Elysia Clapin – Designer

Hello there, authors/editors/publishers/book professionals!

I'm a book designer originally from Sydney, Australia, and currently located in Vancouver, Canada. I've worked in book publishing (AKA the nicest industry in the world!) for close to a decade. With a background in social media and digital marketing, I'm adept at identifying market trends and designing books that sell.

I love designing across all genres and forms, and can:
- work with you to nail a cover
- lay out internal designs for cookbooks, giftbooks and picture books alike
- typeset your novel (and act as an extra pair of copyediting eyes - I have a keen eye for grammar and spelling!)
- add flair to your non-fiction book using colour, typography and small stylised drawings/illustrations
- create social media and marketing assets to sell your book, working with existing branding and design guides where required
- even fully illustrate your picture book!

Back home in Australia, I'm lucky enough to work as the in-house designer for leading global social purpose publisher Pantera Press (shortlisted in 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 for the Australian Book Industry’s Small Publisher of the Year Award). Through my role at Pantera Press, I work regularly with authors, editors, marketing and publicity teams, publishers, and printing houses, and am very comfortable servicing and balancing the needs of different teams at once.

In 2020, for my internal design of You Can Change the World by Lucy Bell, I was shortlisted alongside illustrator Astred Hicks for the ABDA Best Designed Children's Non-Fiction Illustrated Book.

Aside from books, I also love birds, the cinema, and basketball (watching it, not playing!). I'm friendly, flexible, professional and quick, and I'd love to chat with you about how I can do my part to help share your book with readers around the world.

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"As an editor, I've had the pleasure of working with Elly for over 8 years. She is professional, kind and wonderful to collaborate with, taking on feedback in a timely and thoughtful way. Her designs are beautiful, fresh, considered and always on brief. She also designed my own book, You Can Change the World, and I couldn't have asked for a better person to bring my words to life."

- Lucy Bell, Editor and Author You Can Change the World and You Can Live on the Bright Side

"Elly is a miracle worker! With a very vague brief, an overload of illustrations and weird requests from the author, she turned my book into something magnificent. She worked tirelessly to pull every section together and give it a unique flair, while speaking to the tone of the book. She made this so much more than just a book, she made it something beautiful!"
- Anna Blackie, Author How To Adult