How to Design a Book Review Planner Page: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Want to create a beautiful book review planner page from scratch? In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to design a Mini Book Review page using Planify Pro — complete with a photo placeholder for the book cover, a lined review section, a star rating, and labeled fields for title, author, and genre. You’ll also learn how to resize your design for multiple planner sizes and how to adjust margins depending on whether you’re making binder inserts or standalone printable pages to sell.

Whether you’re making this planner page for your own reading journal, creating a gift for a fellow bookworm, or designing planner templates to sell on Etsy, this tutorial walks through every click so you can follow along — no design experience needed. If you’re still exploring which planner design tool to use, our comparison of the 8 best custom planner makers can help you decide.

Watch the Full Video Tutorial

This blog post is based on our YouTube tutorial. Watch the full walkthrough below, or keep reading for the written step-by-step guide.

What You’ll Create

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a complete book review planner page featuring a decorative book-themed header pattern, a “Photo Here” placeholder for the book cover image, a lined review section for your thoughts, a five-star rating row, labeled fields for title, author, and genre, and a decorative bookshop sticker. The design uses the Book Lover collection from Planify Pro, with soft pinks, warm dusty rose tones, and charming bookshop illustrations.

What You Need Before Starting

To follow along with this tutorial, you’ll need a Planify Pro account (free accounts can access the design tools), and a printer if you want to print your finished page. That’s it — no design software, no templates to download separately. Everything happens inside the Planify Pro planner maker.

If you’re brand new to the platform, our Planify Pro 101 course covers the basics. But this tutorial is designed so you can follow along even as a complete beginner.

Step 1: Create a New Planner and Choose Your Size

Log into Planify Pro and click Create a Planner. For this book review planner page, we’re starting with A5 size — it’s the most popular size for planner inserts and works perfectly for a compact book review page. You can always resize later (we’ll cover that in a later step).

Once your blank planner opens, you’ll see the workspace with an empty A5 page divided into a grid layout. Make sure Layout Mode is turned on at the bottom of the screen — this lets you snap widgets into the grid columns for perfectly aligned layouts.

Step 2: Add a Lined Box Widget for the Review Section

Open the Widget Menu on the right side panel. You’ll see categories like Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and All. Click Note or All to find the Lined Box widget.

Drag a Lined Box into the second column of your page. This will become your review section where you write your thoughts about each book. Once placed, you’ll see the widget settings panel appear on the right side with options for Header Text, Header Font, First Row, Rows, Line Color, and more.

Under Header Text, type “Review” — this will appear at the top of the lined section. Set Show Header to visible and position it at the top. The header font defaults to Poppins at 10pt, which works well for a clean look.

Step 3: Add a Dotted Box for the Photo Placeholder

Now add a widget in the first column for the book cover photo area. From the Widget Menu, select a Dotted Box (you can change the Graph Style to “Circle” for a softer look). Place it in the left column.

This creates a framed area where you (or your customers) can paste a photo of the book cover. In the settings panel, you’ll see options for Color, Header Text, Last Bottom Line, Background Color, First Row, Spacing, and Alignment. Customize the background color to a soft pink to match our Book Lover theme.

Step 4: Add the Star Rating Row

Below the photo and review boxes, add a star rating section. You can use the Widget’s Text Editor to insert star emoticons — Planify Pro includes a full emoticon library with various star styles. Place five empty stars (☆☆☆☆☆) in a row so you can fill them in by hand after reading each book.

Position this rating row so it sits between the review area and the info fields at the bottom.

Step 5: Create Title, Author, and Genre Fields

At the bottom of your page, add three labeled fields using lined box widgets or text elements. These fields are for recording the essential details about each book you review. Create a “Title” field, an “Author” field, and a “Genre” field. Style them with the same soft pink background color so they match the rest of your book review planner page design.

These labeled fields make the page functional — at a glance, you can see every book’s key information alongside your personal review and rating.

Step 6: Apply Colors Using the Planner Color Panel

Click the Color tab in the top menu bar to open the Planner Color panel. This is where you’ll transform your layout from basic to beautiful. The panel shows color options for Outline, Header, and Line — each with preset palettes and a custom color picker.

For our Book Lover design, use warm pinks and dusty rose tones. Set the outline color to a soft rose, the header backgrounds to a slightly deeper pink, and the line color to a subtle muted tone. The Planner Color panel also includes a Random All Colors button if you want quick inspiration, plus Presets, Photos, and Schemes tabs for finding coordinated palettes.

Getting colors right makes a huge difference when selling planner pages — for more on visual branding, see our brand guide for planner shops.

Step 7: Choose Fonts That Match Your Theme

Click the Texts tab in the top menu to open the Text Menu. Here you can set your fonts for three levels: H1 (Titles Text), H2 (Header Text), and H3 (Body Text), plus Footer Signatures.

Type “Mini Book Review” as your page title. For the Main Font, Planify Pro gives you access to Planify Pro Fonts (exclusive decorative fonts), Google Fonts (hundreds of free options), and My Uploaded Fonts (your own custom fonts). For a book-themed design, a slightly decorative serif or handwritten font works beautifully for the title, while keeping Poppins or a clean sans-serif for the body text maintains readability.

You can apply font changes to the left page, right page, or both simultaneously using the “Apply to” options at the bottom of the font panel.

Step 8: Add Stickers and Decorative Elements

Click the Stickers tab to browse decorative elements. Planify Pro includes themed sticker collections that match their design collections. For our page, browse the Book Lover collection stickers (or Love Poison, Soft Paws, Farm, Christmas House, and others).

Add a charming bookshop illustration sticker to the bottom right of your page — this adds personality and makes the design feel complete. You can also add a text sticker with a motivational reading quote like “Focus on being productive instead of busy” using the Text sticker tool.

Position and resize stickers by dragging them on the canvas. The Sticker Menu also includes options for Date Flag, Line, Hyperlink Button, Quote, Calendar, Online Image, and Insert My Image — so you can add virtually any decorative element you need.

Step 9: Add the Header Pattern

For the final design touch, add a decorative header pattern at the top of your page. The Book Lover collection includes a beautiful bookshelf pattern featuring colorful books, potted plants, and warm brown tones. This pattern runs across the full width of the page and instantly communicates the reading/book theme.

Navigate to the Pattern tab in the top menu to browse available patterns, or apply one from your chosen collection. The pattern creates a cohesive visual identity for your book review planner page.

Step 10: Resize for Different Planner Sizes

One of the most powerful features of Planify Pro is automatic resizing. Click the Size tab in the top menu to open the Planner Size panel. You’ll see size groupings for Listing & Social, Ring Binder, Traveler’s Notebook, and Amazon KDP.

Your A5 design can be instantly resized to A4, Notebook B4, Half Page A4, US Letter, Personal Wide, and many more. When you select a new size, Planify Pro automatically adjusts all your widgets, text, and decorative elements to fit the new dimensions — no manual repositioning required.

In the video, we demonstrate resizing to A4 and Personal Wide. The Personal Wide size is particularly interesting because it fits two Mini Book Review pages side by side on a single spread, which is perfect for ring binder inserts.

For more details on how Planify Pro handles different sizes, check out our complete guide to making custom planners.

Understanding Margins: Binder Inserts vs. Single Pages

This is one of the most important concepts when designing planner pages — and something many beginners overlook. Planify Pro includes extra margin space on the inside edge of each page (the binding edge). This extra margin is essential if your pages will be hole-punched and inserted into a ring binder, disc planner, or any binding system.

Here’s why it matters: when you punch holes along the edge, you lose about 0.5–0.625 inches of usable space. Without that extra inside margin, your content would be hidden behind the rings or cut off by the holes. Planify Pro accounts for this automatically, shifting your content away from the binding edge.

However, if you’re selling single printable pages that are not meant to be inserted into a planner — for example, standalone book review sheets that customers will use individually — you can remove the extra inside margin. This centers your design on the page for a cleaner look when there’s no binding involved.

Understanding margins is essential whether you’re creating pages for personal use or selling planners on Etsy. Offering multiple versions (with and without binding margins) is a great way to increase the perceived value of your listings. For a deeper dive into printing and paper considerations, see our dedicated guide.

Step 11: Export Your Finished PDF

When your design is complete, click Save / Export in the top menu. The Save/Export Planner panel gives you several format options: Instant (single pages), Digital (for iPad/tablet use), KDP (for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing), and Booklet (for folded booklet printing).

For a printable book review planner page, select Instant. Then choose your paper output size — A5, A4, or US Letter. You can also toggle Hide Cutlines and set a file name before exporting.

Click the pink Export PDF button, and your file will be generated. A “Click to Download PDF” link appears, along with an option for PNG Screenshot if you need image files instead. The exported PDF is print-ready — just download, open, and send to your printer.

Design Variations and Ideas

Once you’ve mastered the basic layout, try these variations to expand your book review planner collection.

A detailed review page works well for readers who write extensive notes. Add more lined rows and remove the photo placeholder to maximize writing space. A quick-read log uses a smaller layout with just the star rating, title, and a single line for a one-sentence reaction — perfect for people who read many books and want a compact log. A two-per-page layout places two mini reviews on a single page (this is what the Personal Wide size does automatically). You can also create themed variations using different Planify Pro collections — the Book Lover collection is perfect for this project, but Soft Paws, Love Poison, and other collections offer completely different aesthetics.

If you’re creating pages to sell, offering multiple layout styles within a single bundle is a proven strategy for increasing sales — see our guide on boosting sales with planner bundles for more on this approach.

Selling Your Book Review Planner Pages

Book review planner pages are a popular niche in the printable planner market. Readers love having beautiful, functional pages to track their reading journey, and the demand for book-related planner inserts continues growing alongside the BookTok and Bookstagram communities.

If you’re considering selling your designs, here are some quick tips. Offer multiple sizes in each listing (A4, A5, US Letter, Half Letter). Provide versions both with and without binding margins. Include both PDF and, if possible, editable formats. Bundle your book review page with complementary pages like reading logs, TBR (to-be-read) lists, and reading challenge trackers.

For comprehensive guidance on building a planner business, read our guides on starting a profitable planner business on Etsy and how much it costs to start a planner shop. Make sure you understand commercial licensing terms before listing any designs for sale. And watch out for the most common mistakes digital planner sellers make.

Ready-Made Book Review Templates

Don’t want to design from scratch? Planify Pro has ready-made templates you can customize instantly. Try the Book Review — Book Lover template for a polished design you can edit with your own colors and fonts. For a more journal-style approach, the Reading Journal — Soft Paws is a great option. Browse the full Book Lover collection for more reading-themed designs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use this design commercially and sell it on Etsy?

Yes, Planify Pro’s business plan includes commercial licensing that allows you to sell designs you create on the platform. You can sell your customized book review planner pages as digital downloads on Etsy, Shopify, or your own website.

What sizes can I export this design in?

Planify Pro supports a wide range of sizes including A4, A5, US Letter, Half Letter, Personal, Personal Wide, Traveler’s Notebook, and Amazon KDP dimensions. You can resize your design to any of these with a single click — the platform handles the layout adjustments automatically.

Do I need to add extra margins for hole-punched pages?

Planify Pro includes binding-edge margins by default, so pages designed for ring binders or disc planners will print correctly. If you’re making standalone single pages not intended for binding, you can remove the extra inside margin for a centered layout.

Can I change the colors and fonts after I’ve finished designing?

Absolutely. The Planner Color panel and Text Menu let you change colors and fonts at any point — even after your layout is complete. This makes it easy to create multiple color variations from a single design.

What printer settings should I use for the best results?

For the best print quality, use 24-28lb matte paper and select “Actual Size” in your printer settings. For more detailed printing guidance, see our article on the best printers for planner making.

How is this different from using Canva to design planner pages?

Planify Pro is purpose-built for planner creation. Unlike Canva, it includes automatic margin handling for binding, one-click resizing across planner sizes, and widget-based layouts designed specifically for planners. See our full PlanifyPro vs Canva comparison for a detailed breakdown.

Can I make this design into a full reading journal?

Yes. After designing your book review page, simply duplicate it and add complementary pages like a reading log, TBR list, reading challenge tracker, and favorite quotes page. The binding guide covers how to assemble multiple pages into a finished book or journal.

What’s the best planner size for a book review journal?

A5 is the most popular choice — it’s compact enough to carry in a bag but large enough for comfortable writing. If you want more writing space, A4 or US Letter works well. For a mini pocket journal, try Personal or Traveler’s Notebook size.

Start Designing Your Own Book Review Planner

Creating a book review planner page from scratch is easier than most people expect — especially with a purpose-built tool like Planify Pro handling the layout, sizing, and margins for you. Whether you’re tracking your own reading journey or designing pages to sell, this type of functional, beautiful template is one of the most rewarding planner projects you can make.

Looking for more planner inspiration? Explore our complete guide to custom planner makers in 2026, browse 50+ planner template ideas for sellers, or see our step-by-step roadmap on how to start a profitable planner business on Etsy.

Try Planify Pro free and start designing your first book review page today. Or explore more creation tutorials on our blog, including how to make a custom planner, designing planners that sell, and our guide to custom planner makers in 2026.