Meet the Team: JM Vertudazo, Post-Publication Manager

Jul 27,2026 / By Mark Mionda / No Comment

This July, we’re introducing JM Vertudazo, Tellwell’s new post-publication manager.

From overseeing distribution, printing, and audiobook production to ensuring every book reaches readers smoothly after publication, JM works behind the scenes to support authors long after their books are released.

Get to know JM as he shares more about his role, his passion for helping authors succeed, and what goes into the post-publication journey.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do here at Tellwell?

I’m JM Vertudazo, and I’m so excited to connect with you all. I live in Mindanao, located in the beautiful southern part of the Philippines. It is a vibrant melting pot of rich traditions, seamlessly blending Maranao, Christian, and Lumad (Indigenous) cultures. Ever since I was young, I dreamed of being a teacher. I used to gather my friends under our hut house and pretend to teach them, using a stick as a pointer on a makeshift classroom board covered in handwritten letters. This dream led me to study an Education major in Literature, which sparked my lifelong appreciation for great stories. I am a huge cat lover and enjoy staying active by going for walks. I’m also always up for a spontaneous road trip—whether that means driving out into nature or heading down to the beach or river, I find the adventure incredibly exciting!

My primary focus at Tellwell is leading the end-to-end delivery of all post-publication services, ensuring the seamless execution of our audiobook, distribution, and printing operations. A typical day for me involves overseeing operational workflows of the three departments, coordinating with print vendors, distribution channels, and monitoring service quality and turnaround times to guarantee author success. I help refine our processes, scale our operations, and ultimately deliver an exceptional, high-quality experience for all of our authors.

Author of the Month

An educator, an illustrator and a puppeteer walk into a bar…

May 25,2017 / By Tellwell Publishing / 16 Comments

…While that could be the beginning of a corny joke, it’s also, save for the bar, the beginning of Linda Briden’s story as an author.

Long before holding her new book, Know Me, in her hands, before retiring, before hosting her first workshop for children, Linda spent her days as a child and youth worker and a special education teacher.

“I’ve always worked with kids that didn’t quite fit the system,” she says. “The system wasn’t designed for these kids. These kids that had some challenges, that had different stories and, perhaps, had strengths and gifts that weren’t quite mainstream.”

After retiring and finally having some time on her hands, Linda felt compelled to find a way to keep helping the kinds of kids she’d spent years working with. This led to two very important things happening — a meeting about pictures and a meeting about puppets.

“It was kind of a perfect storm,” she says of Know Me’s early days. “I connected with this young woman who did the illustrating (Daria Pekh), and she was really keen to do something a little different from what she had been doing. I then developed a business partnership with a woman who’s a puppeteer, and we’ve created a workshop that incorporates the book and a performance piece which uses the text from the book.”

Linda and her Puppeteria workshop partner, Shelley King, wanted to create something to address the bigger ideas of inclusiveness, tolerance, and acknowledging individual stories. The idea of the Know Me workshops and book were born together as chicken and egg, creating completely cohesive and complementary companion pieces to one another.

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Meet the Team: JM Vertudazo, Post-Publication Manager

An educator, an illustrator and a puppeteer walk into a bar…