Overview
With nearly 30 years experience of book design and production, I am happy to offer my services for typesetting/page layout, image optimisation, packaging and getting books to printers/distributors with problem-free files. I have used Adobe InDesign since its first release in 1999, and was using Adobe PageMaker before that.
My experience includes 11 years at Able Publishing, a company that specifically assisted self-publishing authors to get their books produced. The books produced included family and local histories, biographies, educational titles and fiction.
I spent 7 happy years at Robert Hale Ltd, a family-owned independent publisher, with responsibility for producing trade fiction and non-fiction titles in a wide variety of genres. There was plenty of communication with the author through the production of their books. Robert Hale ceased trading at the end of November 2015 and their imprints were taken over by The Crowood Press. I was pleased to be able to finish works in progress and continue to assist with occasional Hale titles.
I also worked in the Life division of DK as a Pre-Production Producer on an extended maternity cover contract. It was an excellent experience working for one of the best illustrated non-fiction publishers but I missed the creativity of the work I had done before. When the contract came to an end, I saw it as an opportunity to return to a more creative role as a freelancer.
I have now been helping independent authors for nearly 7 years and have a 5-star rating from authors who have used my services via Reedsy. I am generally booked up (pun intended!) for a couple of months ahead so please keep that in mind when submitting requests.
Services
Non-Fiction
Fiction
Languages
Work experience
Self-employed
Making books beautifully easy to read. Design and production services for book coaches and independent authors.
DK
An extended maternity cover contract that involved ensuring the correct set-up for co-editionable illustrated titles for the Life Division including template checking, liaison between creative teams and print producers, preflighting files according to DK standards and archiving.
Robert Hale Ltd
I managed the production of trade fiction and non-fiction books from receipt of edited script through to signing off printer's proofs. The role included:
• Preparation of artwork briefs
• Commissioning cover artwork from external illustrators and designers
• Procuring images from stock photo libraries and other sources
• Preparing images for print production
• Typesetting fiction and non-fiction titles, including illustrated books, in both hardback and paperback formats
• Instructing external typesetters
• Outputting all covers, jackets and text files for printers
• Submitting print orders
I also managed the production of ebooks via external conversion companies and distributors and undertook conversion from InDesign to epub in-house of the titles that I had typeset.
Able Publishing
I managed the production of books and marketing materials for self-publishing authors including cover design, typesetting/layout, preparation of images for print production, proofreading, output of files for printing and print orders.
Portfolio
Catherine has 18 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Responsiveness
Mary L.
Mar, 2024
Maria I.
Oct, 2023
Scott T.
Sep, 2023
Maria I.
Aug, 2023
Linda E.
Jun, 2023
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