By Alex Roberto Hybel
Memoir Editing • Cover Design • Book Formatting • Self-Publishing
When Alex approached me with his memoir, the story was already written. My role was to help transform his manuscript into a polished, professionally presented book, ready for publication.
Working closely with him, I edited the manuscript while preserving his distinctive voice, wit, and unsentimental honesty. I also handled the book’s interior formatting, designed the cover, and managed the self-publishing process through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
The result is The Narcissist and Her Son, a deeply personal memoir that spans continents, generations, and some of the most consequential events of the twentieth century.
Contes traditionnels québécois transmis de génération en génération
French-Language Editing • Illustration • Cover Design • Book Formatting • Self-Publishing
Some books begin with an idea. This one began with a stack of typewritten pages tucked away in a box.Years ago, my mother, Louise Crépeau-Nadeau, sat down at an old-fashioned typewriter and transcribed three fairy tales her grandmother, Ernestine Trudeau-Crépeau, had told to generations of children. She made a handful of photocopies for family members, and the stories eventually found their way into a drawer, where they remained for years.
When I rediscovered the manuscript during a household purge, I decided these stories deserved more than a life in a forgotten box.
I transcribed and edited the original French manuscript, preserving the charm and cadence of the traditional storytelling. I then illustrated the tales using Midjourney, designed the book’s cover, formatted the interior, wrote an epilogue exploring the family’s storytelling legacy, and published the finished collection through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
The result is Histoires de ma grand-mère, an illustrated collection of traditional Québécois fairy tales and a tribute to the women in my family who kept these stories alive.
This project also reflects another important aspect of my work: I write, edit, and develop books in both English and French.
Death by Design: A Crime of Fashion
A Zoe Lunden Mystery
Original Fiction • Novel Writing • Independent Publishing • Amazon KDP
I wrote most of Death by Design during my lunch hours and in cafés while working as a television producer at CosmopolitanTV.
Surrounded by fashion, celebrity culture, larger-than-life personalities, and the occasional oversized ego, I had plenty of inspiration for a murder mystery set against the glamorous backdrop of Fashion Week.
I finished the manuscript, shopped it around to publishers, and eventually tucked it away.
A few years later, I pulled it out, dusted it off, and read it again.
And I thought, You know what? This is a good book. Why am I letting it sit in a drawer?
So, I decided to publish it myself. With a professionally designed cover by BookBaby, I prepared the manuscript for publication and released Death by Design through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
One of the things I love most about independent publishing is that you don’t need anyone’s permission to put your work into the world.
Traditional publishers receive thousands of manuscripts, and many perfectly good books never find a home. Sometimes it’s a matter of timing. Sometimes the publisher has just acquired a similar title. Sometimes a manuscript simply doesn’t fit what they’re looking for at that particular moment.
None of those things necessarily means the book isn’t worth publishing.
And that’s something I now tell aspiring authors and clients who have manuscripts gathering dust in drawers, closets, or forgotten computer folders.
If you’ve written a book, don’t let it languish simply because someone else hasn’t given you permission to publish it.
Pull it out. Finish it. Polish it. Let’s get it into the hands of readers.
Goodnight Toes: A Bedtime Meditation
An Illustrated Body Scan Meditation for Children
Original Writing • Children’s Literature • Guided Meditation • Illustration • Book Design & Formatting • Self-Publishing
Like many of my books, Goodnight Toes began with a personal experience. In this case, a little girl who simply couldn’t settle down at bedtime.
When my daughter was young, I began guiding her through a simple body scan meditation I’d made up, inviting her to say goodnight to her toes, feet, legs, and eventually every part of her body.
It worked beautifully.
What began as our little bedtime ritual eventually became the inspiration for Goodnight Toes: A Bedtime Meditation, an illustrated children’s book designed to help little ones relax, quiet their busy minds, and ease into sleep.
Drawing on my experience as a certified sleep science coach and mindfulness meditation teacher, I wrote and edited the manuscript, developed the illustrations using Midjourney, designed and formatted the book’s interior, and self-published it through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
The result is a gentle, beautifully illustrated bedtime companion that combines storytelling, mindfulness, and a little bit of bedtime magic.
Free Your Heart: The Power of Forgiveness
An Illustrated Mindfulness Meditation for Children
Original Writing • Children’s Literature • Guided Meditation • Illustration & Book Design • Cover Design • Self-Publishing
Following Goodnight Toes, I wanted to explore another way mindfulness could help children navigate the challenges of growing up—not just by calming their bodies, but by helping them understand and manage difficult emotions.
Free Your Heart: The Power of Forgiveness grew out of that idea.
As a mindfulness meditation teacher, I believe that children can benefit from learning emotional awareness, empathy, and compassion early in life. And few lessons are more challenging—or more valuable—than learning how to let go of hurt feelings.
I created Free Your Heart as a gentle, illustrated meditation that helps children explore forgiveness, understand that others may be carrying hurt of their own, and discover that letting go of resentment can be an act of kindness toward themselves.
As with Goodnight Toes, I managed the project from concept to publication: writing and editing the manuscript, developing the illustrations, designing the cover, formatting and laying out the interior, and publishing the finished book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
The result is a companion book that blends storytelling, mindfulness, and emotional learning in a way young children can understand and enjoy.
A Small-Town Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
Original Fiction • Novel Writing • Cover Design • Book Formatting • Independent Publishing
Hot Off the Press was my first published novel and the beginning of my journey as a fiction author.
Originally published by Crimson Romance, which was subsequently acquired by Simon & Schuster, the book introduced readers to Leigh Cameron and David Stone, two strong-willed journalists whose professional rivalry gradually turns into something far more personal.
I was thrilled to have my first novel traditionally published. There was just one problem.
I hated the cover. (top left)
The male character looked nothing like the David Stone I’d imagined, and Leigh—who shares equal billing as the story’s protagonist—was nowhere to be seen. The novel unfolds through alternating chapters from both characters’ perspectives, yet the cover told only half their story.
It’s one of the realities of traditional publishing: authors often have little, if any, say in how their books are packaged and presented.
Eventually, I regained the publishing rights and decided it was time to give Hot Off the Press a new look and a new life.
I redesigned the cover to reflect the characters and the story I’d actually written, reformatted the manuscript, and independently published a new edition.
This time, the creative decisions were mine.
And after years of looking at a cover that never felt quite right, I finally had a book that looked the way I’d always imagined it should.
Sometimes, getting your book published is only the beginning. Sometimes, the real satisfaction comes from making it entirely your own.