What an unforgettable three days! Our first annual Empowered Author Summit brought together an incredible community of writers, industry experts, and creative entrepreneurs, and the energy was nothing short of electric.
We set out to create a fully immersive, high-impact event designed to educate, empower, and elevate authors at every stage of their publishing journey. And thanks to all of you, it became so much more than we imagined!
This September, Tellwell is at the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto whichi brings together thousands of readers and writers — and this year, Tellwell authors will be right in the mix. The Tellwell booth will showcase a selection of books by authors from across Canada and beyond. Have a look to see which authors will be on display at this year’s festival.
Book: The Ottawa Way: Guilty by Gender in Canada’s Capital
Demetrios Angelis’ tale is a provocative mix of true crime, personal narrative, and social critique. Convicted in 2010 of murdering his wife, Angelis argues his case through a wider lens of justice, gender, and media bias.
Book: Thy Will Be Done
In Thy Will Be Done, Denyse Wigglesworth delivers a spiritual message grounded in peace, joy, and divine love. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Denyse shares reflections meant to awaken readers to their deeper purpose. At the heart of her book is the idea that we are co-creators with God — often unaware of the powerful role we play in shaping our own spiritual journey. Through gentle wisdom and divine insight, this book offers guidance to help readers shift their awareness, better understand “the Way,” and walk a path of love and light.
Book: For Teachers: Words to Inspire and Guide You
Teaching is more than a profession — it’s a calling. In For Teachers: Words to Inspire and Guide You, Georgina Novacich offers a heartfelt tribute to educators, recognizing the profound role they play in shaping minds, hearts, and spirits. This beautifully written book is filled with love, gratitude, and encouragement for those who have answered the call to teach. Designed as a source of daily inspiration, it reminds educators that their path is both noble and deeply impactful. Whether read at the start of a school day or in quiet reflection, this book is a meaningful companion for every teacher.
We’re excited to share some important updates! These will benefit all new authors who are beginning their publishing journey with us on or after September 1, 2025.
For the first time in two years we’ve updated our publishing package pricing, and with that comes a major upgrade in what’s included, starting with our Standard Package and above.
These updates reflect our continued commitment to supporting authors with more value, better tools, and stronger publishing outcomes.
We’ve expanded the core features included in all new projects starting from the Standard Package and up. Here’s what every author will now receive:
Authors now keep 100% of their net royalties, with Managed Distribution 100 automatically included at no extra cost. This means no hidden fees or royalty cuts, just your earnings, in your hands.
Every manuscript now goes through an editorial review by a professional editor. You’ll receive a detailed feedback report outlining:
This helps you move toward publication with clarity and confidence.
Every author now gets access to Tellwell’s new Marketing Workshop and Guide, designed to help you build a launch strategy, understand your target readers, and grow your sales post-publication.
This is our first pricing update since 2023. As publishing standards and costs have evolved, we’ve taken this opportunity to:
We remain focused on keeping pricing competitive and transparent while giving you more tools and support than ever before.
Since 2023, we’ve made key service upgrades to elevate your publishing experience:
In addition to the orientation call, every project now also includes a live “checkpoint” call with your dedicated project manager at the design stage to clarify the revision process and final steps before publication.
Every book now undergoes three separate quality control reviews before it goes to print, to ensure it meets publishing standards and your expectations.
We now include a professional edit of your back cover text, a key sales tool for both print and online book listings.
Want to order a proof copy prior to distribution? Now you can, at no additional charge.
All new projects starting on or after September 1, 2025 will receive the updated package inclusions and new pricing.
If you’re already working with us or have locked in by making a deposit, your project will continue under your original terms unless otherwise discussed with your publishing consultant.
If you’re considering starting a new project or want to learn how these changes may benefit you, our team is here to help. Reach out to your publishing consultant or get in touch.
We’re proud to continue raising the bar and helping authors like you share your story!
Announcing the Empowered Author Summit: Your Free 3-Day Virtual Event to Level Up Your Author Journey
Are you an aspiring or established author looking to take your writing career to the next level? Whether you’re just starting to draft your first manuscript or ready to scale your author brand, we’ve got something for you! We’re thrilled to invite you to the Empowered Author Summit, a free, three-day virtual event designed to empower authors at every stage of the publishing journey.
This exclusive summit brings together authors, editors, coaches, marketers, and publishing professionals to give you the tools, insights, and confidence to succeed in the world of books. Over three days, you’ll get practical advice, insider tips, and real stories from industry experts who have been where you are and know what it takes to get your book out into the world.
Mark your calendar—the Empowered Author Summit is happening November 5–7, 2025! Here’s what you can expect each day:
Are you passionate about helping authors succeed? We’re looking for dynamic speakers to join us for our first annual Empowered Authors Summit, a 3-day virtual event designed to support indie writers at every stage of their journey.
Event Dates: November 5–7, 2025
We’re inviting authors, coaches, editors, marketers, publishers, and other experts to share insights that empower indie writers.
Presentation Options:
Ideal Topics Include:
Speaker Perks:
Apply now to be a speaker and inspire indie authors across the globe!
Spots are limited—don’t miss this chance to make your mark at the Empowered Authors Summit 2025!
Calling all Tellwell authors! The Word on the Street Festival is Canada’s largest celebration of storytelling, drawing over 100,000 book lovers each year to downtown Toronto. This year, the 2025 festival will be held September 27–28 at David Pecaut Square, featuring hundreds of publishers, authors, and literary organizations—and we want your book to be part of the action!
We’re offering showcase-only display spots at the Tellwell booth—perfect for authors who want to get their book in front of readers without attending the event.
This package includes:
✔️ Display of 10–25 copies of your book at the Tellwell booth on both days
✔️ Tellwell staff handling all sales or giveaways on your behalf
✔️ Personalized signage with your book cover, name, and tagline
✔️ 5–7 event photos + 1 video featuring your book, sent to you post-show
✔️ Feature in Tellwell’s blog and newsletter recap
✔️ Optional giveaways of remaining copies (books not returned unless arranged)
✔️ Sales subject to 8% transaction fee
*You cover the cost of printing & shipping; books must arrive by September 21. Toronto authors may hand-deliver books the morning of Saturday, September 27.
Want us to take care of printing and shipping for you? Just let us know—we’ll coordinate everything to ensure your book is ready and on display.
Make a bold impression with customized, professionally designed materials:
Spots are first come, first served—and they’re selling fast!
To secure your showcase-only display spot, fill out the sign-up form here, and we’ll send over your invoice and next steps.
Let’s get your book in front of thousands of readers at Word on the Street Toronto 2025!
In this inspiring conversation, Alyssa sits down with Elaine Alec, Indigenous author, speaker, and thought leader, to explore the powerful journey behind her books Calling My Spirit Back and Coming of Age. Through deeply personal reflections, Elaine shares insights into the creative process, the self-publishing journey, and the healing power of storytelling—especially within Indigenous communities.
Whether you’re a writer, a reader, or someone navigating your own healing path, Elaine’s wisdom offers valuable guidance on how vulnerability, authenticity, and connection can shape both personal and collective growth.
Elaine Alec opens up about the writing process behind Calling My Spirit Back, a memoir that blends personal experience with cultural storytelling. For Elaine, writing wasn’t just about sharing her story—it was a deeply healing act. From confronting intergenerational trauma to reclaiming her voice, every chapter was a step toward spiritual and emotional restoration.
“Writing was a way to bring myself back to myself,” Elaine shares. “To call my spirit back.”
From consultant to thought leader: Gary Cox shares the journey to his book Cultivating Champions of CI : A Leader’s Toolbox for Creating a Continuous Improvement Culture
One thing I have acknowledged and accepted is this fundamental truth: we all experience the same challenges in leadership and business success.
Before we get started, tell us a little bit about yourself!
Born in England, my family immigrated to Canada in the fall of 1969. I was 10 years old. I have lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ever since. I married my high school sweetheart and this year we’ll celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary. We have two daughters, both with families, each having two children. They live close so we spend lots of time with our grandchildren. I am very blessed by my family and circle of close friends. I retired from Canada Post Corporation after a 38-year career. I started that career as a letter carrier delivering mail and ended in the position of National Director of Process Engineering, Innovation and Integration. I was responsible for our Continuous Improvement Lean Six Sigma training and improvement projects. I had an amazing team and colleagues. After retiring I joined Barrington Consulting as their lead CI trainer and we started a new line of business, Operational Performance Services (Barrington OPS), servicing public and private sector clients in training, mentoring, and coaching leaders and frontline staff in the continuous improvement of their business processes. I’m very passionate about supporting people in their growth and achieving their business and personal goals.
What inspired you to turn your experience in CI into a book?
The last sentence of the previous question really sums up why. A book is one way to help others learn and grow in their leadership and in development of others, and I accept that helping others succeed is a measure of my own success. If I can share my 25-plus years in what I’ve learned as a leader, mentor, coach and continuous improvement student and advocate, and make a positive contribution to the growth of others, I consider it an honour.
My business mission statement, which I share in my book is: “To be recognized as a leader with integrity in operational efficiency by utilizing proven methods and practices. My mission is to coach and mentor others in their self-development, helping them increase their knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward achieving both personal and business goals.” I wrote that statement a decade into my career and it remains a guiding mission for what I do. I have a personal mission statement too, which overarches my business mission statement.
My publishing experience with Tellwell has been unique: I’ve witnessed three radically different versions of the same book emerge squalling and wailing into the literary universe and collaborated with three different “midwives.”
My book is available in English, in French, and in audiobook form, and I translated the original English book into French myself.
Let’s imagine an interrogation of an author who has reached these heights of folly . . .
What inspired you to write the book in the first place?
The introductory vignette of my book and the very first tale addresses exactly this question!
I worked as a radio writer/broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Quebec City, Canada, for 10 years, between 1987 and 1997, honing storytelling skills through a weekly recounting of personal and often satirical tales of everyday life, which a number of listeners urged me to publish. My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny is a belated response to those requests and includes an array of freshly minted humorous and edgy sketches besides.
The book, my first, was prompted by a sense of urgency. I feel like my own shelf life is about to expire!
Over the last several years, and particularly since I reached the age of 70 nearly three years ago, I’ve become acutely aware of how little time I have left before disappearing like an evanescent soap bubble. Pop! Gone! Moreover, the surreal dystopia that suddenly emerged full-blown from the depths of a preternatural realm of nightmare in March 2020 has served to foreground the haunting fragility and fleeting nature of life itself.
These days, each time that I listen to a favourite piece of music, re-watch a beloved film, or re-read a personally meaningful book or article, I’m acutely aware that this may be the last time around. A bizarre and unsettling experience, which is both profound and strangely banal.
Memories are of course consciously prompted by a sort of mental rewind button, or arrive on their own, stimulated by sights, sounds, or smells. Rewinding memories and sharing them with readers—who may discover all sorts of affinities—is part of my ritualized last lap.
I’m a former college teacher and I once had a student who declared at the end of term, “My time with you has been short, but very funny.” This statement, made in passing, has come to summarize my earthly existence and was a logical choice for the title of my book. A fitting epitaph as well!
Last but not least, I’ve written this book as a legacy work for friends and family, most of all for my two clever and witty sons, Dan and David, and for Anne, my kind and gentle wife of nearly 45 years.
Why did you translate your book into French?
“You need your head examined,” my father used to tell me. ”You’re a devil for punishment.” It’s true that the fabric of my life is woven with multitudinous strands of inexplicable masochism. So often I love what makes me miserable and I’m miserable doing what I love. Acting, teaching, radio broadcasting and storytelling, social activism, translating . . .
Take translation . . . please. Specifically translation of idiomatic creative writing.
I relish the challenges inherent in striving to render what is ineffable, an ultimately futile attempt to transpose a verbal repository that holds an unassailable otherness. And yet these same challenges drive me bananas!In my pea brain, ambivalence not Brittania rules the waves.
When I set out to write My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny, the masochistic demon lodged within my scarred psyche pushed me to translate each sketch into French.
I was soon lost in translation with not one, but two books on my plate. Of course, the need to have the French version of the book revised by a Francophone professional became readily apparent. Fortunately, my younger son is a professional translator, educated in French. He had time to do some quick revising.
And I was so fortunate to be able to call on the services of a brilliant French language wordsmith, Hélène Charpentier, for deep revision. Translating this book was a true labour of love. And collaborating with Hélène, a brilliant editor, was an extraordinary privilege.
What are a few of the challenges of translating this creative work, or any other?
Let’s start with the title. Hélène and I first struggled to find an appropriate rendering of the book’s title. Hélène’s daughter suggested it, and we settled on, My Time with You Was Brief but Hilarious.
A title with an idiomatic flair! I had originally put forward a much more banal rendering: The Time I Spent with You Was Short but Very Amusing. In comparison to Hélène’s, my suggestion went down the proverbial hatch like a lump of undigested porridge!
Finding the author’s voice (Hélène’s French comments with my English summary underneath):
Hélène: You know, since I already told you, I really enjoyed doing this work. I really appreciated the subtlety of your style, your humour, and this incredible self-deprecation.
One of the first challenges: respecting this very particular spirit which emanates from your words; sometimes I had to think about whether what you had written was “correct” French, because sometimes you used unusual expressions, but which characterize your original personality well.
Hélène says here that during the revision process, she tried to respect my narrative voice, including the pervading tone of self-deprecation. It’s only in writing this book that I discovered that I had such a voice, and when translating the book I feared that the voice would vanish like the chirping of a lone sparrow at the onset of winter darkness.
Wordplay
Hélène: Another challenge: finding French expressions to make a pun identical to the English one.
Hélène was faced with the unenviable task of finding equivalents for puns and other wordplay, as was I when translating the texts.
Example: The title of a vignette, “Reigning Cats and Dogs”—In English, it’s excellent. You translated it donner sa langue au chat (give your tongue to the cat), as if you really wanted to keep the word “cat,” but it didn’t really have any connection with what you wrote afterwards. In French, I couldn’t find an identical pun, so I put les chiens ne fait pas des chats (dogs don’t make cats), but obviously we lose the touch of humour.
“This bird was for the birds” means nothing if you translate it verbatim. But I think that une cervelle d’oiseau (a bird brain) translates what you mean quite well while being a typically French expression.
“Youth hostile.” In English, the pun is excellent. In French, auberge de vieillesse is not bad, but we don’t find the same pun as in English between “hostel” and “hostile.” I haven’t found a better one. I’m still looking . . .
Hélène describes here the impossible challenge of dealing with wordplay, including puns and authorial inventions. For example, “youth hostile” is a play on youth hostel, because in the instance described in the story the hostel was indeed hostile to youth! There’s simply no way to capture that in French.
Idioms from Quebec and from France
Hélène: Another challenge: linguistic differences from one country to another, that is to say, in our case, checking that the expressions you used were more suited to France than to Quebec, or vice versa. I put a comment in the margin each time. Example: “shopping,” avoir les chocottes, etc.
Hélène is referring here to the fact that I tended to mix expressions from Quebec with expressions from France, which are not necessarily mutually understandable.
Cultural references
Hélène: Another challenge: cultural references. Any good translator must be highly cultured, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t quite catch your allusion to “Britannia.” I’m sorry!
“Cosmic muffin,” which means nothing to a French-speaking audience. Well, not to me, at least . . .
“Miltonic Hades.” It’s okay for Hades, but “Miltonian” won’t be understood by all audiences . . .
“Hairy Thunderer.” You translated “hairy” as poilu, but it seemed to me that barbu was more appropriate because I could clearly see the image of the angry god with his big beard, and I found that poilu didn’t sound right in French. Question: does barbu accurately translate what you meant?
I had trouble with “trespasses,” because in English the link is perfect between “trespassers will be prosecuted” and “forgive us our trespasses,” but in French this is not the case at all!
“A true hit of Father.” It sounds so good in English, but in French I couldn’t leave a “veritable dose” . . .
“Lather, rinse and repeat supplication time.” Not easy for me to guess the allusion to laundry or shampoo, so I don’t know if what I put corresponds to your thought, but in French l’heure de la mousse, du rinse, etc. didn’t mean much.
“Leaving the proverbial frying pan.” In French, la poële à fritre doesn’t mean much.
Here Hélène lists images and references that cannot be translated, or simply don’t resonate with a French-speaking readership. In short, my book is jam-packed with cultural baggage that I want so much to share with Francophone readers, but which sometimes get lost in translation.
But thanks to Hélène’s splendid suggestions and clever solutions, the French version of the book contains riches I would never have dreamed of.
You can order the French version of My Time with You Was Short But Hilarious is now available to order via this link.
Your masochistic proclivities reached an apex when you decided to have Tellwell produce an audiobook version of My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny. What on earth could you have been thinking?
The genesis of the audiobook is twofold. Firstly, I have a wonderful friend by the name of Kelly Edmison who swears by audiobooks and informed me that he would only listen to the book, not read it. The audiobook is dedicated to him.
Secondly, many of the stories were recounted on air, so are meant to be heard as well as read. Overseeing the production of an audiobook is not for the faint of heart. The project took a whole year to complete!
Tellwell authors are not permitted to narrate their own Tellwell audiobooks. The highly skilled narrator whom I selected from several options provided by the publisher had to overcome numerous obstacles, not the least of which stem from the bits of French and Slovak included in a few of the stories.
I’m excited to announce that the English version of my audiobook is at long last available on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books, meaning listeners can purchase it outright, use an Audible credit, or get a discount if they own the Kindle version.
Your friend,
Robert
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new podcast, Demystifying Self-Publishing with Tellwell, the ultimate guide to navigating the world of self-publishing. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or uncertain about how to get your book out into the world, this podcast is for you. Whether you’re an aspiring author or already on your self-publishing journey, our mission is to help you break down the complexities of the industry and provide you with expert insights and practical advice that will help you succeed.
The self-publishing industry can often feel overwhelming. With so many options available and countless decisions to make, it’s easy to get lost in the details. That’s where Demystifying Self-Publishing with Tellwell comes in. This podcast will guide you through every step of the process, from the initial concept of your book to the final launch and beyond.
Episodes will feature in-depth interviews with industry professionals, successful self-published authors, and publishing experts who have been through it all and can share their valuable knowledge. Whether you’re curious about formatting, marketing, or distribution, or curious about how other self-published authors have found success, we’ve got you covered. Our guests will share their stories, struggles, and triumphs to give you an honest look at the journey of self-publishing.
Self-publishing is an exciting and rewarding journey, but it can also be challenging. The landscape has evolved so much over the years that what worked for authors in the past may not be as relevant today. That’s why staying informed is crucial, and Demystifying Self-Publishing aims to keep you up to date with the latest trends and tips.
For anyone looking to make their mark in the self-publishing world, this podcast will offer you everything from inspiration to actionable steps. Every episode is designed to leave you empowered and ready to take the next step in your publishing journey.
We’re kicking off the podcast with a series of episodes featuring some truly inspiring guests, including Tellwell’s very own founder and CEO, Timothy Lindsay. We can’t wait to introduce you to experts who can provide tips on navigating common challenges and authors who have successfully built their self-publishing careers.
The first episode is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and our full video episodes are available on YouTube. Whether you’re thinking about writing your first book or looking to grow your self-publishing career, Demystifying Self-Publishing with Tellwell is here to help you along the way.
So grab your headphones, hit play, and let’s demystify self-publishing together! Don’t forget to subscribe!
PS: Interested in being a guest? We are looking for authors or industry experts who have thrived in the world of self-publishing, overcome obstacles, or have unique perspectives to share with our audience. Apply now!
