The Shadows We Hide
The Shadows We Hide is the debut novel of up and coming author Kassidy Caroline. This YA fiction novel focuses on a 17-year-old girl navigating her senior year of high school, but she has to confront her past family trauma. Below you will find a brief description of Ryn’s story.
17-year-old Ryn Bradford is just trying to survive the second half of her senior year of high school in Minnesota after moving there from a small town in Florida. Ryn is no stranger to conflict and can’t help herself from being the center of everyone’s disappointment. Enter Liza, a girl hellbent on being Ryn’s friend. Between mandatory therapy, hockey practice, and her secret job at the greenhouse on Swan Street, Ryn’s plate is plenty full. To top it all off there’s a darkness to her. One she keeps carefully close to her chest. What will happen when Liza starts to chip away at Ryn’s carefully guarded persona, and what will she find when she does? Will Ryn be able to start letting in the people around her, or will she just keep running from the past that haunts her?
Cover Design
I worked with Kassidy Caroline to ideate and discuss her cover design, down to the smallest detail, for the dust jacket and hardback as well as the paperback version. Once we were happy with the sketched plan, I jumped into painting the design with acrylic paints on canvas. As I worked on the painting, I sent Ms. Caroline occasional updates to receive feedback and discuss any changes.
After the finishing the two paintings for both the front and back cover, I photographed them and moved the images into Photoshop to polish the image and create one continuous image. The final image was then formatted for print, as both a dust jacket and paperback, in InDesign to submit to IngramSpark.
Interior Formatting
I formatted the interior copy, for both the hardback and paperback versions, entirely on my own. Though this is a big task, I loved the challenge. I already knew the basics of typesetting for novels through my classwork at the University of Illinois and I finally got the chance to tackle a project to display my skills. I worked with the author to discuss choices like margin size, header, typefaces, and page numbers. This required some research and a few meetings to nail down the desired look. Then I plugged that information into InDesign and meticulously combed through each page to ensure readability, remove orphans/widows, and check for any spacing or font issues.
Marketing
In addition to designing the cover and formatting the interior, I also took on the role of marketing strategist. As the marketer, I worked with Kassidy to create her social media accounts, both Instagram and TikTok, and assisted her with maintaining those accounts. I researched the target audience to learn more about what content they are engaging with, popular trends, and hashtags that would boost views to pull more engagement. I also combed through the relevant communities on TikTok and Instagram to find inspiration for posts.
Release Week Strategy
A strategy for the release week of Kassidy’s book was essential. We had done the work to establish her reputation as an author and garner followers, now it was time to celebrate the hard work and the upcoming release. I advocated for a mix of informative posts, calls to action, and engaging posts that align with trends. This variety of content would help keep viewers engaged and increase the likelihood of drawing in more followers.
For the release day, we chose to do a livestream so Kassidy can actively engage with her fans. We also planned to do the giveaway on the livestream and advertise this in the week leading up to the release, to attract more viewers. Kassidy planned to do the livestream through TikTok and Instagram as well to maximize her viewer count and draw in a bigger audience.
