Small Teams Create the Best Books
A Full-Service Team Approach. A Better Distribution Deal.
Compared to DIY distribution services like Createspace, LightningSource, KDP and Smashwords, Tellwell offers a full-service team approach to publishing and a better distribution deal. The DIY services listed above are all great, but they don’t help with editing, design, or marketing. They don’t give you guidance at each step. You need to be technically savvy. So, for many authors, they just don’t provide the necessary level of support. Tellwell has better distribution than these companies by combining the best features of each!
Compared to full-service publishing companies like Author Solutions (Authorhouse, Xlibris, Trafford, Iuniverse, Belboa), Tellwell has a much better distribution deal. We work with many of the same distribution channels that they use (e.g. Ingram, Lightning Source, and KDP), but Tellwell doesn’t inflate the distribution costs, at all! The problem with inflated distribution costs is that it can negatively impact how you price your book, resulting in high retail prices and lower royalties. Tellwell offers the smartest distribution model.
Our Accomplishments
As a small company, each client of our means a lot to us. We listen to our Clients, so that we can continually improve the quality of our service.
Tellwell Authors
Offices
Publishing Teammates
Client Satisfaction Score out of 10
Leadership
We care about quality. We act with honesty and integrity. We listen and improve, constantly. We think long-term.
Tim Lindsay, CEO
Tim has a passion for books and publishing. He encourages and celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit that is so prevalent in indie publishing. With over 10 years in publishing, Tim came to realize that book publishing industry was broken. All that authors really needed was a small team to help edit, design, distribute and market a book. Passion, teamwork, talent, honesty, and entrepreneurial spirit. These are the values Tim strives to exemplify and cultivate at Tellwell.
Monica Martinez, Marketing Director
Monica has more than 10 years combined experience in storytelling, journalism, and marketing. She works on Tellwell’s content and digital marketing, corporate communications and public relations, to help craft and share the Tellwell story. She also oversees Tellwell’s marketing services program. Before Tellwell, Monica worked as a video-journalist and TV news anchor. She was involved in every aspect of storytelling from shooting, editing and writing.
Pamela Pasco, General Manager
Pamela leads operations at Tellwell’s Center for Publishing Excellence (CPE). She worked in the indie publishing industry starting in 2004 and worked her way up from customer service to leading a publishing operations department. Pamela’s mandate at the CPE is to find innovative solutions to publishing challenges such as timely workflows, online collaboration, and software development while building a team of talented publishing professionals.
Alan Hunter, Lead Developer
Alan leads Tellwell’s IT and software development program. In addition to a degree in business, he brings a wealth of experience as a programmer and senior developer working on software projects in many industries. When away from the computer Alan enjoys sailing, kayaking, climbing and diving around Vancouver island and the world. Alan’s mission with Tellwell is to leverage talent and technology to have a significant and truly positive impact on the publishing industry.
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ContactProduction Team
Natasha Miller, Production Manager
Natasha came to Tellwell from the professional communications program at Royal Roads University. She served as the editor-in-chief of an online lifestyle magazine, working closely with a team of writers, editors and designers.
Elliot Hockley, PM Team Lead
Having started out his career as a copywriter in the advertising industry in the UK, Elliott relocated to Canada, and arrived at Tellwell to help people share their stories.
Simon Page, Project Manager
Simon came to Tellwell after ten years spent supporting clients of all ages and backgrounds while delivering a variety of high quality projects in the non-profit and recreation sectors.
Caitlin Ing, Project Manager
Caitlin came to Tellwell with nearly a decade of customer relations experience, including time in the world of fashion and photography as well as the tech startup industry. She is thrilled to be helping authors publish and share their stories.
Suzzete Avila, Project Manager
Suzzete has 15 years experience working in customer service and management at international companies, including 3 book publishing companies. She has a great passion for helping authors achieve their goals!
Ryland Glass, Distribution Manager
Ryland is dedicated to helping authors get their books printed and to facilitate distribution to various vendors online so that they are available to a variety of readers.
Marketing Team
Kate Bell, Book Marketing Consultant
Kate’s experience stems from working in marketing, communications, and media with a large-scale event production company in the United States and Canada. Kate holds an English Literature degree with a minor in Professional Writing, Journalism, and Publishing. Kate is also an entrepreneur and, when not supporting authors at Tellwell, she spends her evenings at her local business – a competitive cheerleading gym.
Shannon Emery, Book Marketing Consultant
Shannon comes to Tellwell after working in media and creative marketing for nearly a decade for companies throughout North America. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Dalhousie University, and is passionate about utilizing her marketing talents to enable artists and writers to realize their vision through a tailored, individual marketing plan.
Kendal Gerard, Book Marketing Consultant
After completing a BAH in English Literature and Visual Arts from Queen’s University, children’s book publishing seemed the perfect fit for Kendal. She obtained a post-graduate diploma in Book Publishing and began working immediately as the book marketing manager for Owlkids Books and, later, for World Wildlife Fund. Her passion for engaging with young readers led her to complete her Master of Education.
Design Team
Years of combined book design experience!
From the left to right: Ian, Joemar, Benjam, James, Arche, and Von.
Since Tellwell was founded, we’ve always recruited highly experienced designers. In Tellwell’s design process, it is the combination of the author’s ideas, the Project Manager’s guidance, and the designer’s execution that combine to create design excellence. In a word: teamwork!
Ian De Guzman: 7 years full-time book design experience and a Computer Science degree.
Joemar Becbec: Book designer for 7 years, specializing in ebooks.
Benjam Mosquera: A full-time book designer since 2012, Benjam has a Degree in Information Technology.
James Mensidor: Book designer since 2003, some 15 years. He has a talent for children’s books, epub specialist with a Computer Science degree.
Joannes Arche: Fulltime book layout for over 7 years.
Von Langoyan: Designing books since 2012, experience working with major elite clients.
Editing Team
Alison Strumberger, Project Manager and Managing Editor
In addition to shepherding many of our book projects from start to finish, Alison leads Tellwell’s editorial team. She brings to Tellwell ten years professional publishing, writing, and editing experience. She has worked as an editor and project manager in trade and educational publishing houses, taught communications at La Trobe University in Australia, and traveled to nearly thirty countries while teaching English and focusing on her own writing. She holds a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Concordia University, and an MA in Publishing from the University of Melbourne.
Simon, Editor
The youngest son of a linguist with forty-seven unique dictionaries on his shelf, Simon’s excavation of the English language was mandated almost at conception. Mercifully, it all stuck, as a divine infatuation with storytelling manifested sometime after high school and shoved him into the theatre scene. He worked as an actor, then as a playwright, director and journalist for eighteen years.
Jen, Editor
Jen has edited over 200 Tellwell books with rave reviews! She works collaboratively with you to reveal your unique voice while editing your work for logic, clarity, and flow. With meticulous attention to detail, Jen skillfully and artistically guides you through the process of weaving your manuscript until it becomes one unified piece of writing you can be proud to call your own.
Warren
Warren has worked as a professional editor and ghostwriter for many years. He has worked with self-published and traditionally published authors, and he has played a part in the development of hundreds of manuscripts.
Lara
Lara comes to Tellwell with fourteen years’ experience working for a major international book publisher. She specializes in editing romance and has edited books across many genres, including thrillers, erotica, fantasy and non-fiction.
Darin
Darin has helped hundreds of authors say what they mean. He believes that words matter and does his best to refine and polish while maintaining the author’s voice.
Sally
Sally has more than 11 years of editing experience for three of Canada’s largest and most respected publishing houses. She has worked extensively in the romance genre and has edited university-level textbooks.
Rachel, Editor
Nicola, Poetry Editor
Helen, Editor
Gabrielle, Editor
Lauren, Editor
Publishing Consultants
Mitchel Anderson
With an insatiable appetite for reading and an honours degree in English Literature, Mitchel is your guide to the world of self-publishing. Whether you are looking for worldwide distribution or a book of memories for your family, Mitchel will ensure you are well-informed and receive the help that you need in order to have the greatest success possible.
Jennifer Chapin
Jennifer has a background in both the corporate and nonprofit worlds. Prior to coming to Tellwell she worked with nonprofits and social entrepreneurs around the world. She loves working with authors to help them to bring their voices forward in an atmosphere of compassion, professionalism and expertise.
Scott Lunn
Writing has always been a passion for Scott. He feels honoured to speak with authors about their book projects every day. He knows writing takes a lot of time and energy and he has a lot of respect for authors who bring their stories to life and are willing to share them with the world.
Mark Tan
Maria Brown
Philip Gray
Our Operations
Where is Your Book Printed?
Tellwell works with Ingram and their print-on-demand operation Lightning Source with printing operations in:
- LaVergne, Tennessee
- Breinigsville, Pennsylvania
- Fairfield, Ohio
- Fresno, California
- Milton Keynes, England
- Melbourne, Australia
We also print with an extended network of printing operations in USA, Canada, and Asia.
Head Office
At our head office we spend a lot of time working on how to give better guidance to authors at each stage of publishing and how to help publishing teams collaborate to achieve their greatest potential.
We are also leading the development of Octavo, our publishing software.
After launching at the beginning of 2015 Tellwell won Douglas Magazine’s 10 to Watch award and we were a finalist for Viatec’s Start-up of the Year.
West Coast Team Building
Our main office is on the West Coast, so what better way to get to know each other than getting outside! Here are some photos from our Fall team-building activities: some canoeing, tightrope obstacle course, and a nice hike.
Center for Publishing Excellence (CPE)
The Heart of the Publishing World
Cebu has played and will continue to play a very important role in the evolution of the publishing industry. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s Barnes and Noble and Random House both invested heavily in upstart indie publishing companies and these ventures both culminated with large book publishing operations in Cebu. Since then thousands of people in Cebu have worked in publishing.
But big companies don’t alway provide the best place for top talent to flourish. What has been missing is a smaller company that celebrates talent and teamwork and the pursuit of excellence in publishing. Enter Tellwell! Two of our goals at the Center for Publishing Excellence include being recognized as a great employer so that we can attract and retain the top tier of publishing talent. We are very proud of the team we have built so far!
Center for Publishing Excellence Mandate:
