We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katia Balabaieva. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katia below.

Hi Katia, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

At Miblart, we recognize that we exist as a service provider only because our clients choose to work with us and return for more services. In order to succeed in a competitive market, it’s essential to demonstrate value not only through our services but also by supporting clients in other ways. One way we achieve this is through free education. Our team has extensive experience in the self-publishing industry, particularly in book cover design, and we have chosen to develop our business further by sharing our expertise.

We do this by posting informative blog articles on topics we specialize in, attending webinars with other book publishing professionals, creating free email courses, and publishing various freebies. This approach allows us to promote our services in a non-salesy way while providing substantial value to our customers.

We consistently receive positive feedback from authors who express their eagerness to follow our educational content and learn something new. Even if they don’t end up ordering our services, this content can inspire individuals and increase their curiosity about the industry.

Katia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Miblart is a team of book cover designers based in Estonia. We have been designing book covers for indie authors and publishers for over eight years, working tirelessly until our clients are completely satisfied with their new covers. Authors love working with us because Miblart has the most client-oriented policies, including no upfront payment for most projects and unlimited revisions. Our designs feature photo manipulation of stock images, digital artwork, and 3D rendering. In addition to book cover design, Miblart also creates marketing images for book promotion, designs logos and merchandise, provides interior formatting services, and publishes free educational materials such as email courses, freebies, and blog articles.

Our slogan is: “We design book covers that turn into the #1 marketing tool.”

I joined the Miblart team three years ago as an account manager, focusing on customer satisfaction and marketing. My primary responsibility is building and maintaining strong relationships with clients on behalf of the company. My main goal is to ensure client satisfaction, retention, and growth in business opportunities. I conduct outreach to attract potential clients and businesses to work with Miblart, do follow-ups, conduct consultation calls, and represent the company as a speaker in various interviews and webinars.

My degree in Business Administration (BBA) perfectly matches my current job. Additionally, I love working in the design industry because I have graphic design skills, which help me immensely in my day-to-day work. This is especially useful when consulting a potential client on their book cover design or teaching a webinar on book cover design basics.

Gift for you! If you are an aspiring author or a book publisher, and would like to try Miblart services, feel free to use the coupon code KATIA10 at checkout for photo-manipulated book covers or logo design. Please mention “Hidden Gem Interview” as a referral.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Miblart attracts clients from various sources. I think a majority of our clients come from referrals or mentions of Miblart on forums and social media. Since we are a design company, posting our book covers can be enough to pique a potential client’s curiosity and encourage them to explore more of our services. Additionally, Miblart collaborates with other book publishing professionals and influencers, and these partnerships help us extend our reach to their audiences. Lastly, our marketing team works hard to publish valuable content, including newsletters, speed art videos on YouTube, and educational content on our website. This helps clients learn more about our craft and engage with our brand.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe that Miblart built its reputation on complete transparency and risk-free services. We entered the market by acknowledging the problems authors faced, so we offered solutions and gained popularity on social media and forums by showcasing our beautiful designs. This sparked a lot of curiosity about our business. We also built trustworthy relationships with our clients by offering policies that weren’t common among our competitors, such as no upfront payment and unlimited revisions. This allowed our clients to try Miblart services without any risks. By identifying our competitors’ advantages and disadvantages, Miblart managed to enter the market with the best offers.

As Miblart’s client base expanded, our team offered more solutions to our clients’ problems. We introduced additional design services such as logo and merchandise design, marketing images, and interior formatting. Essentially, every book design service an author might need is now available under the Miblart brand.

To strengthen our brand further, Miblart is actively working on collaborations with other book publishing professionals and influencers. This includes partnerships, an affiliate program, cross-border collaborations, and more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://miblart.com/?ref=katiabalab
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miblart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiabalab/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiamiblart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@miblartbookcoverdesign6193
• Other: My social media: https://linktr.ee/katia.bookcoverdesign