FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Are you a vanity press?
No, and the test is where a firm’s income comes from. A vanity press — or subsidy press, a newer name for the same arrangement — has very few restrictions, if any, on what they accept. Ours is stated: we will not put our imprint on voice-driven work below a line edit, or on expository nonfiction below a copyedit. And there is content–themes and topics–we will decline. It loses us projects.
A vanity press also sells packages, and the package often carries a quantity of books the author is required to buy — what Writer Beware calls back-end vanity publishing. Some firms put it in the contract; others just apply pressure. We quote line items for all that we do, publish our rates, and never require you to buy a copy. Print-on-demand means there is no inventory to fund. Order copies if you want them, for an event or an organization, and we fulfill wholesale orders direct — but that is your choice, never a condition of publishing with us.
Ask any firm you are considering these three questions: what do you turn down, explain the numbers and true cost, and what do I keep.
Read: Who We Publish (Senior Client Roster)
Are you a hybrid publisher?
The label covers everything from serious presses to operations that publish whatever they are paid to publish, so it can be unclear. What it means here: we publish under imprints we own, we assess every manuscript and decline work, you fund production, you keep every right, and you receive 50% of publisher net. Judge that against whatever definition you are using or given.
Jane Friedman’s overview of hybrid publishing is the clearest independent explanation of the category and of the questions worth asking about any firm in it — including us.
Do you accept manuscripts previously edited by other professionals?
Yes, but prior editing, however, does not waive our editorial review requirement. We independently assess every manuscript before publication and provide a written report of our findings. The author may share that assessment with their editor or previous editing team and continue working with them to address any issues identified.
Isn’t this just self-publishing with extra steps?
Self-publishing means you are the publisher: you commission the work, you hold the imprint, and the quality of the result is whatever you were able to buy and manage. That is a legitimate route, and we support it — the component services are listed above. Instead, we publish the book ourselves under an imprint we own, which is why it has a standard it must meet and why we decline work that doesn’t meet it.
What happens if I want to leave?
You give thirty days’ notice, and the agreement ends.
You keep all rights to your work throughout. The only right you grant us is to publish and sell the print and ebook editions, and that is what the notice ends. You leave with your interior production file. The ISBN stays with us, because an ISBN identifies the publisher and the edition — your next publisher issues its own, as it would for any book it takes on.
It is the question the predatory end of this market answers worst, which is why it is the one to ask first.
Do I keep the rights to my book?
Yes, and the contract says so. You retain all rights in your work. The only right you grant us is to publish and sell the print and eBook editions, and thirty days’ notice ends that grant. Ask any publisher you are considering to show you the equivalent clause in theirs — not what they say in their marketing materials, the contract.
How are royalties paid?
50% of publisher net, reported quarterly and paid monthly. See What Editorial and Publishing Work Costs for what “net” means and what is deducted first.
Why do you take a share of a book I paid to produce?
A fair question, and better answered than left to inference.
The production fee ends at publication. The publisher’s work does not. The imprint carries the distribution relationship, the metadata and catalog listing, the sales and royalty accounting, the monthly payment administration, and the commitment to keep the title in print and orderable for as long as you want it there. Those are continuing obligations, and no one-time fee covers them.
The share funds the part of publishing that has no end date. The editorial floor governs what we allow on the spine in the first place; the share keeps it there.
Do you market my book?
Not as a service, and we would rather say so plainly than let a fee imply otherwise. We are a publisher and an editorial house, not a publicity firm, and nothing you pay buys a marketing campaign.
What we do is make sure your own promotion has something to land on. We set metadata and categories so the book is findable. We write cover copy to sell it the moment someone picks it up. The title stays in print and orderable worldwide, and we fulfill wholesale orders direct — so if you land a speaking engagement, an organization order, or a press mention, the book is there in the quantity and format required. Beyond that, we help where we can: we share news and posts about our authors and their work, and we will advise on your own promotional material.
In this model, the author handles book marketing. That is truer of traditional publishing than most first-time authors expect — the difference is that we say so before you sign rather than after.
Read: What Editorial and Publishing Work Costs — the figures, the editorial floor, and how the royalty split works.
Read: Who We Publish (Senior Client Roster)
Read: About Our Publishing Services
One question I’m often asked is: If my manuscript is X words, how many book pages is that? The answer depends on more than word count alone, so we created a Book Page Count Calculator to give a more useful estimate based on trim size, margins, and other print settings.
