Yes, you could probably buy a book on book design and learn how to produce a book. But, trust me, it is a slow and painful process. And, if you are not good at it, you'll produce a disaster. Because book printing is very particular, it can be costly if you design a book that conflicts with prepress or press capability. Unless you understand book printing, you should let a designer or print buyer coordinate the printing for you.
Book printing is specific with regard to sizes, page count, inks, photos, prepress, etc.
Of course, you could spend a lot of time receiving an education about print from printers and salesmen and design a book that is printable. This book covers every technical aspect of the industry. This is a marketing ploy to entice an author to use the print services. Obviously this method of design is not customized to a book's content. Mostly, it is a process of rehashing templates and changing colors.