book size also suits short ideas better.

    Fix: lock the size on day one and build everything to it, with proper bleed for print.

    What your post tells me.

    No files yet, so here's what I picked up from the way you wrote the brief, and what I'd do about each point.

    about 85% formatted and designed
    What it tells me

    The look is mostly settled. You want it finished, not redesigned from zero.

    What I'll do

    Keep your fonts and colors, and fix how the pages flow and connect.

    combined into one PDF booklet
    What it tells me

    Eight files need to read like one book, not eight exports stapled together.

    What I'll do

    One file, one set of styles, a contents page and running page numbers.

    through the eye of a professional
    What it tells me

    You want the small things caught that are easy to miss when you wrote the content yourself.

    What I'll do

    A line-by-line pass for bad breaks, orphaned headings and spacing.

    Adobe InDesign · Print Design
    What it tells me

    This needs to hold up on paper, not only on screen.

    What I'll do

    Print-ready export with bleed, plus a lighter PDF for email.

    A few questions that shape the book.

    Six quick answers before day one. Each one changes the build.

    1

    Print, digital, or both?

    Sets the page size, bleed and PDF exports.

    2

    Free for members, or for sale?

    Selling adds an ISBN, barcode and back cover.

    3

    Members first, or new readers?

    Sets the cover's tone and a sign-up page.

    4

    Link it to your Substack?

    Adds clickable links, bookmarks and contents.

    5

    Keep the look, or refresh it?

    Layout fixes only, or new type and accents.

    6

    All parts final? Yearly editions?

    Sets the build order and a file ready to update.

    Books and booklets I've worked on.

    Long-form booklets with chapters, covers and contents pages, the same kind of work your book needs. Click any one to see it larger.

    Case study bookletProperty investment brand
    Policy bookletCyber security, internal guide
    Guide e-bookletLead-generation guide
    Recipe bookletHealthy food brand
    Sales process bookletB2B software team
    Welcome bookletPayments company

    Explore our successful designs.

    We turn rough ideas and goals into premium assets that drive results. Take a look at some of our top samples.

    How I'll run this.

    Four phases, about three weeks. Nothing moves ahead without your OK.

    1

    Set the system

    Lock the book size, then build master pages and styles from your current look.

    You approve the direction
    2

    Build the book

    All 8 parts in one InDesign file, every takeaway kept with its idea.

    Full draft of all 55 ideas
    3

    Polish and proof

    Live contents page, running footers and a line-by-line pass, then your feedback.

    You approve the final proof
    4

    Hand over

    A print-ready PDF, a light digital PDF and the packaged InDesign file.

    Files in your hands

    Why you should hire me.

    Long-form design is what I do, and you deal with me directly from the first call to the final files.

    Book layout, not just graphics

    Page flow, part openers, page numbers and contents. The quiet details that make a collection feel like a real book.

    Built to reuse

    Master pages and text styles, so the 2027 edition is an update, not a rebuild.

    You talk to me directly

    From the first call to the final files, your questions come to me.

    Print-ready files

    Proper bleed and export settings for a US printer or Amazon KDP, plus a light PDF for email.

    Your words stay yours

    No rewriting. Your voice and your takeaways stay exactly as you wrote them.

    A full team behind me

    Writers, designers and strategists at ELH Global, with unlimited revisions until you're happy.

    An easy way to start
    Cover + one
    part opener first

    See the direction on two real pages before you commit to the full book.

    24hrs

    I can start within a day of your reply.