KALEY
✶ MARKETING ✶
✶ DESIGN ✶
✶ CREATIVE STRATEGY ✶
WHIPPLE
✶ PUBLICATIONS ✶
✶ PERIODICALS ✶
✶ TRADE PAPERBACKS ✶
ABOUT KALEYWelcome! My name is Kaley Whipple, a marketer in the Chicagoland area building book campaigns that pop off the page. With over five years’ experience in creative and educational writing, illustration, and merchandise design, I am your one-stop-shop for everything you need to turn books into brands, titles into trends, and casual readers into lifelong fans. Past titles include award-winning anthologies, short story collections, genre fiction, graphic novels, and literary magazines. If you can type it, I can hype it; online, offline, and beyond.
Let’s make a long story short and get right to work.
✶ ECO24: THE YEAR’S BEST SPECULATIVE ECOFICTION ✶
ANTHOLOGY. Published by Violet Lichen, November 2025. Edited by Marissa van Uden.
A series of 6 promotional posters created for the ecofiction anthology ECO24: The Year’s Best Speculative Fiction (Violet Lichen, 2025). The posters, designed as visual callbacks to vintage National Park print advertisements, reference six different short stories in the collection.
After identifying the interests, occupations, and daily activities of the targeted reader demographic — 30-55s politically engaged men and women who enjoy both reading and the outdoors — The graphics were printed and displayed at hiking trailheads, outdoor supply stores, gardening centers, college campuses, and independent bookstores.
National Park Posters
Over 51% of Violet Lichen readers are also writers, either as hobbyists or professional freelancers. To tie ECO24 into their existing interests and routines, I collaborated with Darian Bianco, Managing Editor of parent publisher Apex Book Company, and Marissa van Uden, Editor-in-Chief of the Violet Lichen imprint, to run a writing contest with the theme “Flora - Fauna - Fungi.” Contestants selected one of three images to inspire a 300-word short story. The top three winners received an ECO24 ARC and publication on the Apex Book Company blog.
Microfiction Contest: “FLORA - FAUNA - FUNGI”
ECO24 Seed Store: Wildflower Seed Packets
These custom seed packets were inspired by late 1800s seed packet designs sold by iconic gardening companies such as Burpee’s and Cole’s Seed Store. 200 packets of native wildflower seeds were given to ECO24 ARC readers, launch party attendees, and anthology authors. Seed packets were also distributed to little free libraries and the Edgewater branch Seed Library in Chicago, IL.
Early Designs V.1-V.6
“The Living Garden” - Kraft/Yellow
“Singing Spores” - Kraft/Yellow
“Carnivorous Trees” - Purple/Black
“Carnivorous Trees” - Purple/Red
“The Living Garden” - Kraft/Purple, gray overlay
“The Living Garden” - Kraft/Purple
✶ THE CELLAR BELOW THE CELLAR ✶
FOLK HORROR NOVELLA. Published by Violet Lichen, February 2026. By Ivy Grimes.
“Cellar Solstice” Ideation and Pitch Deck
✶ APEX MAGAZINE 2026 KICKSTARTER ✶
Kickstarter Banners (Graphic)
Kickstarter Banner (Video)
Fundraiser Graphics
✶ GRAPHIC DESIGN ✶
Book Cover Reveals
We Who Hunt Alexanders by Jason Sanford
“Whoever is marketing [We Who Hunt Alexanders] has done a fantastic job hitting their target demographic. I’m seeing it all over my online communities (Reddit, Bluesky etc.) I’m looking forward to reading this!”
ECO24: the Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction edited by Marissa van Uden
“so excited!!”
The Cellar Below the Cellar by Ivy Grimes
“Look at the beautiful sneak peek for the Cellar cover 💙✨”
Social Media Graphics
“Books and Bevs” - A tasting menu of publisher backlist titles paired with complimentary wines. Designed for National Wine Day social media post.
“MULTITUDE” - Graphic featuring Publisher’s Marketplace announcement for Marie Vibbert’s upcoming sci-fi horror novel Multitude.
“Apex Book Fair” - Promotional graphic for We Who Hunt Alexanders by Jason Sanford. Inspired by Scholastic Book Fair catalogues from the 90s and early 2000s.
“LOOKING FOR YOU” - Callout for book reviewers. Design inspired by 80s-90s scifi and horror paperbacks, and the “Weirdcore” graphic design style.
“The Masks We Wear” - Announcing a drabble fiction contest hosted by Apex Magazine.
“Apex XP” - Updated banner for Apex Publications Bluesky, Facebook and Patreon pages. Inspired by the Windows “Bliss” background image and early rendered 3D graphics in late 90s graphic design.
✶Testimonials ✶
“Every time I look at the Apex feed on Bluesky, I am blown away by how sharp our engagement is. Absolutely amazing. We are so lucky to have her.”
“[The posters] are PERFECT, I could cry. I love that she read the stories and captured the heart of each one! The authors will be so happy.”
“This is the type of brilliance we desperately need.”