FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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How much does it cost?
Just like you, we only make money if/when your book actually sells. It is therefore in our mutual best interest to publish the most appealing book that will please readers everywhere. The initial costs are very minimal ($50 Title Setup Fee, plus $25 for each ISBN: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book). Editing is charged on a sliding scale determined by your word count (not page count). Cover design is free of charge, and interior layout is only $15/hour (approximately 6 hours, depending on what's involved). After that, you only pay when you order books, or when you choose to advertise.
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What can I do before the book is published?
Establish online presence. Have a mobile-friendly website with a URL matching your book title. Collect email addresses from the people who subscribe to your blog, as they will be the first to buy your book when it is published. Set up at least two social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), and build your audience by sharing quotes from your book, creating memes, video clips, and so on.
Create a list of bookstores. Independent bookstores are quickly going out of business, so you will need a spreadsheet listing active shops in each state. Make sure your spreadsheet contains the name of the bookstore, their physical address, mailing address, email address, phone number, and the name of the book buyer and/or events coordinator for each shop. Some bookstores (like Barnes & Noble), have specific instructions on their websites about where to send multiple copies of your book along with a marketing plan for consideration to be stocked on their shelves. Do all that research ahead of time and you'll be ready to go when the book is published. Read the Determination Page on our site for more information. Plan on giving away a few hundred books and sending hundreds of press releases, which we can help you create.
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I don't have a lot of room in my house for multiple boxes of books! Do I have to buy thousands of books every time I want to place an order?
Absolutely not. The books are printed-on-demand so you can order just one, a thousand, or anything in between; it's up to you. The books can also be drop-shipped to anywhere in the world, just say the word.
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Which bookstores will carry my book?
Each bookstore (independent or large) has a designated book buyer (sometimes one for each genre). Once we publish your book and make it available for bookstores to order through their distributors, you (or your agent) will contact each bookstore with a press release (which we can help you with), to let them know about your book. Some bookstores will want a free sample to review, while others just need a general description of the book; the important thing is to always be prepared. You also have the option to advertise your title in a catalog that lists all new releases for bookstores to know about (we can take care of that for you as well).
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Will my book be available on e-readers?
If you want it to, absolutely! We distribute to more than 50 digital readers, including kindle, nook, kobo, Apple, Gardners, Hummingbird, Zola, BOL, Booktopia, and more.
Once the interior layout of your book is finalized, there is a one-time $0.75 per page charge to have programmers convert the manuscript to a digital format that works with all e-readers (clickable table of contents, links, etc.) Please keep in mind that all formatting is stripped of books when they are converted to e-books because no two e-readers will display your book the same way (people can change the font size, margins, and dimensions to best fit their individual preferences on their handheld digital device).
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Can I make changes to my book after it is published?
Anytime! We can edit the interior or the cover of your book whenever you want. Once the book is published, there is a small fee ($25) for replacing the existing interior or cover file with a new one (and notifying the printers of the change). From that point forward, any book printed will use the new, updated files.
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How should I format my book?
Don't. All formatting will be stripped from the book when we transition it to InDesign, so don't worry about laying it out. In fact, the fewer styles and formatting guides embedded in your document, the better. Just focus on content, let us worry about layout.
