I am not currently taking any more requests for layout or editing commissions, and I shan’t while I’m trying to make a success of the Human Legion series. When new slots become available I will announce them on this site. I’m immensely proud of the work that I’ve have done and the pleasure of working with so may superb authors, which is why I shall continue to display this page. (last updated June 14th 2015)
The best way to show you what I can do is to give examples of books I have formatted. I’ve provided comments to explain any non-standard work I carried out for each book. The links to retailer sites are not there so you can buy the books, but because these retailers provide a free sample for you to inspect. (By the way, the ‘Look inside’ feature at Amazon is a useful equivalent to flicking through a few pages in a bookshop, but does NOT show how the book is formatted.)
iBooks version of Engines of Life
 Fables from the Fountain from NewCon Press. An anthology of short stories (and with Neil Gaiman, Stephen Baxter and Charlie Stross, some cool authors). Features navigation points, active toc, links at the end of each story to author notes and internal images.Download samples at amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | iTunes US UK CA |
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 Pixel Juice by Jeff Noon. An collection of wildly inventive short stories and poems with a strong dash of cyberpunk. Features navigation points, active toc, variable fonts and some weirdness. I’ve produced some other eBooks for Jeff too.Download samples at amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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 Derby Scribes Anthology from Stumar Press. An anthology of short stories. Features navigation points, active toc, links at the end of each story to author notes.Download samples at amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords |
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 Last and First Contacts A collection of short stories by Stephen Baxter. Features navigation points, active toc, and an eBook-specific cover that I adapted from the hardback. Very exciting to make a book for one of my favourite authors.Published April 26th 2012 |
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 Lay Down your Heart by Lesley Caves. A novel set in 70s Rhodesia and contemporary Zimbabwe, which prompted me to try some old-fashioned fonts. I laid out a paperback edition that the author published through Createspace |
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 A Glass of Shadow by Liz Williams, introduction by Tanith Lee. Features active toc and navigation points. The story headings in the print edition were so beautiful that I implemented them as images in the eBook. I used this technique again (and slightly more effectively) when I formatted Liz’s memoir, Diary of a Witchcraft Shop.Download samples at amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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 Ill at Ease from Penman Press. A chapbook of three short horror stories. Features active toc, navigation points, and links from stories to author bios.Download samples at amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Smashwords |
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 Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith from NewCon Press. A novel with a bonus novella too. Features active toc.Download samples from amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | iTunes US UK CA |
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 Last Man Through the Gate by Tim C. Taylor. Yes, I format my own books through my Greyhart Press ‘imprint’. This is a novella with no special features.Download samples from amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | iTunes US UK CA |
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 The Legends of Light by Gill Shutt. Published by (my imprint) Greyhart Press. Features active toc, navigation points, and illustrated frontispieces for each of the six poems in this saga.Download samples from amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | iTunes US UK CA |
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 Drift, a genre-defying novel by Andrew Cyrus Hudson.This used non-standard indentation for special effects. Otherwise, the eBook was the ‘base level’ formatting task of a novel without toc or nav points, and for Amazon Kindle Store only.Subsequently, I laid out the book for a 8″ x 10″ trim size and produced a print-ready pdf for Createspace.amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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 Max Ryan: Nuclear Whore, a humorous collection of over forty anecdotal stories by Max Ryan, with a contribution from each book to the Canadian Equal Parenting Council.This book presented quite a few challenges, both in the rapid turnaround time (I was working on this into the early hours of Christmas Eve) and the illustrated frontispiece to each chapter, which had to be sized and navigation coded to bring up the image full screen. Of all the books I worked on, I think I’m most pleased with this one.amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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 Cold Grey Stones, a collection by Tanith Lee and the first of the forthcoming Imaginings series from NewCon Press.This book is an example of why I need to see the manuscript before confirming a price. There were no less than 92 styles used in the manuscript! This is often the case for collections and anthologies because the source stories were originally formatted completely separately from each other.This commission also require me to change the cover art from the printed version. The print version looked great, but had ‘signed limited edition’ which wasn’t appropriate for the eBook version.Finally, this was the first commission where the publisher asked me to produce a native ePub version (built by me rather than via Smashwords). The publisher offers the ePub to subscribers, but could have used the ePub file to supply to Barnes & Noble PubIt.amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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 Brooklyn Bites, a collection of two short stories by Scott Stabile. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but I’d keep your stash of chocolates hidden if he comes to visit, because these stories have a foody theme.For Amazon Kindle Store only.amazon.com | amazon.co.uk |
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I’ve highlighted a few books above. Below is a list by author that lists the formats I built. Some of these aren’t published yet, and some books I’ve produced I’m not able to tell you about yet due to non-disclosure agreements:
Microcosmos by Nina Allan: Kindle & ePUB
The Last Sunset by Bob Atkinson: Createspace and Lulu paperbacks, Kindle, Smashwords, ePUB.
Stories from the Northern Road by Tony Ballantyne: Kindle and ePUB short story collection
Last and First Contacts by Stephen Baxter : Kindle and ePUB
The Peacock Cloak by Chris Beckett: Kindle, ePUB, a collection from the winner of the Edge Hill Prize and Arthur C Clarke award.
Death Flu by Scott Brietzke: Createspace, Kindle, ePUB, Smashwords
Beside the Sea by Keith Brooke : Kindle, Smashwords
The Unlikely World of Faraway Frankie by Keith Brooke : Kindle, Smashwords
Starship Fall by Eric Brown: Kindle. I already had a signed copy of the hardback for this excellent novella… and I owed Eric a pint… so I pulled out all the stops and I’m very pleased with the result. This is the first Kindle book I tested on a Kindle device running the new KF8 file format. I used new techniques to get around KF8 bugs, such as its annoying habit of stripping away whitespace at the top of pages. Earlier this year I read some of Eric’s Kindle books published by Solaris. They’re great books, and Solaris are a great publisher who do a competent job making their eBooks, but I’ve got to say, on the strength of this one, my formatting is in another league. *uncharacteristic boast over*
At Daggers Drawn by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords
Dragon Wind Rising by Frances Burke: Kindle, ePUB
Enchantress by Frances Burke : Kindle, Smashwords
Endless Time by Frances Burke : Kindle, Smashwords
A Hazard of Hearts by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords
Mademoiselle de Millefiori by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords
Smuggler’s Moon by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords
Sweet Imposter by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords doc, Smashwords Direct ePUB
Windstorm by Frances Burke: Kindle, Smashwords
SiGNALS (a suspense novelette) by Emma Coleman : Kindle, Smashwords
The Secret Sauce of a Loving Relationship by Mirella DeBoni: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords. Non-fiction. Revised the cover too.
Self-Esteem: Get it! Live it! Love it! by Mirella DeBoni: Createspace, Kindle. Revised the paperback cover.
Simple Steps to a Loving Relationship by Mirella DeBoni: Createspace, Kindle. Revised the paperback cover.
Why are you so angry? by Mirella DeBoni: Createspace and Kindle. Revised the paperback cover too. Non-fiction.
Dead to Rights: A Circularity of Glosas by Alain C. Dexter: createspace, Kind;e, ePUB. Tasty poetry layouts.
Badger’s Waddle by Nigel Edwards: Createspace, Lulu, Kindle, Smashwords, ePUB.
Ferryman (a short story) by Nigel Edwards : Kindle, Smashwords
Garrison (a military fantasy novelette) by Nigel Edwards : Kindle, Smashwords
The Cookie Tin (A fantasy novelette from Greyhart Press) by Nigel Edwards : Kindle, Smashwords
The Cookie Tin Collection by Nigel Edwards: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, paperback cover layout (not the front image). Short story collection featuring internal images.
Waif (A fantasy short story) by Nigel Edwards : Kindle, Smashwords
Spirit of the House by Cayte Else : Createspace & Kindle. Also did some copy-editing.
Reaper’s Walk: Hellstone by Don Franklin: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, ePUB
The First Last Robot (a short story) by David Fraser : Kindle, Smashwords
To Free a Spy by Nick B. Ganaway: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords. I’m not only laying out the books, but Nick has subsequently engaged me as project manager and general dogsbody to set up a marketing plan, do some copyediting, advise on structural edits, set up a website/ Twitter account and so on…
Ahmad’s War, Ahmad’s Peace by Michael Goldfarb: Kindle, Smashwords. Reissue of an acclaimed book by a journalist in Iraq before, during, and after the Second Gulf War. Interesting typography and a lot of photographs, some of which I’ve floated.
Cold Calling Early Customers by Robert Graham: Createspace, Kindle. This presented plenty of challenges, especially for the Kindle edition: pull-out quotes, plenty of special formatting, bulleted lists etc. I also produced the cover art.
Brunswick by Ann Haines : Kindle & Smashwords
Traveling Alone by Doug Hannum: Paperback tidy up. I get quite a few of these commissions An author has almost laid out their own paperback book successfully but is stuck on a few specific problems, typically section breaks and margins. I can help by sorting out the problem areas.
axis by Heather K O’Hara: Createspace. Lovingly designed poetry collection. Heather did most of the work herself; I handled section breaks, headers, footers, some page layout, contents page, and fleurons.
Mary by Ann Haines: Kindle, Smashwords and FeedaRead (which is new paperback printer/ retailer — formatting wise very similar to Createspace and Lulu)
Quicksilver by Norman Hartley: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, cover layout (not front page illustration). Spy thriller.
Shadowplay by Norman Hartley: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, cover layout (not front page illustration). Spy thriller.
The Saxon Network by Norman Hartley: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, cover layout (not front page illustration). Spy thriller.
The Viking Process by Norman Hartley: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, cover layout (not front page illustration). Spy thriller.
And God Created Zombies by Andrew Hook: Kindle
Drift by Andrew Hudson : Createspace & Kindle
Poems for the Wolves (Omnibus) by Andrew Hudson: Createspace & Kindle. A challenging mix of poetry and prose, with sound effects for the battle scenes as the heroes battle the alien invaders.
Poems for the Wolves — Verse I: Journey by Andrew Hudson: Kindle
Poems for the Wolves — Verse II: War by Andrew Hudson: Kindle
Poems for the Wolves — Verse III: Home by Andrew Hudson: Kindle
The Virgin Sailor by Peewee Hunt: Memoir of Royal Navy sailor aboard HMS Ark Royal in the 1960s. Also offered advice on publishing and some editing. It’s a great read. Paperback and Kindle.
VampCon by Armand Inezian: Createspace, Lulu, Kindle, Smashwords. I also did the paperback design and layout (not the front cover art)
Ashram of the Sea by Kathryn Jensen: Createspace interior and cover design. Kindle, ePUB. A book inspired by dolphins. Many images and complex formatting such as text boxes. The eBook versions also have text boxes and text flowing around the many images, which were optimized for eBooks. The Kindle version uses media queries to give a different design for Mobi7-capable and the more modern KF8-capable devices and reader apps. Basically, that means the book looks great on a Kindle Fire/ Paperwhite/ Kindle 3/4/Touch and Reader for PC. It won’t look quite as good on iOS, Mac, DX or Android, but it will look as good as these more limited devices/apps will permit.
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop by Trevor Jones and Liz Williams : Kindle & ePUB. Illustrated non-fiction with fancy fonts for titles delivered as images.
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop2 by Trevor Jones and Liz Williams : Kindle & ePUB. Illustrated non-fiction with text flowing around images.
Employee Engagement for Everyone by Kevin Kruse: Kindle. I’m particularly pleased with this one. Made full use of the Kindle’s capabilities — inline graphics that I designed myself, color, text shadowing, text boxes, text alignment, pull quotes — to make this book visually stimulating in order to support the message.
Cold Grey Stones by Tanith Lee : Kindle, ePUB
Refractions on a Laughing Mountain by Yossi Lopez-Hineynu: Createspace paperback. Most of the layout of this poetry book was already done by the publisher. I helped out with section definitions, contents page and page numbers. They might sound dull tasks, but they’re tricky and easy to get wrong, especially with a book like this which is much more complex than standard fiction. Happy to help out!
Bridge of Blood by Philip McCormac: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords, ePUB
Babel (a spaceopera-horror short story) by Paul Melhuish : Kindle, Smashwords
Fearworld (A horror short story) by Paul Melhuish : Kindle, Smashwords
Necroforms (a short story) by Paul Melhuish : Kindle, Smashwords
Terminus by Paul Melhuish : Kindle, Smashwords, Createspace
Unauthorized Contact by Paul Melhuish: Createspace, Lulu, cover design, editing, Kindle, Smashwords
Loss de Plott by Stephan Myers: I was commissioned to prepare Createspace and Kindle versions of this fantasy novel with 41 colour illustrations by the author. Very high quality illustrations they are too. In the end, although I spent several hours working on this, I think it’s fairest to say that I gave help and advice that enabled the author to complete the formatting himself, which actually gives me a sense of satisfaction that might surprise you.
The Colour Red by Stephan Myers: I helped out with the final paperback interior tidying of this fine illustrated children’s book.
Eggman by J Milligan: Kindle and Smashwords — this was a challenge, still not complete as I write this. Several images, split narrative, and TV screens left, mid, and right.
Back Dated by Chris Niblock : Kindle & Smashwords
Games People Play by Chris Niblock : Kindle & Smashwords
Soul Trader by Chris Niblock: Kindle and Smashwords.
Automated Alice (the Vurt Cycle) by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords
Channel SK1N by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords — my word this was a pig! Worth it though, in the end, and honoured to produce Jeff’s first novel in ten years, one he published himself eBook-first.
Falling out of Cars by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords
Needle in the Groove by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords
Nymphomation by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords. Used white on black boxes to represent computer screens.
Pixel Juice (the Vurt Cycle) by Jeff Noon: Kindle, ePUB & Smashwords
The Path of Songs by Heather K O’Hara: Paperback (finished off the layout for this poetry book, for which Heather had already produced an excellent layout.)
Crank Tech One: Destruction by Colin R. Parsons: Kindle (so far…) Robot goes on the rampage in Cardiff. Will be doing a US version for Kindle, Smashwords and Createspace (North America only)
Poetry 4 U by Malisa Ray: Paperback (finished off the layout)
Dinosaurs & Cherry Stems by Susan J Ricci: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords — a novel featuring complex navigation that required hand-coded CSS and html code.
Across the Event Horizon by Mercurio D. Rivera: Createspace & ePUB
“Max Ryan: Nuclear Whore” and other Life Stories of a Secondary Parent by Max Ryan : Kindle, Smashwords Features scores of chapters, each with a illustration as part of the chapter heading.
On the Edge by Gill Shutt : Kindle, Smashwords, PDF (laid out like paperback), Createspace
The Quest for Elena the Fair (poetry) by Gill Shutt : Kindle, Smashwords. Illustrations
The Legends of Light (poetry) by Gill Shutt : Kindle, Smashwords, Createspace. Features illustrations and (I think) the paperback has beautiful fonts
Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith : Kindle, Smashwords
Brooklyn Bites Vol I by Scott Stabile : Kindle & Smashwords
Brooklyn Bites Vol II by Scott Stabile : Kindle & Smashwords
Brooklyn Bites Vol III by Scott Stabile : Kindle & Smashwords
Iris by Scott Stabile: Kindle, ePUB, Awesome YA fantasy novel. Paperback, paperback cover design using a base image supplied by Scott.
State of Wonder: Awakening to Presence by Rodney Stevens: Lulu & Kindle. Non-fiction/ spiritual. A refreshing mix of prose, Q&A’s and more.
Dead Edit Redo by Elaine Stirling: Createspace, Kindle, ePUB. Features images, ornaments and poetry, and some neat title fonts.
Percy and Me ‘neath the Yum Gum Tree (poetry) by Elaine Stirling : Online layout and Smashwords
The Mexican Saga (poetry) by Elaine Stirling : Kindle, Smashwords & PDF (the PDF layout was essentially a paperback layout but without mirrored margins)
Orphi and the Shadowpaths by Scott Taylor : Lulu (paperback) and Kindle. Also did copy-editing.
Format YOUR Book with Createspace by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle and Createspace (paperback; non-fiction with a large number of images)
Future Speculation (a short story) by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords
Last Man Through the Gate by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords, PDF
No More Than Human by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords
Speak, Vaccine! Speak! (a short story) by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords
The Meandering Mayhem of Thogron Throatbiter (a short story) by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords (my favourite title)
The Reality War Book1: The Slough of Despond by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords, PDF, Createspace, Lulu
The Reality War Book2: The City of Destruction by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords, PDF, Createspace, Lulu
Welcome Home, Jannisary by Tim C. Taylor : Kindle, Smashwords. Funnily enough, I didn’t self-publish this one. NewCon Press published this.
Feast and Famine by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Kindle, ePUB. Short story collection.
Twember by Steve Rasnic Tem: Kindle, ePUB. Short story collection.
Soul Screams by Sara Jayne Townsend: Kindle & Smashwords. Horror collection.
Objects in Dreams by Lisa Tuttle: Kindle & ePUB
Dark Currents by Various (anthology) : Kindle, ePUB, and PDF
Derby Scribes 2011 Anthology by Various : Kindle, Smashwords
Fables from the Fountain by Various (anthology) : Kindle, Smashwords
Further Conflicts by Various (anthology) : Kindle, Smashwords
Hauntings by Various (anthology): Kindle, Smashwords. A co-production between Un:Bound and NewCon Press. Some of the stories from the book were read (or ad-libbed!) at a live event videoed by Un:Bound. Sweet!
Ill at Ease by Various (anthology) : Kindle and Smashwords
A NewCon Press Sampler by Various (anthology): Kindle & ePUB
Somewhere in the Shadows by Various (anthology): Kindle
Turns by Various (anthology of memoirs): Kindle and Smashwords… and help for the Createspace paperback This was interesting. The memoirs were deliberately formatted differently by the editor. A real mix with US Navy poetry, old photos etc.
Cassy Kindly and Friends by Mandy E Ward: Kindle
Cassy Kindly and the Christmas Fairies by Mandy E Ward: Createspace, Kindle, Smashwords. This was a delight! An illustrated children’s book about fairies. The paperback was two-column with beautiful colour illustrations. I also cropped and resized the images, did the paperback layout and added the author’s name to the cover illustration.
The Weird and Wonderful Onesie by Mandy E. Ward: Illustrated children’s book. Produced Kindle and paperback. Edited. Created paperback design using an internal illustration as a basis.
Saving for a Sunny Day by Ian Watson (collection) : Kindle, ePUB & PDF
Engines of Life: Tales of Evolution by Andy West : Kindle, ePUB, Createspace and cover design.
Rescue Stories (A science fiction novelette) by Andy West : Kindle, Smashwords
The Outcast and the Little One by Andy West : Kindle, ePUB & PDF
Conjure by Mark West : Kindle, Smashwords Direct ePUB 
In the Rain with the Dead by Mark West : Kindle, Smashwords
The Mill (a novelette) by Mark West : Kindle, Smashwords, ePUB, PDF (laid out like paperback), Createspace, Lulu, Lulu special limited edition. Had fun with the title fonts on this one.
One Night in London by Ian Whates : Kindle, Smashwords
The Gift of Joy by Ian Whates : Kindle, Smashwords
Laundered by James Williams: Kindle
A Glass of Shadow by Liz Williams : Kindle and Smashwords
Necrochip by Liz Williams : Kindle & Smashwords
Spare Parts by Stuart Young: Kindle & Smashwords. A short story collection with an illustrated frontispiece for each story. Had to play around a little to optimise the images but very pleased with the result.
Tim C. Taylor 