Danna Mathias Steele

Danna Mathias Steele – Designer

Cover/interior designer with 15+ years experience. Worked for Amazon.com and small publishers. A passion for beautiful, simplistic books.

Overview

***CURRENTLY BOOKING FOR DECEMBER 2027 ONWARD***

With over a decade of experience in the professional publishing industry, I’m a firm believer that you should always judge a book by it’s cover. I’m passionate about well-executed, thoughtful design and aim to bring that understanding to every book I help create.

I've got degrees in both graphic design and English literature, curating a distinct skill set when it comes to visually communicating a book's themes and tones. I can't wait to help you bring your project to life!

Services
Non-Fiction
Art Biographies & Memoirs Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Fiction
Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery & Crime Poetry Women's Fiction
Languages
English

Work experience

Self-employed

Jan, 2017 — Present
Provide strategic, market-aware book design for traditional publishers and independent authors. Specializing in fiction and nonfiction cover design, interior design, typesetting, and production-ready print and ebook files.

Amazon.com

Jan, 2011 — Jan, 2017 (about 6 years)
Develop and manage creative direction for top-selling authors and public figures entering the publishing industry. Create strong publication series identities in house, including interior layout design and typesetting, production design, cover concept development, and print file creation.

Portfolio

Made with Reedsy
No Safe Harbor

J. Dale Dillard

A deputy and a wounded witness collide with a sprawling criminal network. The rescue was supposed to be the easy part. When armed assailants storm a Nuevas Montañas hospital to finish what the... read more
Cover Design
A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion

Edmondson, Sarah

Trace 120 Press

Cover Design
Then He Was Gone: A Novel

Booth, Isabel

Crooked Lane Books

Cover Design
The Better Mother: A Thriller

van der Kleut, Jennifer

Crooked Lane Books

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
The House on the Rocks

Donley, Alexa

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
Ellis River

Ehrlich, Nicki

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Toska

Cabrera, Elizabeth C

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
The Murder of Sarah Grosvenor

Withycombe, Betsy

Cover Design
The Color Teil: Life, Work, and Inspiration

Duncan, Teil

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
All the Natural Beauties: A Suspense Thriller (Detective CJ O'Hara Debut)

Deal, John

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
All Things That Deserve to Perish: A Novel of Wilhelmine Germany

Mack, Dana

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Salt the Snow

Callaghan, Carrie

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
Little Things: A Novel

Fillion, Amy

Cover Design
The Magnificent Maggie

McFain, Rod

Author Rod McFain

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Pomegranate

Schwaidelson, S. J.

Cover Design Book Interior Design
One Fine Day

Padilla, Jenae G

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Immigrant Secrets: The Search for My Grandparents

Mancini, John Francis

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Beebe and Bostelmann: a historical novel

POLITSCH, KENT

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Second: A Memoir of Love and Commitment

Durda, Colleen Burns

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
Blue Sky Gone

Farmer, J.S

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Surviving To Tell The Tale: A Time To Forgive

Vincent, Richard A

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Witch's Shadow

Cain, Philip

Cover Design
Made with Reedsy
40 for 40: Forty stories, sayings, and lessons learned from a non-celebrity, Costco-shopping, minivan-driving, extremely grateful married father of 5 kids who is turning forty years old.

O'Donnell, Dennis

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Broken and Breaking Free

Amy Fillion

Is it possible to transcend the boundaries of the life you were born into, and if so, what will you sacrifice?Susan Dubois is the youngest member of a poor French-Canadian Catholic family resi... read more
Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Will There Be Wine?: A Novel

Cubbison, Ms. Whitney

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The King of Kreskin Avenue

A.K. Vitberg

The King of Kreskin Avenue is the powerful tale of the connection between Mario Colucci, a highly decorated, emotionally scarred Korean War hero who’s the neighborhood oddity, and a sixteen-ye... read more
Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
HARBOR BLUES a novella

Cheryl Devenney

A decades old cold murder case. A fed-up LAPD cop's wife. A fresh homicide. All collide amid a sea of blackmail and murder.A 24 year-old unsolved murder case re-surfaces when Melanie, wife of ... read more
Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Sex Talk: How Biological Sex Influences Gender Communication Differences Throughout Life's Stages

Furlich, Dr. Stephen A.

Cover Design Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Help Yourself to Helping Yourself: How to cleanse your overflowing plate of responsibilities, change the ambiance of your life, and start from scratch

Parrish, Amber N

Cover Design Book Interior Design
The Life and Times of Dr. Maximus Schwantz Aka Dr. Michael Swank

Swank

Cover Design
Sunshine in the Delta: A Novel

Erica M. Sandifer

From author Erica Sandifer comes Sunshine in the Delta, a tale of life and love and everything in between, set in the Mississippi Delta during the early 1960s. Money, Mississippi, just beyond ... read more
Cover Design

Danna Mathias has 294 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Stephen W.

Stephen W.

Oct, 2026

Danna was great to work with once again. She took my suggestions and turned them into exactly what I was seeking.
Donnally M.

Donnally M.

Oct, 2026

I have had the pleasure of working with Danna on two occasions now. I have found her to be a real pleasure, and her work is excellent. I am very happy with the book cover she provided for me.
Malia J.

Malia J.

Oct, 2026

Danna was great to work with and would work with her again for future projects! She took the time to respond to any questions I had. Thanks for great work!! The cover came out beautiful! - Malia
Sonja L.

Sonja L.

Oct, 2026

Danna designed the covers for my memoir, The Third Act, and I am so grateful I found her. A first book is deeply personal, and the cover is the first thing a reader ever sees, so handing it over was not a small decision. She created the full print cover with front, spine and back, along with the ...
Read more
Mike C.

Mike C.

Oct, 2026

Danna did an outstanding job creating the cover for Frontier Ghosts. From the beginning, she understood exactly what I was looking for and captured the atmosphere, tone, and Western mystery feel of the book perfectly. The finished cover is professional, striking, and immediately conveys the kind...
Read more

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