Overview

As co-founder of Raventide Books Publishing and a designer, I understand how overwhelming it can be to deal with writing, editing, marketing, research, cover design and all of the other tasks needed to take your book from a Word doc to the best-seller lists. I offer a spectrum of design services that will not only represent your books visually, but free you to do what you need to do, which is write, dream and repeat. Contact me for: - Ebook formatting. - Paperback/Print on Demand formatting - Logo design - Business card and promotional material designs - Banner ads created to match your branding or book cover. - Design elements to help realize and build your author brand.

Services

Languages

Fiction

Non-Fiction

"Nothing could have prepared me for the quality of the finished product and I could not have been more delighted or confident when I uploaded my book on to Kindle."

I designed and formatted two ebooks for author Brian O'Hare: first, I designed and formatted the .mobi file of his novel, The Doom Murders, which included designing the 'Title Page,' copyright page, chapter headers, paragraph & character style sheets, and his 'about the author/more by the author' page. I also guaranteed that his italics and regular fonts would remain consistent throughout the ebook, and that all of the links lead to the appropriate destinations.

I did the same for his second ebook .mobi file, Fallen Men. Brian had this to say about my work:

"When I published my first book on Kindle I was clueless about formatting, cover design, and editing. I was obliged therefore to rely on the services of an agency I found on-line who promised the world … for four figures. While they did what I asked them to do (i.e., the bare minimum), there was no flair, no creativity. I learned later that I had walked into a monumental con.

More savvy now, I sought advice from experienced friends for my third book and thus I discovered the Queen of Formatting, Colleen Sheehan. Colleen’s prices vary depending on the size of the book but ... you get not only exactly what you ask for, you get Colleen’s personal attention, creative and inventive ways to improve the appearance of your text and chapter headings and, even additional optional cover designs for you to choose from for the inside fly-leaf. Nothing could have prepared me for the quality of the finished product and I could not have been more delighted or confident when I uploaded my book on to Kindle.

If, like me, you need expert and reliable help with formatting, do not look any further than Colleen Sheehan."

"I am delighted with the appearance of all five of my books in ... paperback, and will not hesitate to use her for successive volumes."

I designed and formatted five books for Robin Chambers and am slotted to design the other ten books in his series as he finishes them!

I did a lot of work for Robin; first, I had designed the typography of his covers, and so had no trouble matching the interior style with the cover type. I accented the beginning paragraph of each chapter with a stylized drop cap, and used a body font of his choice: Garamond (my personal favorite!). Keeping in mind the middle-grade audience, I strove to maintain some whimsy in the accents, with swashing capital letters and flourishes reminiscent of boy wizards and the magical realms Robin's text was meant to transport the reader to.

I also was given the challenge of formatting the back matter for the book, which included about thirty pages of Notes on facts and poems quoted throughout the text. I made sure to order these pages in clean and easily-comprehensible fashions, still maintaining the style of the body of the works to make sure that the reader wouldn't feel disconnected from the fiction's imaginative quality while they uncovered the facts in the back.

Here is what Robin had to say about our working together:

"Colleen is an excellent typographer and cover wrap designer who has always been sensitive to my requirements: prompt and responsive in her dealings, imaginative and helpful, patient and accomplished. I am delighted with the appearance of all five of my books in kindle and EPub format and in paperback, and will not hesitate to use her for successive volumes in my "Myrddin's Heir" series. I recommend her without reservation."

I designed and formatted Valerie Du Sange's paranormal romance, Unbitten, for Print-On-Demand publishing. She required accenting and style that fit the darker, grittier, yet romantic side of typography, and so crafted chapter headers and detailing consistent with the genre and the author's wishes.

I was set about the task to 'fill' the book to a comfortable degree, so a browsing potential reader would know there was a substantial story inside, yet keep the book at a light enough weight that reading would be comfortable and pleasant.

Here is what Valerie had to say about my work:

"Hey Indies, Colleen did an amazing job with designing and formatting my book for POD. I had been meaning to get around to it for months, but the process seemed really daunting and I didn't want to deal with yet another learning curve. Now I feel lucky that I procrastinated, because Colleen did a way better job than I ever could have. She took genre into account, listened to what I asked for, and was really fast and responsive. The book looks awesome!

Highest recommendation!"

I was commissioned to design the Christian-inspirational, non-fiction print edition for Sonlight Ministries & W. R. Lowe's Simple but Sufficient. Mr. Lowe had some very clear specifications in mind: he wanted the text large enough so that older people could read it easily; he wanted it to be around 100 pages long; he had a vision of the style and detail and sent me examples; he didn't want any page to have less than a quarter of it filled with text.

I met all of these specifications as we worked together nearly two weeks. I'm extremely happy to report that he and I were both very pleased with the outcome and I look forward to working with him again!

Here is what Mr. Lowe had to say about my work:

"Colleen just formatted a non-fiction ebook for me for POD, epub and mobi. I wanted it to look as good as I good make it. She did a superb job and I'd have no hesitation in recommending her."

I designed a print edition interior for Candy J Starr's Bad Boy Rockstar omnibus. She required having three separate works, each with individual page headers for each book/section, in a single book. I designed bold, eye-catching detailing for the chapter headings, and used stars and tape as the accenting effects for scene breaks and running feet design. I made sure to match fonts to the cover and maintained the 'badboy' look and feel throughout the text.

Being that the book was so long, I also chose the appropriate trim size and page layout to ensure a comfortable read for her readers.

Candy had this to say about my work: "I wanted to add my recommendation. Colleen did formatting for my three book series that I wanted in a bundle. She was in communication with me throughout the process to make sure I would be happy with the finished product. Fantastic work and fantastic service :)"