About Me and How I Can Help You
Hello! I’m Catherine Williams, an avid reader from an early age and the owner of Chapter One Book Production.
I work with Book Coaches and Independent Authors.
With 25+ years’ experience designing the content for and managing the production of books, helping book coaches and self-publishing authors to get their books ready for publication brings me great joy and satisfaction.
My experience of working for publishers like Able Publishing, Robert Hale Ltd, The Crowood Press and DK, has given me both the breadth and depth of experience to help book coaches and aspiring authors to bring their manuscripts to life as wonderful books.
Writing a book is a fantastic achievement. Getting it ready for publication if you are self-publishing can seem like a daunting prospect, so let me guide you through the design and production process.
I can support you every step of the way through the journey from edited script to uploading your print-ready and ebook files to your printers and distributors including:
- Commissioning cover artwork through trusted associates
- Reprographics on images
- Typesetting and layout
- Outputting final files for printers
- Ebook conversion
Working with me through the design and production process can save you considerable amounts of time, money – and stress!
I have a passion for all kinds of books, and reading for both pleasure and knowledge. My love of books and reading is shared with others through my book recommendation blog posts, and by interaction in the book clubs I’m a member of.
I genuinely love taking an author’s words and transforming them into a lasting visual form, so that their expertise or story can be shared, enjoyed and appreciated by others. Let me help you realise that dream.
My Values
Friends, clients and former colleagues have described me as unflappable, and I am often complimented on my ability to meet deadlines with composure and calm. Unflappability is, you will find, a good quality for a book producer to have.
Respect is very important to me. I care about each and every book that I work on; knowing how much effort the author has put into it. Wanting to do the best job possible to get their book ready for publication is a huge part of what I do.
Producing a book is a team effort – even for those who choose to self-publish – and that’s why collaboration is so important to me. Taking a collaborative approach when working with my book coaching and author clients is at the heart of my work. I believe it takes more than one person to achieve a great book – teamwork is crucial. By working closely together and being open and transparent we can make great things happen with your book.
A Bit of Background
I spent eleven years as Publications Manager at Able Publishing, a small family-run company, producing books and promotional items for self-publishing authors.
Next came seven happy years as Design and Production Manager at Robert Hale Ltd where I was responsible for the design and production of trade fiction and non-fiction titles. After Robert Hale ceased trading towards the end of 2015, their imprints were taken over by The Crowood Press and I was able to complete works in progress for them as well as continuing to design and produce print-ready files for new titles published by The Crowood Press under the Hale imprint.
From February 2016 – April 2017, I worked as a Production Editor in the Life Division at DK on an extended maternity cover contract, ensuring that all files were correctly set up for some of DK’s signature illustrated titles including template checking, liaising between creative teams and print producers, pre-flighting files according to DK standards and archiving. While DK is a fabulous publisher to work for, I missed the creativity of my previous role and hence Chapter One Book Production came into being in April 2017.
Now I love working with book coaches and self-publishing authors to bring their manuscripts to life in a lasting visual form that can be easily shared and enjoyed by readers.
