I like that you approach the launch of your creative enterprise with a business sense. This is quite exciting. I have never used a book designer (probably why my books never took off), but I never imagined I would make money. I just had to write the books. From beginning to end I formatted the books and published them. For only one book (a memoir) I hired a graduate student to created a cover...$50. It was a lovely cover but didn't make a difference, and eventually I decided to take that book down. It was too personal for the world the read.

My Chinese art/history book was a real challenge formatting. It had color illustrations. At the bottom of each page I had a small picture as an accent. Included were also Chinese characters. Oh my, what a headache. But, the finished product looked great :)) Because I never expected to make money, I didn't want to abuse the family budget by paying for services.

Good luck! Your writing is great. The thoughts you express in your poems relevant to all our lives. I'm sure the book will do well.