Six stages, in the order that saves you money

You upload the manuscript — complete or in progress — along with a short note about who the book is for and what you want it to achieve. Nothing is charged and nothing is committed.

A consultant reads it, and within a few working days you get a written response covering what state the manuscript appears to be in, which publishing route fits, roughly what it would cost, and what we would suggest doing first. If we think it needs more work before production, we say so.

Your work stays confidential. We do not acquire rights, share your manuscript, or use it for anything other than assessing your project.

Based on the assessment, you decide how to proceed. Most authors choose one of our four packages. Some build a plan from individual services in the store. Some start with a single piece of work — an assessment or a cover — and decide the rest later.

Whatever you choose, you receive a written scope: exactly what is included, what it costs, what the schedule looks like, how many revision rounds you get, and what we need from you and when. You approve it before any work starts and before any money moves.

If a package is nearly right but not quite, we adjust it. Adding a service, removing one you do not need, or changing a word-count allowance are all normal.

Editing runs in the correct order, which matters more than most authors realise. Structural work comes first, because there is no sense polishing sentences that may be cut. Then copyediting, line by line. Then, after typesetting, proofreading on the pages themselves.

You are matched with editors who work in your genre. Every change is tracked and reversible, and anything stylistic arrives as a query rather than a correction. You accept and reject individually, and your decisions inform how the editor handles the rest of the manuscript.

You also receive a style sheet recording every convention applied to your book. Keep it — it saves considerable time on a sequel.

Cover design starts with a brief from you and research into how comparable titles in your category currently present themselves. Your designer produces distinct directions — genuinely different ideas, not variations on one — and you choose one to refine.

Interior typesetting runs alongside. A typeface chosen for your book, a comfortable measure, hand-resolved page breaks, chapter openers with character and correctly built front and back matter. You approve a sample chapter before the whole book is set.

Spine width is calculated from your final page count and paper stock, which is why the cover is completed after the interior rather than before it.

Your book is registered with its own ISBNs — one per format — and a complete metadata record is built: categories, keywords, audience, territory rights, per-currency pricing and trade terms. This record is what retailers ingest, and its quality determines how findable your book is.

Files and metadata go out through the distribution channels. Print titles become available through print-on-demand across our fulfilment territories, and a wholesale listing makes the book orderable by bookstores and library suppliers. Digital editions go to the major reading platforms.

We monitor until every listing appears and displays correctly, then send you a verification report. Retailer availability depends on each retailer's own catalog policies and can change without notice.

Depending on your package, marketing runs from a launch checklist you execute yourself up to a managed twelve-month programme. The core work is the same: making the retail listing as strong as it can be, getting advance copies to real readers who might review honestly, producing assets you can use repeatedly, and building an audience you control.

You receive reports on what was actually delivered — outreach sent, assets produced, listings optimized, tests run. What you will not receive is a sales projection, because sales depend on readers, retailers, timing and chance that no publisher controls.

Your author dashboard stays open afterwards, with your files, marketing materials and order history in one place.