About
Alex Fullerton
Author’s Consultant
Hi, I’m Alex Fullerton. I am a guide on your writing journey, always there to unravel ideas, answer questions, provide options and move you quickly and efficiently to the day when you hold your book in your hands.
When I started Author Support Services 18 years ago I was a single mum without a support network. After 20 years in admin, with a gift for helping businesses make their writing accessible and understandable, the decision to move into editing was easy. As a born nurturer (I now have seven children in a blended family), my goal was to help others shine their brightest. Client demand quickly saw the business grow into a full book coaching and self publishing service with a team of specialists to ensure every step in the publishing journey is covered.
If you would like to read more about my story of my unconventional life, my experiences in the Boxing Day tsunami with my children, and my journey back into life and business click on the Profile Magazine cover, as they did a wonderful job with their cover story on me.
Alongside the business I also built a not-for-profit group, the Sunshine Coast Women Entrepreneurs, with a membership of around 2500 women who benefitted from regular meetings and training in a variety of business skills. Mentoring women in startups has informed my work in publishing and helped me understand the diverse needs of readers and business women.
But change is good for the soul. After taking my business where I could on my own, culminating in being a finalist in the Business Woman of the Year awards in 2015, my husband and I were involved in a bad road accident. You can click on the Muse magazine cover to read that article. I have now been forced to rest, and have finally embraced the opportunity to truly work in a team environment.
These days I have a consultant role in the business, caring for each client one to one through the process, making sure you get the support you need to stay in the driver’s seat through each step of publishing.
I need to make my business efficient so it fits into the time and energy I have available. Just like me, as a small business person, you need to make sure that every dollar and every hour you spend is worthwhile.
You believe in what you are doing and want to make a difference in the world, but you must balance this with being professional and successful.
If you’ve got a book cooking inside you that needs a little nurturing to get it over the line, consider the support of someone who spends every day bringing books to life. Contact me today to book a powerful strategy session, just you and me, to fine-tune your project and share your own ideas and inspiration.
Our Mission
Our mission at Author Support Services is anchored in two key areas: personalised delivery and accessible education.
With our publishing services we aim to journey with authors, providing dedicated support to weave their narratives into published works.
Simultaneously, through our self-paced courses, we strive to democratise access to self-publishing knowledge, distilling complexities into digestible chunks of practical wisdom.
We’re on a mission to revolutionise the self-publishing experience. We stand committed to transforming knowledge into action, aspiration into authorship, and ideas into pages, one author at a time. With each stride on this mission, we aim to assert our brand’s promise – making self-publishing a journey accessible to all who dare to dream of becoming authors.
Louise Zedda-Sampson
Editor
Louise Zedda-Sampson is a researcher and award-nominated editor who has worked on projects ranging from New Age, memoir, instruction books and journals to history projects, community collections and sports. One of Louise’s biggest joys as an editor is seeing the puzzle pieces coming together to really shape the story that needs to be told.
Louise is also an author in her own right with an eclectic mix of non-fiction, speculative and literary fiction. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications in print, online and in peer-reviewed journals. Her debut book Bowl the Maidens Over: Our First Women Cricketers [2021] examines the Australian women cricketers’ first games in the 1870s.
Tanja Gardner
Editor
Michelle Russell
Editor
Natasha Higgins
Admin Support, Copy Editor and Proofreader
Natasha is a professional copy editor and proofreader who enjoys working on a wide range of topics, including health and wellness, selfhelp, parenting and travel. Working closely with authors to refine and polish their writing, Natasha believes great teamwork brings great results.
Natasha was previously editor of Kids on the Coast and Kids in the City parenting and lifestyle magazines in South East Queensland and has also completed a Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing. She loves life with her family in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, having spent her childhood in Central Queensland and her early adult years living in the UK and travelling the world.
Sylvie Blair
Book Designer
Zonya Bird
Book Designer
Zonya Bird has over 35 years of experience as a graphic designer and is experienced in using Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programs, producing creative design solutions for our author’s needs.
She is based on the Sunshine Coast now but started out in the UK studying General Vocational Design covering interior design, fine art, photography, 3D design, art history and graphic design. Zonya specialised with a Higher Diploma in Graphics where she flourished with the creativity, attention to detail and organisation she brings to client projects today.
Tamara Protassow (she/her)
Writing Coach
Tamara Protassow is a writing coach and book mentor who specialises in developing non-fiction books with purpose-driven authors.
Tamara has developed and edited books with 50+ authors, and has edited both freelance for self-published authors as well as for Hay House UK.
Her favourite moment is when an author sees their book as real in their mind for the first time and believes that they can actually write it into existence, knowing it will go on to make a difference in the lives of their readers.
Kym Campradt
Proofreader
Kym Campradt has been a freelance proofreader of non-fiction books for over eight years. She has an exceptional eye for detail and loves to help authors polish their work by correcting any typos, spelling and grammar errors, and inconsistencies.
Kym has had overwhelming positive feedback regarding her perceptiveness and first-class attention to detail from well-known and reputable authors and publishers.
With a professional background in health, Kym particularly enjoys proofreading books about health and wellness, self-help and parenting.
Dianne Cosgrave
Digital Content Creator and Strategist
Dianne Cosgrave’s bright and friendly personality and strong skill set in creating engaging social media content make her the ideal fit for the Author Support Services’ culture and vision.
Her career has spanned a diverse group of industries from publishing through digital media to baking.
When Dianne is not creating beauty online, she is finding inspiration in beach walks, reading, travelling and cooking for friends.
Honey Randall
Illustrator
Honey is a digital illustration artist who hails from the Sunshine State of Queensland and is now based in Melbourne, Victoria. She works mostly digitally with the occasional piece using traditional pencils, pens and watercolours, and her work can be stylised or realistic depending on the look her client is after. Honey has experience working with Procreate, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Honey has worked on several of our client projects from children’s books to business diagrams. She is working on becoming a full-time illustrator.
Aliah Lennox
Illustrator
Jessie Gore
Illustrator
Jessie is an illustrator and artist living and working in Melbourne where her works have been published in both print and online. She works mainly with pencils, watercolour and inks and loves creating loveable characters and dreamy whimsical scenes.
Dianne Wallyn
Digital Content Creator and Strategist
Dianne Wallyn has a degree in Communication and Media Studies and 11 years of experience in digital content creation, management and strategy.
She believes that every piece of content should bring value to the intended reader and loves to weave story and strategy together to achieve a double win for both the reader and the client.
Out of hours, Dianne loves to travel and is always up for an adventure. With her two besties, she has even climbed all three bridges in the southern hemisphere that can legally be climbed!
Aliah Lennox
Illustrator
Jessie Gore
Illustrator
Jessie is an illustrator and artist living and working in Melbourne where her works have been published in both print and online. She works mainly with pencils, watercolour and inks and loves creating loveable characters and dreamy whimsical scenes.
