We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elena Reznikova a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of my company, DTPerfect Book Design, is to help make independent publishing more accessible and affordable to new authors and indie publishers. Publishing can seem like a maze of daunting to-do lists and strategic steps. My goal is to make the process simpler and more straightforward for those who need help sharing their stories.

This mission grew out of my own experience in independent publishing. In 2016, I self-published a children’s book titled Thank You, Me—a picture book to boost self-esteem and inspire self-care and gratitude for our bodies. It was a fun process to write, illustrate, and play pretend publisher. I learned a ton in that process, but it also felt like every step of the way was a roadblock. It was hard! I wish I had someone to hold my hand and explain each step of the way, along with pros and cons of all the different publishing options and avenues.

I had mixed feedback on the book. Some readers loved it, and it currently has over 200 reviews on Amazon. It’s been used in several mindfulness classes and children’s therapy organizations. It won a Nautilus Award and a few others. But bookstores didn’t want much to do with it—or with me as a self-published author. I found that many publishing avenues were closed to indie authors and were reserved for the big publishers only. And that was a sad realization, because indie authors are so creative and innovative, and they have a lot of great stories to share.

That experience also showed me that there is no one-size-fits all method to publishing. Different authors have different goals. A publishing avenue that works well for one author might be completely wrong for another one.

So now, as a book designer and indie publishing consultant, I help authors find the publishing route that works for their specific goals. I help authors create books they are proud of—to share their valuable ideas and stories in the best way to reach their target readers.

Elena, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My journey into book design was full of twists and turns. I studied animation in college and dreamed of working for Pixar or Disney someday. And while my parents still bug me for not becoming a lawyer or doctor, they surprisingly did support my decision to become an artist.

I did not end up at Pixar or Disney, but I did work in animation for a few years. Then life happened, I moved to Texas with my husband, and I transitioned into graphic design for a translation company. It was there that I learned about book design and publishing. I was hooked! There were less moving parts than animation, literally, but it felt so satisfying to contribute to the creation of a physical product—a book.

I’ve always wanted to make my art useful to other people. Working on books achieves that goal for me because books contribute a lot to our culture—books can teach, inspire, connect like-minded people, share stories, and even change lives. Books are food for the soul, and like Barbara Tuchman said, “Books are humanity in print.”

So, if my work (whether through cover design, or interior layout, or simply giving advice) can contribute a little bit to helping authors tell their stories, that makes me happy.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Two books that have greatly influenced the way I live and work are: The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, and Trust-Based Leadership by Mike Ettore. I recommend these books to everyone, especially entrepreneurs and anyone in leadership roles.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are many great educational resources for authors and new publishers. For example, The Independent Book Publisher’s Association (IBPA) provides a ton of information and an annual Publishing University conference. I didn’t know about this conference until after I published my first book. It would have been very helpful to know about it before! These days, I make it a priority to learn as much as possible about the current indie publishing industry standards in order to best help the authors I work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dtperfect.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DTPerfectBookDesign/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dtperfect