From layout to images to sound, this poetry book was shaped by a series of decisions that favored control over convenience. Familiar tools, manual workflows, and repeated revisions replaced automation and efficiency.

DIY Book Design
= Owning Your Choices and Mistakes

I made a deliberate decision early on not to invest in traditional writing or layout software for this project. Tools like InDesign and other professional publishing suites were an option, but they would have added both cost and friction. I wanted speed and familiarity.

I chose Canva instead. While it is technically a paid tool, the cost is reasonable, and more importantly, it is an environment I know how to navigate with my eyes closed.

That choice didn’t actually reduce my workload, on the contrary. A large part of the layout became manual by necessity. Every element had to be placed, adjusted, and tested individually.

On Adding Friction by Choice

Because why not..?

You can design a poetry book by word, and be done with it. That is perfectly valid solution. But why would I do that, since I can spend sleepless nights pouring my heart into design details?

Illustrations

The images in the book started as Midjourney generations. Getting AI illustrations to meet both my personal requirements and print quality requirements meant resizing and refining details to work at larger scales.

What looks finished on screen often falls apart under print specifications. Though I have a system in place for this, this stage was slow and occasionally frustrating.

I even considered leaving images out all together, as I wrote in my previous article.

Soundscape System

The same applied to the audio layer. I created Soundscapes using Suno (AI), then edited the tracks to better match the context requirements.

This all adds layers and layers of friction to the process. But in the end, it’s totally worth it, since soundscapes expand the book beyond the page.

Audio sample of Poetry with a Pulse: Is this what we worked for?

After that came the less visible work.

Each poem is paired with a QR code that leads directly to its audio counterpart. Encoding the files, organizing them, and hosting them on a server that allows access without requiring reader registration.

And when it comes to Kindle version, QR codes become obsolete. I figured an other way of adding Soundscapes to each poem. Manually, of course.

Are QR Codes Wort It?

I have embedded QR codes for each poem, allowing readers to listen while reading, and added visual elements to support the atmosphere of the text.

Canva offers a very simple tool to add QR codes, as long as you make sure they are function correctly. You cannot just link to Substack, you actually need these links to be never, ever, ever changing URL:s.

None of this was difficult in isolation. QR codes require an eye for a detail and patience and consistency. And an unhealthy amount of editing rounds and testing, and in the end they will leave doors wide open for human error.

I would say still, so worth it!

Once you get your copy, I’d love to hear your take on this.

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About Cover Design

You can dive into this topic as deeply as you wish. It’s truly a bottomless weld.

My cover took longer than I initially expected, because I realized that I needed a concept, not just a cover. The first version worked on a technical level and it was great for both sci-fi genre and poetry. But it didn’t carry enough weight to represent the book as a whole. Once I stopped trying to force a solution, a clearer direction began to surface.

That direction became the alien flower concept. It felt immediately expandable, not just as a single cover image, but as a visual language for the entire Hush Halo poetry line.

The flowers suggest something unfamiliar yet deliberate, organic but not natural in any recognizable way. They tell a story without explanation.

Next Level: Bringing Alien Flowers to Life

In the cover of Paradise Beyond Pulse is a single Silver Lotus Exogenous Morph that also warranted its own nerdy detail, a small botanical note at the end of the book.

GIF’s and MP4’s
Once the visual identity started to feel coherent, it became difficult to see it as something fixed to a single format. Midjourney’s ability to generate short video sequences opened up a door for this alien beauty extend beyond the printed page.

This is next level, but i love it. I’m not there yet, but looking ahead, animated and GIF based covers feel like a natural next step, especially in digital contexts.

Fictional story behind my poetry is not static but in it’s core, already already pointing onward. I feel that movement adds another layer of meaning without requiring additional explanation.

Looking back, I’m not sure all this testing or anything in my approach saved time.

No, actually I am sure: It didn’t.

But all this designing surely made every layer of the book feel earned.

ps. As always, I’m happy to hear your thoughts.

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©Samia Oldman.

What are you interested in reading next?

• Dystopian Poetry

• Artist’s Headspace

• Making of Hush Halo

• Square One

• About, My Why and My How

• Leave feedback on Reader’s Corner

Did you miss my previous posts?

The date is set. The files are uploaded, the cover is locked, and the book exists now in a very real way.

This is a snapshot of where I am mentally and practically now, that I’m standing less than a week away from release. What feels settled and what doesn’t.

Publishing Poetry Book on KDP

The release is scheduled for Thursday, February 12.

Poetry Beyond Pulse will be available as a paperback and Kindle edition through Amazon KDP. I decided against I am also working alongside IngramSpark, but that process is still ongoing and intentionally left outside the scope of this piece.

This volume includes 140 dystopian poems and soundscapes, mostly new material. Some poems have been published prior here in Hush Halo site in 2025.

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Loving the Work Itself

Dystopian poetry works for me because it is abstract enough to allow conceptual thinking, but still grounded enough to demand clarity and internal logic. I don’t write single poems as isolated pieces. I start from a world, a tone, a set of rules, and then write inside that frame until it begins to feel self sustaining. That kind of work matches how my mind operates.

It is also strange enough to keep my attention. If the material becomes too familiar, I lose interest quickly. Dystopian themes force me to question language, power, intimacy, and control in ways that stay mentally engaging.

The challenge is kind of built in and I don’t have to manufacture motivation. The creative momentum comes from curiosity rather than discipline, and the work pulls me forward instead of needing to be pushed.

Hitting Publish and Moving On?

You know what’s funny though? The instant the files were accepted and the project moved out of my hands, my attention shifted forward. My mind began assembling the outline of something new. As if the closing of one system freed up space for another to form.

There is a particular pull in the act of assembling my work and finally passing the finish line. Writing, sequencing, testing connections, and watching elements lock into place creating my flow.

This completion does not feel like an endpoint, I thought it would. It’s more like a release of pressure that makes room for the next build.

As always, I’m happy to hear your thoughts.

ps. Heads Up! In couple of days I will post shortly about my thoughts on cover designing.

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©Samia Oldman.

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Discover my Poetry or read more about my writing process:

Did you miss the previous Writer’s Updates?

I am currently deciding whether to include images in my poetry book at all.

My core tension is simple: do images confuse the reader and dilute the poems, or do they offer necessary breathing room for the text.

Just a quick reminder: Most of my writing is published openly and free. Almost all posts are automatically paywalled after 14 days. To see archived posts and poems, you need to break the paywall.

Should a Poetry Book Have Images?

At the moment, the book includes abstract imagery created with AI to support a dystopian fantasy atmosphere.

It is important to me to be explicit that these are AI-generated visuals, not hand-made illustrations. I do my best to make them interesting, yet obvious. They are not meant to be read as traditional illustrations, but as atmospheric companions.

Abandoned Hand-Illustration Path

I have not fully given up on the idea of illustrating my poetry by hand using oil, acrylic, or watercolor. Last autumn I worked on this seriously, but eventually shelved it.

The process slowed the project down significantly. More importantly, it began to pull attention away from the poetry itself, which should remain the primary focus. I do have a conceptual idea for illustrating Hush Halo later, but it still requires substantial development and time.

Cover Versus Interior Logic

The cover will feature an alien flower that appears almost real, but reveals bolts, screws, and wires on closer inspection.

Visually, the cover is intentionally different from the interior imagery. This feels acceptable to me because I want the covers to form a consistent visual family, while allowing the interior aesthetics to shift with each book’s narrative and tone.

Below are some of the imagery I have planned for my dystopian poetry book, Paradise Beyond Pulse.

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Layout and pacing decision

I have currently designed the book so that images appear roughly every 10 to 14 pages. This spacing keeps the focus firmly on the poems and soundscapes.

The images are not there to explain, symbolize, or guide interpretation. Their primary function is to add breathing room. Atmosphere and mood are secondary effects.

Unresolved Decision

The remaining question is whether the book should include images at all. I am still weighing this choice.

The poems stand on their own, but the images may support the reader’s endurance and rhythm without competing for meaning. That said, I am open to reconsidering the entire visual layer if it ultimately serves the poetry better to remove it.

What do you think? Should poetry books have images?

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What are you interested in reading next?

• Dystopian Poetry

• Artist’s Headspace

• Making of Hush Halo

• Square One

• About, My Why and My How

• Leave feedback on Reader’s Corner

What would you like to ask me?

I’d like to write more “Making of” articles. What topics should I cover?