Testimonials

Considering working with Red Button Publishing? We offer a range of consultancy services to writers. Below are some testimonials from writers we have worked with:

TRACEY SINCLAIR: Although previously published through traditional routes, Tracey chose to self-publish her new urban fantasy series The Cassandra Bick Chronicles.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Red Button, I probably wouldn’t have managed to get my books out. Caroline Goldsmith not only gave me valuable feedback on my MS, but also helped design a series of covers that were perfect for the book but also thematically linked and cohesive as part of a series. I wanted to avoid the cheesy flowing dresses/ripped torso clichés that abound in the paranormal space and give a sense of the book’s location (which is a key theme), while also ensuring that the books looked properly part of a series. Using her original photography – so avoiding any copyright issues – Caroline created some striking images which I feel capture the spirit of the books, and while (I admit) the creative input came from her, I always felt involved in the process and she was very quick to change anything I wasn’t happy with, or find solutions to any problems and offer alternatives where necessary. She’s also been enormously helpful in terms of creating other marketing collateral, including pull quotes from critics to use as online advertising, and hard copy material such as postcards, and seasonal merchandising, and supplying images for the book’s website. I later worked with Caroline again to bring Dark Dates into print via Amazon’s CreateSpace programme. I found Caroline extremely helpful and – essentially – very patient in guiding me through the whole process. She formatted both the text and cover for CreateSpace, provided me with useful guidelines to negotiate the uploading process and even calmed me down when things didn’t quite go to plan (first through my own rookie error, then through a CreateSpace glitch!) I now have a lovely paperback as well as epub editions of my book but without Caroline and Red Button’s assistance getting my series into print would probably still be just a pipe dream, so I am enormously grateful.”

ALEX PEARL: Alex’s novel “Sleeping With The Blackbirds” was already available in paperback but he wanted to self-publish for both Amazon and Kobo.

“When looking for a helpful e-book publishing service to format my teen novel, ‘Sleeping with the Blackbirds’, I was pointed in Red Button’s direction by Chris Chalmers, the award-winning author of ‘Five to One’. Caroline who answered my queries was brilliant. As someone who really isn’t much of a dab-hand when it comes to matters digital, I was guided through the process with very clear and cogent email advice; all my queries were answered swiftly; my cover was tweaked to sit perfectly on Kindle and Kobo; and I was able to download my first teen novel on both Kindle and Kobo while munching lunch – a fairly iffy humous and cucumber sandwich. I couldn’t recommend Red Button more highly. Very professional and refreshingly untechy in their use of the English language. Full marks!”

T.A. GILBERT: We were delighted to work with this writer, making it possible for her to digitally publish her collection of original short stories.

“I can’t thank Red Button Publishing enough. They supported me through every step of turning my print book into an e-book. Getting the cover design right felt like a real partnership, with Red Button offering several alternatives at each step and quickly acting on my choices. The editing work was done promptly and along with the files I needed to upload my book came a handy one page set of instructions and the offer of any further help I might need. I hope we work together in the future.”

JOHN BRASSEY: John finished his novel some years ago and had good feedback from readers but was unsure how to navigate the direct publishing platforms. 

“Until I met Caroline Goldsmith, publishing my novel Give Me Your Tomorrow was just a pipe dream and without Caroline’s enthusiasm and encouragement it would have stayed just that. However, spurred on by her to do something about my writing, I gave my novel a polish and submitted it to Red Button for advice.

The response was extremely helpful, professional, inexpensive and fast and I soon signed up for an edit which Karen Ings completed well within her promised deadline. The edit was very thorough and helped me to remove some of the more clunky passages, improve others and also leave me with first class punctuation. I knew that Karen was doing a great job when I realised that most of the areas in which she pulled me up were ones in which I had had doubts of my own. I was delighted with her final edit.

After the edit, Caroline designed my cover and formatted the book for upload onto Amazon making the whole process very easy and simple to manage.

Together, Caroline and Karen have made my book professional, error free and, I believe, a much better experience for the reader. I’m now setting out to write novel number two and will certainly be using Red Button again when it is finished.”

ARTHUR GOODHART:  Arthur wanted to publish his novel ‘Unlucky’ independently and came to Red Button for epub formatting and advice on navigating the Amazon Kindle platform.

“It is banal but true to observe that the e-publishing world is inhabited by good guys as well as bad guys. You have to be on your guard. Red Button, I am delighted to report, is one of the good guys. Caroline and Karen are professional, skilful, knowledgeable and helpful. They are also supportive and responsive. Prior to a friend giving me the Red Button email I had, literally, spent months in the dark. Getting a reply from anyone about anything was a trial. With Red Button any query or question, however daft, was always promptly addressed. As the whole uploading procedure loomed it seemed likely that any number of things would go wrong. With Caroline’s cribsheets to hand and knowing she was only a phone call or email away we were much reassured. It turns out that e-publishing is both easy and fun.”

JULIA LAFLIN: Julia wanted to self-publish her novella ‘The House At Roc Noir’ as professionally as possible and was referred to Red Button. 

“The recommendation to use Red Button came from Justine Solomons during the aftermath of a Byte the Book event that ended up finishing rather late in the bar at The Groucho Club. I was given a sensible timescale by Caroline in which she would format my work and she carried out the job with efficiency and patience. I also had ‘my knickers untwisted’ – so to speak, by Karen when I started to angst about whether more, or less, of my French words merited being in italics. She came back to me with a calm verdict sorting out the gîtes from the goats.

Caroline suggested putting together a Create Space version of my novella, as many readers enjoy having a physical copy, and then made short work of the cover wrap design and the typesetting format required. She made the process simple to understand and, best of all, she did all the work.

The instruction guides provided by Red Button to set up accounts with self-publishing platforms and Create Space were clear and helpful. A real added value service.
I’ll be back for more next time.”