OUR SERVICES

There are essentially 7 steps to the self-publishing process:

1. Writing – we leave this to you

2. Editing

3. Book design and formatting

4. Cover design

5. Meta Data

6. Ebook conversion

7. Listing and selling

8. Printing

9. Marketing

1. W R I T I N G

This may seem obvious. But, writing is an essential part of the process – one we leave entirely to you. You are the writer!
When you are ready to take the next step, we are an email away.

2. E D I T I N G

There are essentially 2 steps to our editing process.
How much we need to do depends on how much work you have done on your manuscript prior to submission.

Copyediting
A copyedit is a technical edit. It is a review of the work from a technical perspective addressing issues with spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It looks for internal inconsistencies throughout the text. Upon completion, the book is returned to you with feedback for fine-tuning. We provide notes, comments, and queries related to your work in the margin for you to review. Some of our authors want their manuscript published exactly as they wrote it. Others only want grammatical corrections and fixing obvious mistakes. Others need more help – so we’ll be communicating with you about what you want and what you need for a finished product you’ll be proud to present as its author.

Proofreading
This is the final step in the editing process. Here a proofreader examines the final manuscript, usually after formatting, for awkward page breaks and any remaining inconsistencies.

3. BOOK DESIGN & FORMATTING

Also, known as Typesetting. Typesetting is commonly referred to as book formatting. There are strict rules regarding font selection, text boxes, spacing, widows, orphans, footnotes, image usage, and various other elements which make the book more readable and user-friendly.

Correct formatting is as important for print, as it is for online publication. While e-publishing has opened up a whole new world of opportunity, these rules still govern. Manuscript preparation and formatting are essential steps ensuring optimal readability across all platforms, readers, and other devices.

Our service provides all you need to get your manuscript correctly formatted, published, and available for sale, whether online or on shelf.

4. C O V E R D E S I G N

The first thing readers notice is your book cover. It’s the book cover that first draws their attention, and gets them to pick up the book – and read. This is your first impression, and sometimes your only chance at making an impression – it needs to count. Your book cover design plays a decisive role in influencing the readers’ choice to buy or not to buy your book.

Yes, there are certain prerequisites that need to be met.
The back cover of the book will include reviews, the book description, author bio, and barcode.
The spine must contain the name, author, and publisher logo, if applicable.

We can help you custom design your book cover. We have expert designers in place, for exactly that purpose. But you know your book best, and it’s important for you to bring your own ideas to help create a cover that best reflects you, and brings your book to life.

We will facilitate the process. But in order to do that you will need to provide the following:

Image ideas | stock pictures | artwork
For the front cover you will need to provide the title, author name, and images (if applicable)
For the back cover, you will need to provide a short description of your book, author photo, and biography.

We will send you proof of your cover and allow one set of corrections, after the cover designer makes these corrected changes you will get your approved cover as a PDF.

5. M E T A D A T A

TITLE, DESCRIPTIONS & ISBN

“The cover of your book draws a person in…the title intrigues…and the book description closes the deal.”

The book description will come from you. But we will help.
To this end, you will need to supply 150 – 200 words that describe your book as succinctly as possible.

Remember, once your cover draws their attention, it is the description that engages the reader. It is more than just text on the back cover of a book. It’s a detailed, descriptive copy that will be used in your marketing and selling of your book. It needs to be descriptive, evocative, and compelling. And it should contain keywords that Google’s search algorithm will look for. Why is this important? Because you are selling online. And in the online universe, Google is boss. If Google cant find you, you can’t be found.
Using keywords in your description ensures your book’s discoverability online—so be sure to keep keywords in mind as you write. And incorporate these into your description when it’s natural and appropriate.

ISBN
This is a number that uniquely identifies any published book. All printed and digital books require an ISBN number. We take care of everything to do with this process for you. There is no additional charge for this service.

6. E-BOOK CONVERSION

Now is the time to choose how you’re going to share your book with the world.
Which platform do you want to distribute through? We’ll help you decide what is best for your finished product.
Each platform has different stipulations and requirements, so you need to choose your platform first, then we can convert.

We primarily publish through Amazon Kindle, but can convert books to other platform requirements on request.
The cost of the conversion depends entirely on the complexity of the manuscript.
Easier conversions are essentially text-only conversions. Which can take 7 – 10 working days.
Manuscripts that are mostly text with a few images are more complex and can take up to 10 – 14 working days.
Manuscripts that have many images, graphs, or bullets are the most difficult to convert and can take up to 14 – 21 working days.

We can provide a free no-obligation quote on request to convert your manuscript to an eBook and/or a printed book.

7. L I S T I N G & S E L L I N G

As stated, we publish through Lulu and Amazon.
Lulu is the world’s largest independent bookstore. Their reach is substantial and includes Itunes & Barnes & Noble. Although you can sell your book through Lulu, Lulu also allows you to make your book available to the global market at no cost. Ideal for those more interested in reach than return.

If you want to sell your book and access the biggest eBook shop in the world, then the Amazon eBook market through the Amazon Kindle store is the way to go.

The first step to getting your book on Amazon is to have it converted to their eBook format. For this you will need an ISBN number specifically for eBooks. This is different to the ISBN number used for a printed copy of the same book.

Once we have converted to Kindle format it needs to be loaded onto Amazon. We can manage this process for you. At your request of course.

8 . P R I N T

There is no pressure to print. We operate on Print on Demand, so you are free to print when you want, as many as you want, without a huge financial layout.

There is no pressure on you to perform or sell.

If you are interested in printing, let us know, and we can discuss the specifications that best fit your needs and pocket.