Introducing Pathfinder Creative Services: Helping Authors Take the Next Step
Pathfinder Creative Services grew out of years of learning, creating, and helping others bring their stories to life. Here’s how it began and how I hope to help authors take their next step.
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I wouldn’t even know where to start,” I could probably fund my next print run.
Okay, maybe not quite. But I hear it a lot.
Pathfinder Press certainly didn’t begin with a grand plan to help other authors publish their books. It began as a homeschool project. When I wrote my first book—and later helped my daughters bring their own stories into the world—I had a lot to learn.
I took a course that first opened my eyes to self-publishing through Amazon, and from there, I kept digging, researching, trying things, and occasionally learning things the hard way. As I learned more, I also realized I didn’t want Amazon’s publishing services to be our only path. I began exploring local printing and other ways we could have more control over how our books were produced and brought into the world.
As our family published more books, people started asking questions. At book signings or events, someone would stop by our table and say something like, “I could never do that.” Or they’d tell me about the book they’d always dreamed of writing, followed quickly by all the reasons they didn’t think they could actually do it.
They wouldn’t know where to start. They wouldn’t know what to do once the story was written. They wouldn’t know how to actually turn a manuscript into a book.
And I started thinking about how many wonderful stories must remain unwritten simply because someone doesn’t know what to do next.
There’s a Lot Between “I Wrote a Story” and “I Published a Book”
The truth is, publishing a children’s book can feel overwhelming. Writing the manuscript is only the beginning. Then come the illustrations, page counts, book sizes, typography, layout, cover design, bleeds, print files, ISBNs, printers, distribution…and approximately 847 other decisions you didn’t know you needed to make when you first sat down to write a story.
I still feel overwhelmed by parts of publishing. I’m still learning, too. But after walking through the process with our own family’s books, I began wondering what it could look like to take what I’ve learned and help another author take the next step.
One of the unexpected discoveries along the way has been how much I enjoy the design side of publishing.
Last summer, our family was helping our friend, Rory, publish Henry and the Great Society while he was also getting his own publishing company, Homeward Press, off the ground. At the same time, we were moving through many of those same publishing milestones with Made to Fly Free. We were able to learn from each other as both books made their way toward print.
As part of that project, I took on the typesetting for Henry and the Great Society and dug into learning Adobe InDesign. I discovered that there was something incredibly satisfying about taking all those words and making them sit on a page in a way that felt clean, balanced, and professional.
Children’s books brought a whole new layer to that. Now the words have to work with full-color illustrations. The font needs to complement the artwork rather than compete with it. Text placement needs to feel intentional. Ideally, the reader never stops to think about any of those choices at all. The words and pictures simply work together to carry them through the story.
It’s a subtle part of bookmaking, but I’ve realized I really love it.
Helping Bring the Pieces Together
This summer, I had the opportunity to put those skills to work for another author.
Kelly Jones reached out after hearing my interview on the Faith@Work podcast and discovering that we lived only about 30 miles apart. She was already well into the process of creating her children’s book, but she needed help bringing the pieces together into files that would be ready for a professional printer.
I was able to step in with the interior layout and text placement, help redesign the cover, and prepare the final files for printing. The result was Bo and the Big Feelings, which is now officially out in the world.
Take a look at Bo and the Big Feelings →
Somewhere in that process, I remember thinking, I would love to do more of this.
Another author I met this summer was at a much earlier stage. We had talked about a dream of writing a children’s book, and a few months later, I heard back with some exciting news: the manuscript was written.
At that point, the project didn’t need book design or publishing support. It needed a fresh set of eyes.
I was able to offer a developmental manuscript review, looking at the bigger pieces of the story—structure, pacing, voice, tone, page turns, and places that could be strengthened. From there, the author went back to work revising the manuscript and making the story stronger before moving on to the next stage.
I love that the next step didn’t have to be, “Okay, now let’s publish a book.” Sometimes the best next step is simply making the story stronger.
Walking the Whole Publishing Path
But perhaps the project that really pushed me to think seriously about offering Creative Services began this spring at the Grovestead Farm & Family Fair.
Rachel Van Essen stopped by our booth and told me about a vision she had for a children’s book series centered around stewardship, meaningful work, and generational legacy. She reached back out earlier this summer, and this time the need was different.
Rachel wasn’t looking for help with just one piece of the process. She wanted someone to walk alongside her through all of it.
Her inquiry made me stop and think about what that could actually look like. From those conversations, what I now call the Guided Publishing Journey began to take shape.
I’ve been walking alongside Rachel through manuscript development and feedback, finding and working with an illustrator, planning the book, layout and design, ISBNs, print preparation, and all those decisions that have to happen between I wrote a story and I’m holding a finished book in my hands.
We’re still in the middle of that journey. Her first book, What Builders Grow, is currently available for preorder through Faithful Hands Books, and it has been pretty special watching something that began as an idea become an actual book.
Follow along with What Builders Grow →
Working with Rachel also helped me become clearer about what I don’t want Pathfinder Press to become. I don’t want to take over someone else’s story, and I don’t want authors to hand me their books only to lose control of the very things they created.
Some authors I work with may be invited to publish under the Pathfinder Press imprint. In those cases, Pathfinder Press would provide the ISBN and include the book in our catalog, while the author retains the rights to the work.
And the more I’ve thought about that word, the more fitting it seems.
A Guide Along the Publishing Path
When we chose the name Pathfinder Press, we loved the idea of helping families find their path to creating stories with purpose. I don’t think I realized then just how literally that idea might eventually play out.
That’s really what I hope these Creative Services can be.
You may have a manuscript that needs another set of eyes before you move forward. You may already have illustrations and need help turning all those individual pieces into a professionally designed book. Or you may have a story and a vision but feel completely overwhelmed when you think about everything that stands between where you are now and a finished book.
You don’t necessarily need someone to take the project out of your hands. You may simply need someone who has walked this path before to come alongside you, help you see what’s ahead, and point you toward the next step.
That’s what I want to offer.
Introducing Pathfinder Creative Services
So, after doing much of this work behind the scenes over the past several months, I’m officially opening the door to Pathfinder Creative Services.
Every book—and every author—is different, so I don’t expect support to look exactly the same for every project. It might mean reading a manuscript and offering developmental feedback. It could mean stepping in later to help with interior layout, book design, or print preparation. And for a limited number of projects, it may mean walking through the entire process together through the Guided Publishing Journey.
Rather than creating a one-size-fits-all list of packages, I’ve developed a Creative Services page where you can tell me a little about your book, where you are in the process, and what kind of help you’re looking for. From there, we can determine whether Pathfinder Press is a good fit and what working together could look like.
I’m intentionally keeping this part of Pathfinder Press small... for now. I want to have the time to know the author behind the story, understand what they’re trying to create, and give each project the attention it deserves.
I’m especially excited to work with authors, families, and young writers who want to create meaningful, wholesome children’s stories—the kinds of stories that encourage, delight, teach, or simply give a family something worth reading together.
Your Next Step
Maybe you’ve carried an idea for a children’s book around for years. Maybe there’s already a half-finished manuscript tucked away on your computer. Or maybe you’ve gotten farther than you ever expected, only to reach the point where you’re staring at illustrations, printers, ISBNs, and publishing options thinking, Now what?
You don’t have to figure out the whole path today. You just need to know what your next step is.
And if I can walk a little of that path with you, I’d be honored to help.
I still wonder how many good stories remain buried simply because someone didn’t know where to start.
Maybe yours doesn’t have to be one of them.
