Technologies Used: MS Office 2013, Sublime text editor, Gimp
Samples: (Coming soon)
Dates: 4/2013- 10/2013
References/Testimonials: Amy Valentine (author)
Although my primary interest is publishing ebooks, I have played an instrumental part in publishing paperback copies of 2 books with Createspace.com
The first book was a 250+ page technical book about open source software which was supported by a previous employer. I did all of the production work (except for cover design). I did all of the writing and most of the editing as well. I wrote one edition in 2010 (and described it thoroughly here). Between 4/2013 and 9/2013 I did a thorough rewrite of the same book, adding several chapters and providing more reference material. I used the same docbook xml to PDF production method I used for the first edition to produce a PDF suitable for printing by Createspace.
From 9/2013 to 10/2013, I did substantial editing of a personal memoir. I provided technical and marketing advice to the author. I also produced the book in two different book formats (Kindle and .epub) and in a PDF version suitable for printing by Createspace. For the paperback edition, I customized a commercial MS Word template and ensured that everything met the Createspace specifications. For the ebook edition, I produced a Kindle format and tested it for usability on the most popular Kindle platforms. I also produced a general epub for Barnes and Noble and the iPad.
(If you are looking to hire someone for editorial or ebook production, check out the rate sheet of services I offer.)
Technologies Used: XML Oxygen Editor 22, Docbook 5, MS Office, Docbook XSLT stylesheets, Gimp, Audacity, Sony Vegas Pro 19
Samples: Personville Press Website, Author Website,
Dates: 8/2010 to present
References/Testimonials: Jack Matthews (author) , Amy Valentine (author)
Since 2010 I have run a small ebook publishing company called Personville Press. So far, Personville Press has published 14 ebooks and (as of Summer 2024) commitments to publish 3 more. I do this during my breaks between jobs and contracts, but I also work on these projects to a lesser degree when I am working full time.
On the business side, I:
- Negotiated publishing terms with the author and wrote everything up in a legally enforceable contract.
- Set up a (rudimentary) accounting system for tracking royalties and transferring payments to the author.
- Created marketing strategy and identified potential audience for the product.
- Wrote press releases, product descriptions and announcements for online stores, blogs and social media.
- Hired talent as needed for illustrations, actors, studio engineers.
- Evaluated ebook distribution channels for reach and revenue potential.
- Set up a customer relationship management system using market data I have personally collected. (In progress)
On the technical side, I:
- Created a Docbook XML-based toolchain for producing ebooks.
- Researched ebook standards and implementations from the different devices and distribution channels.
- Wrote simple XSLT customizations to optimize the ebook file and a CSS template appropriate for the ebook and device.
- Produce book promotion sites based on WordPress.
- Tested ebook templates for the major devices and ebook platforms.
- Ran a promotional website for the author.
- Set up a turnkey shopping cart solution for customers to buy digital files directly.
On the editorial side, I:
- Selected and proposed material for the ebook.
- Wrote prefaces and relevant supporting material.
- Queried author for clarifications and offering editorial suggestions when appropriate.
- Set up a workflow for editing and producing an ebook (Basically, MS Word –> Filtered HTML –> Docbook XML –> Epub files).
- Proofed text thoroughly and submitted files and metadata to distribution channels.
On the multimedia side, I:
