At The Book Shelf Ltd, we bring nonfiction to life. We help aspiring authors to create life-changing books on their subject matter expertise. Our small team of book-loving professionals are here to take authors from idea to bookshelf—from coaching to critique, editing to design, and marketing. We were established in 2018, though we’ve been in the publishing industry for 14+ years and have worked on over 500 books with authors around the globe from first-timers to award-winners, non-native speakers to New York Times bestsellers.
Our mission is to empower authors because we believe that great books make the world a better place. As such, we specialise in personal development, philosophy, wellbeing, self-help, and leadership books. We help authors to navigate the self-publishing process or seek a traditional publisher depending on which path is right for them. We’re proud to have helped our self-publishing authors become Amazon bestsellers and make thousands for charity. Our aim is to upskill and empower authors, because we consider success to be when you no longer need us. Yes, we’re trying to do ourselves out of a job!
We’re passionate about making the publishing industry more accessible to people from all backgrounds, whether that’s our authors, aspiring writers, or our team. To that end, in 2021 we took on seven interns through the UoB programs and two young people through the government’s Kickstart program. We welcome authors with diverse voices or who come from underrepresented backgrounds, and we do not tolerate any form of hatred from our authors or our team. We believe in collaboration and knowledge-sharing to foster collective and continuous improvement, so we offer free insights on our blog and Quora.
Last but by no means least, our mission to make the world a better place means we are committed to sustainability and taking care of our planet, our fellow humans, and the wonderful creatures and plants we share it with. Thus, we encourage our authors and our team to be eco-conscious and reduce our negative impact on the environment. We donate 10% of our profits to charity, including Book Aid International, and are currently establishing a “buy one, plant one” scheme to offset the negative impact of the publishing industry. We hope you’ll join us on our journey.
In her 12-year publishing career, Ameesha has worked in-house for a publisher, as a freelance digital nomad while travelling the world, and as a book strategy consultant. With a focus on both the author’s and the reader’s goal, she has developed strategies that have led authors to become multi-category Amazon bestsellers, raise awareness of causes, and earn thousands for charity. She has a degree in English Literature & Philosophy and continues to mentor students on their career journeys. You can find her book tips on Quora where she has over 1.4 million answer views.
Shelby is an author, writer, and editor. She works full-time as an Editorial and Publishing Assistant for The Book Shelf and loves helping writers and authors around the world—offering her beta reading and proofreading services. You can find her elsewhere under her pen name @jonahlevkowitz where she discusses her upcoming novels and author journey.
Shaun from Scritti Creative Copy is an Amazon bestselling author who has written and published fiction and nonfiction books. Particularly experienced in writing biographies, he has a first-class degree in Creative Writing and is a member of the highly respected Room 204 writer development programme. With a keen eye for a sharp phrase, Shaun will make your words sing, whether it’s your blurb, author bio, or book. You can find out more here.
Olga is a writer and MA Publishing student. She is also the founding editor of opia and a copy editor at The Publishing Post. In her spare time, she dabbles in art, collects notebooks she doesn’t need, and tries to transition from planning her novel to actually writing it. You can connect with her on social media here.
Kyle has been designing layouts for over a decade. Having worked for multiple book publishers and magazines, Kyle is our on-hand layout, typesetting, and formatting expert. Want your book to look slick and professional? Kyle is your guy. You can find a selection of his designs here. In his spare time, he likes long walks on the beach, fixing boring things, and killing zombies in games.
Clara is a versatile illustrator and artist passionate about visual storytelling. With a background in the film, TV, and gaming industries, Clara designs impactful artwork to catch your eye. She has worked on a range of projects for studios such as Disney, Fox Searchlight, Amazon, Netflix, etc., amongst others. To see more of her portfolio, check out her website here. When Clara isn’t busy drawing and painting, you can probably find her outside climbing, camping, or doing something else reasonably dangerous.
Peri recently finished an MA in Creative Writing and works as a bookseller in Birmingham. She is passionate about literature, film, art, and philosophy. Whilst at university, she worked as an Editorial Assistant for Redbrick Newspaper and won UniSlam, a national team poetry competition, in 2022.
Shakira is a podcast producer, writer, and keen reader. She works full-time as a Trainee Researcher for a wildlife film production company (Silverback) and loves working on creative projects—one of them includes running a bookstagram account @shakira_shelf, where she reviews poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by under-represented writers.
Kate is a social media assistant dedicated to utilising creative content to add value to both the brand and our customers. She is your go-to if you want fun and educational social media output. In her spare time, Kate likes to draw, write, and attempt to “borrow” other people’s dogs.
Soria is currently heading towards her final year at the University of Birmingham to finish her degree in English and Creative Writing. After completing a year abroad in France and being lucky enough to traverse across Europe, she has discovered a newfound passion for travel writing and learning new languages. Along with gaining the role of travel editor for her student newspaper, she is excited to take on editorial and journalistic roles during the course of the next few months.
TopHat is pretty Stoic; she spends a lot of time contemplating the important questions in life. She’s virtuous and gentle, never hurting her humans, and she sleeps on her mum all night.
Xander is still just a baby and loves to play whenever he can! He’s very energetic and curious, and loves to steal tissues. He can be very loving (when he wants to be), but prefers being alone in high places where he can see everything.
Trixie is the main character of every novel. Affectionate when she wants to be, Trixie is purrfect and she knows it. She spends her days purring away on our mustard bean bag and, in true bookworm style, she loves being around books. (She just hasn’t been taught to read yet.)
Sidney is not my cat. Sidney is not my flatmate’s cat. Sidney is a random cat who happens to live with us. Attempts to evict him have proved unsuccessful and frankly dangerous. In his free time, Sidney enjoys sunbathing and getting into cat fights. His version of affection is launching at my face first thing in the morning like some sort of sadistic, needy alarm clock.