Hire My Designers & Editors

This post is a shout out to the amazing people who took my words and turned them into a product that I am infinitely proud of. Below are links to the companies and individuals I used to put together my books. I did extensive research to find these gems and cannot thank them enough for all that they've done for me.

Formatter

Cover Designer

Editor

A Call to Edit

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged about something that isn't Insecure Writer's Support Group. I want to apologize for my absence and ask that you all be patient with me for a little longer. You see aside from being generally lazy, I've spent the last few months doing Camp NaNoWriMo and also working on the final self edits for my first novel.
        That's what I'm here to talk to you about today. You see I need your help. I'm fast approaching the end of any edits I can do for myself and soon I'm going to have to hand my WIP to a professional. The question is which professional. There are so many editing, cover making and formatting services out there that it gives me a headache just thinking about it. I've trawled through hundreds of web pages trying to get a handle on services vs pricing but nothing seems comparable. Some editors don't even offer the same kinds of edits.
        I'm more than happy to pay for quality but without having used a service before I'm not sure what "quality" actually entails. That's where you guys come in. I know many of you have published before, some of you many times over. Are there any services that you could recommend to me? Bearing in mind that I've written a young adult dystopian novel set in Australia. I'm not even sure at this point whether I would prefer to use an Australian or an international editor so any suggestions you might have would be great. Thanks in advance.

Publishing in Australia

I've been at this writing lark for a little under two years now and even in that short amount of time it feels like the entire publishing industry has changed so much. When I first decided that I wanted to try and publish, I was under the impression that my only option was to go the traditional route and do the whole agent, then publisher, then years of editing thing.
        Frankly, it scared the heck out of me. Not only because it's such a difficult process to begin with but because of the lack of control that I hear writers have over their own work. Then I met all you wonderful bloggers and writers and discovered the world of self publishing. Now it feels like I have all the options in the world. I only need pick one and go for it (Ha! Because it's that easy!)
       I've made it my goal this year to publish at least one thing I've written. Being Australian, I think that brings with it a whole different kettle of challenges than it would if I were from say the States or the UK. For a start the market is a lot smaller here and it could take years for a book to prove itself in Australia before international publishing is considered. For another, self publishing hasn't caught on the way it has elsewhere so I still get those blank looks from anyone when I mention Kindle or Kobo or Nook.
       I don't even want to delve into the scary world of self marketing, formatting, book covers and everything else that goes with it. I am neither an artist nor an accountant and I am the absolute worst at following any kind of advice unless it is written in easy to follow steps and everything happens exactly as instructed. Not exactly a stellar start point for a writer. But despite all that, I have a dream and I will see that dream to fruition no matter what.
       So, I've decided to document my Australian publishing journey on this blog. I will write about everything that I do in order to get my work out there. So that all those writers who come after me don't have to suffer the same kind of anxiety that I have been! And if anyone comes across anything that might help me, please feel free to post it in the comments :)

Watch this space!