About me.
I’m Bodie Dykstra, the B and D in BD Author Services. I’m a professional editor and book formatter with almost ten years of experience in the self-publishing business. My mission is to help independent authors succeed in an increasingly competitive market by producing books that meet or exceed the quality standards of traditional publishers.
Education
I earned my Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada). I then went on to get a Master of Arts degree, also in history and also from the University of Calgary. My research focused on British military tactics in the early phases of the First World War.
Specifically, I studied how the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) applied field fortifications during its defensive battles at the River Aisne and around the town of Ypres in September-November 1914. My crowning academic achievement is the article I published in the peer-reviewed The Journal of Military History. My thesis is also floating around the Internet if you’re dying to read about trenches.
As you can imagine, two history degrees involved a lot of writing. Like, a lot. You could say I developed a knack for it, so after my master’s degree, I completed a continuing education program in writing and copyediting, again from the University of Calgary. Can you tell that I like Calgary?
Experience
I first got into this business by working at my university’s writing center. Mostly, I helped students improve their essays, but a good number of these students were in graduate school. Some happily paid me to edit their theses, dissertations, and academic articles.
Editing for graduate students became a springboard for some contract work with a few editing agencies. Somehow, I wound up editing articles for medical journals. I can’t say I miss it. Medical writing is, well, yikes.
In 2016, I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I struggled to find work that wasn’t in a restaurant. After buying my first Kindle in June of that year, I quickly discovered the world of self-publishing. I found some communities of independent authors online and wrangled my first editing clients. I still work with a couple of them.
Soon after, I taught myself how to format ebooks and print books. By the summer of 2018, I was doing this full time, and I’ve been doing it full time ever since.
Personal
I’m a husband and the father of two young boys. (Yes, I am always tired.) I also have two pets: a black Labrador retriever named Annie (pictured above) and a tuxedo cat named Morris, who insists on sleeping on my chest.
I’m an avid non-fiction reader, specifically history, archaeology, and paleontology. Of course, I also read quite a bit of fiction. For a long time, military science fiction was my go-to genre, but lately, I’ve been branching into low-magic fantasy, like Joe Abercrombie’s books. I also consume a good number of murder mysteries. My guilty pleasure is the Women’s Murder Club series by Maxine Paetro (and James Patterson, I guess).
I’m also a great lover of video games, specifically RPGs. My favorite game of all time is Fallout: New Vegas, although in terms of hours played, Sim City 4 takes the cake by about five thousand hours. Recently, I’ve been playing all the classic CRPGs from the late ’90s and early 2000s, like Baldur’s Gate, Planescape Torment, and Arcanum.
Get in touch.
Ready to chat about your book? Send me a short message with this contact form, and I’ll reply within one or two business days. All fields are required. You can also email me directly.
Email: bodie@bdauthorservices.com
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.