Careers
Join an amazing team!
Tellwell Talent (Tellwell.ca), winner of Douglas Magazine’s 10 to Watch award and a finalist for Viatec’s Start-up of the Year, is the only indie publishing company that gives authors 100% net royalties with full transparency about the publishing team working on each book.
Founded by experienced book publishing professionals, Tellwell exists because we believe most authors want something quite simple: a small, committed team to help publish a quality book.
Our mission is to make the self-publishing industry more transparent and to bring authors the talent that will give them the best chance of success. This talent typically includes a designer, an editor, a marketing expert, and someone to carefully and diligently guide the project from start to finish. Our goal is to provide the perfect publishing team for each book.
Positions:
- Developer (OPEN)
- Book Marketing Consultant (Closed)
- Book Designer (OPEN)
- Publishing Consultant (OPEN)
- Project Manager (OPEN)
- Marketing Director (OPEN)
Developer
The Developer plays a crucial role in helping Tellwell forge a competitive position in the publishing industry by developing our technology and platform.
Reporting to the Lead Developer and working in a small team, you will be responsible for:
- Contributing to Tellwell’s front-end development work, including
- Developing our publishing platform (Octavo) for authors and members of the publishing team (e.g. designers and editors)
- Expanding our public website, including integrating marketing, analytics and sales components
- Testing and Quality Assurance
Our ideal candidate is proficient in the following areas
- Browser code (Javascript, CSS, HTML)
- Bootstrap
- C# Asp.Net Core / MVC environment
It would be great if you also had experience with
- Typescript
- Javascript frameworks such as Angular
- Webpack
- Node & NPM
Work Environment
Our office is in Victoria, BC, 1028 Fort Street, with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors. We are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about.
To apply, please outline your interest in the position, give us one online example of what you would consider a good user interface, and let us know your salary expectations. Applications can be sent to [email protected] .
Book Marketing Consultant
Role
The Book Marketing Consultant plays a vital role helping authors develop and execute book marketing strategies. The ideal candidate will not only deliver publicity services but also contribute to the evolution and refinement of our book marketing and publicity program.
Functions
- Educate authors about a range of marketing options including traditional media publicity, events such as book launches, press releases, online marketing, books reviews, and other emerging book marketing strategies
- Write book marketing strategy documents for client authors
- Execute book marketing strategies such as identifying targeted lists of media contacts appropriate to each author, writing press releases and pitches, sending out press releases and review copies and making follow-up calls to targeted media
- Setup of author websites using Wordpress, and training authors to manage it themselves
- Contact press and bloggers on behalf of author for the purpose of gaining publicity
- Propose, develop and refine new services to meet author needs
- Communicate with Book Marketing Manager on a regular basis and update company tracking system
Skills
- Writing press releases
- Experience doing media outreach to garner publicity
- Social media skills
- Independence, professionalism and responsibility: you can manage your own flexible schedule and be accountable to your clients and get the work done professionally
- Organized: able to stay on top of many projects
- Flexible: can innovate and improvise when necessary
Assets
- Knowledge or interest in book publishing
- Entrepreneurial spirit and good knowledge of marketing techniques
- Tech savvy
- Customer first approach
Work Environment
Our office is in Victoria, BC, 1028 Fort Street, with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors. We are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about.
We are currently looking for great candidates who are passionate about this work who would like to work part-time on contract.
To apply, please outline your interest in the position and why you are a good fit, with a copy of your resume to [email protected] . Applications can be addressed to Francesca Jackman.
Book Designer
Role
The Book Designer plays a vital role in the company by designing a wide variety books for Tellwell authors. Whether it be fiction, nonfiction, memoirs or kid’s books, you take guidance from the author to execute an exciting design that makes the author proud. You support the Lead Designer to implement strategies to maximize the quality of our design program while working efficiently to meet deadlines. The Book Designer will also stay on top of best practices and emerging trends in design, layout, and formatting of printed and electronic books.
Skills
- High-level of proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud products, specifically InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat Pro
- High-level of proficiency with paragraph and character styles
- Experience working with large, multi-page documents
- Independence, professionalism and responsibility: you can manage your own flexible schedule and be accountable to our clients
- Organized: able to stay on top of many projects
- Positive attitude in the face of feedback from authors and tight deadlines
- Initiative and business sense: able to create and recommend better ways to deliver our services
- Flexible: can innovate and improvise when necessary
- An interest or passion for books, writing or publishing
- Good foosball skills, although these can be learned on the job
Work Environment
Our office is at 1028 Fort Street in Victoria, BC with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors and are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about.
To apply, please outline your interest in the position and why you are a good fit, salary expectations, and a link to your resume and portfolio. Please email [email protected] with the subject line: Book Designer.
Publishing Consultant
Tired of pitching the same old product or service to the same old clients? Consider this opportunity to help a wide range of authors publish books in a variety of genres — fiction (thriller, sci fi, romance, etc), expert/business consultant books, memoirs, kids books, and a wide range of interesting nonfiction topics. Talk to diverse and interesting people every day. Deliver truly consultative advice and information to help authors make sense of a complex industry and decide what to do with their books (aka their “baby”). Join a dynamic, creative team at a small business where your contributions are highly valued and you have a significant impact.
Role
The Publishing Consultant plays a vital role as the first point of contact with the company, helping authors understand the publishing industry, the publishing process, how self-publishing differs from the conventional model, how distribution and royalties work, and how to plan and budget to self-publish. The publishing consultant puts together proposals or estimates, follows up and secures new clients, and welcomes them to the Tellwell team.
Functions
- Educate authors about a range of publishing options including editing, design, distribution and marketing
- Educate authors about distribution and royalties, in particular how Tellwell’s 100% net royalty model differs from a captive pricing model
- Write proposals and estimates for each author
- Effectively follow-up with authors
- Assess whether each author is a good potential fit for working with Tellwell
- Participate in round-table discussions at Tellwell about company strategy and new or improved services
- Contribute to round-table discussion about internal process improvement
- Research best practices and develop internal resources, tools and templates
- Stay on top of industry trends
- Contribute to forecasting and achieving monthly goals
Skills
- Consultative sales experience
- Strong work ethic
- Positive attitude and a team player
- Excellent written and oral communications skills
- Independence, professionalism and responsibility
- Knowledge or interest in book publishing
- Organized and able to prioritize and stay on top of many contacts
- Initiative and business sense: able to create and recommend better processes
- Flexible: can innovate and improvise when necessary
- Goal-oriented, comfortable working in metrics and results-based environment
Assets
- Passion for books, writing or publishing
- Experience working with editors, designers, and marketers
- Enjoys talking to a diverse, creative people
- Experience working within a CRM or similar platforms
- Comfortable learning new systems
- Tech savvy
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate has recent “in-the-trenches” sales experience but also has enough entrepreneurial or management skill to self-manage and create new systems and tools.
Work Environment
Our office is in Victoria, BC, 1028 Fort Street, with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors. We are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about
To apply, please outline your interest in the position, why you are a good fit, and income expectations to Tim Lindsay by email at [email protected]
Project Manager
Role
The Project Manager plays a vital role by coordinating the production of books, providing advice and guidance to each author, while acting as a liaison between the author and publishing talent (editors, designers and publicists). The Project Manager makes sure each book project stays on track, with all the necessary details getting done in a timely manner.
Functions
- Maintains a positive experience for each author, advising the author while managing the book project from start to finish
- Ensures the author provides all necessary information, in the proper format, in a manner that can easily be used by the designer, editor, or publicists
- Liaises with editors and designers ensuring that they have what they need
- Manages each project through key phases such as: author orientation, editing, cover design, interior layout, setup of all distribution accounts, marketing
- Suggests process improvements, drafts template emails or forms, and identifies challenges that need to be addressed
Skills
- Customer service: good people skills
- Independence, professionalism and responsibility: you can manage your own flexible schedule and be accountable to your clients and get the work done professionally
- Attention to detail
- Administrative: able to follow procedures
- Organized: able to stay on top of many projects
- Initiative and business sense: able to create and recommend better ways to deliver the service
- Flexible: can innovate and improvise when necessary
- An interest or passion for books, writing or publishing
Assets
The skills below are not mandatory, but if you have a second set of skills such as those listed below, be sure to highlight it in your application:
- Experience working within a CRM
- Editing, design, illustration or marketing skills
- Tech skills: computers, programming, etc.
- Video Production and Audio Production
- Bilingual
Work Environment
Our office is in Victoria, BC, 1028 Fort Street, with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors. We are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about
To apply, please outline your interest in the position and why you are a good fit, and salary expectations, and send to [email protected] .
Marketing Director
Are you a media and marketing guru looking for a chance to shine, to hone your skills and show what you are capable of in a challenging environment? Ready to join a young award-winning publishing and tech company that will have a positive impact on the publishing industry? Love books?
Role
We are recruiting for someone to lead and organize Tellwell’s marketing efforts. You will fine tune the presentation of the Tellwell brand, share our story with the world, celebrate the accomplishments of our clients, and optimize the marketing channels employed to achieve some ambitious goals. You will engage with the writing and publishing communities across Canada while coordinating the efforts of a marketing-savvy team supporting you “off the side of our desks.”
You should be comfortable and willing to work in a results-oriented environment. With the support of a dynamic team, you will take responsibility for the success of our marketing program.
Functions
- Marketing planning: manage our marketing budget, coordinate a marketing committee, and outline a marketing plan and take responsibility for executing it
- Lead generation: we’ve got a very knowledgeable and helpful team of publishing consultants, but to keep them busy we need lots of authors to hear about us and contact us for information
- Public relations: develop a series of newsworthy pitches, write press releases and systematically reach out to influencers and media contacts to secure coverage
- Referral program: through careful design of the program and systematic outreach, increase the number of clients who come to us through referrals
- Events and writers festivals: establish our presence at select festivals across Canada
- Online advertising: manage an Adwords campaign or supervise a consultant
- Branding: tell our story, and create engaging collateral, such as videos or guides
- Content marketing: orchestrating content via mechanisms such as a blog, podcast, or guides on targeted subjects
- Social media: Overseeing a strategy of engaging and having some fun showcasing our stuff and interacting with our clients and fans
- Another possible role includes providing oversight and guidance to our book marketing program
Note: this position may be modified to suit the strengths and experiences of a candidate, so if you match many but not all of the criteria, don’t let that stop you from applying!
Skills
- Experience in a leadership role, or a desire to take on a leadership role combined with experience working on teams, taking initiative and leading projects
- Writing press releases
- Experience doing media outreach to garner publicity
- Journalism and media skills or experience
- Strong copywriting skills
- Social media and digital marketing skills
- Independence, professionalism and responsibility: you can manage your own flexible schedule and be accountable to your clients and get the work done professionally
- Knowledge or interest in book publishing
- Organized: able to stay on top of many projects
Assets
- Passion for books, writing or publishing
- Experience working with writers, editors, designers, and marketers
- Sales experience
- Experience working within a CRM
- Tech savvy
Work Environment
Our office is in Victoria, BC, 1028 Fort Street, with lots of cool coffee shops nearby. We’ve got a foosball table for whenever you need an active break, and we offer some flexibility in hours and the opportunity to work from home from time to time. We are all passionate about helping authors. We are constantly striving to improve and adapt our business to make it better in every way. You can learn more about our team at tellwell.ca/about
To apply, please outline your interest in the position, why you are a good fit, and income expectations to Tim Lindsay by email at [email protected]