FAQs

Whilst we’ve tried to cover many of the questions you are bound to ask we know there’ll always be more. So on this page we’ll try to answer any as they come in…

Q.  Are you printers?
A.  No, we setup your book with a POD publisher. They print your work for you.

Q.  What size book do you recommend?
A.  5.25in x 8in, A5, 6in x 9in (although we offer many other sizes)

Q.  How do I format my book in Word?
A.  Times Roman, 12 pt, we can do the rest

Q.  What sort of covers can I have?
A.  If you supply the images it’s better, just make sure they are high quality jpegs at 300 dpi, although we can buy some from stock agencies (approx. £10-£15 extra) once you give us an idea of what you want

Q.  Do you ship overseas?
A.  Yes, to the following countries: Ireland, Australia, Canada, USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy & Switzerland (costs vary)

Q.  Should I have a title page, dedication, quote, etc. at the front of my manuscript?
A.  Yes, just like a normal paperback (although e-books will be slightly different)

Q.  How long does it take for the proof copy to be printed and posted out to me?
A.  We use two POD companies; one is very fast, the other is a little slower. You can pay more for postage (priority shipping) for a speedier service. The former POD company usually takes approx. 2 weeks to print and post your book out

Q.  When do we pay?
A.  We do all the work and keep you informed of progress as we go. Once the book is published we send an invoice, i.e. for our publishing service. When we receive payment we’ll send you the login details, plus instructions of how to use the POD company, so you can buy copies of your book at discounted prices. We’ll also make sure you’re setup on Amazon if your selling e-books

Q.  How much does Publish & Print take in royalties?
A.  Nothing, you keep 100% (unlike many other companies out there)

Q.  Do you do press releases, social media promotion, marketing, advertising etc.?
A.  We can write and submit a press release for you for a small fee. We also try to market your book by adding to our website, posting on Facebook, Twitter, various message boards and including in our monthly newsletters. We believe the more people see your book the more people ask who published that for you!

Q.  What about selling on Amazon with paperbacks?
A.  Once we approve the proof copy we send the details to Amazon and it will appear on their website in a few days

Q.  Where will my books be available?
A.  Your books will be available for purchase from the following prestigious retailers and wholesale distributors:

•  Amazon UK / US
•  Bertram Books
•  Blackwell’s
•  The Book Depository Ltd
•  Books etc Ltd
•  Fishpond World Ltd
•  Waterstones Booksellers Limited
•  Foyles
•  Gardners Books, Ltd
•  Wrap Distribution

Note: Getting your self published book in an actual bookshop is a nightmare. Waterstones need it on Gardners first but obviously have very limited shelf space. Your best bet is to find a local, independent book store and talk nicely to them

Q.  How do I get paid for book sales?
A.  Paperback sales are through the POD company, you will need to tell them your bank details or provide a PayPal account

Q.  What about e-book sales?
A.  For e-books (the same as paperbacks), with Amazon, you will need to sign up an account and give them your bank details in order to get royalties. Normally we create the account for you, add your e-book and bank details

Q.  Can we put images in our books?
A.  Yes, but remember that colour images inside a book can be very expensive. You can certainly have black and white images in paperbacks and perhaps leave colour for e-books when viewed on colour-enabled devices, e.g. kindle Fire, iPad, computer screens etc.

Q.  What size should images be cropped to for e-books?
A.  Best leave them at high quality Jpeg and we’ll do the rest

Q.  What size should images be cropped to for paperbacks?
A.  Ideally, leave them as they are (maximum resolution) and we’ll re-size to fit

Q.  Who owns the publishing rights to my book?
A.  You do. The book is owned 100% by you. This is very important and you should always want to keep your rights. If your book sells a million you get the cash, not us. Not that we wouldn’t accept a tip 😉

Q.  What about filling in a US tax treaty?
A.  We can usually sort this out for you. It depends on which POD publisher we use

Q.  Can I have a matt or gloss book cover?
A.  Yes, we offer both

Q.  Do I have to send a copy of my book to the National Library?
A.  Yes, click here for detailed information.  This is down to you to sort out, although is quite easy to do

Q.  Why are your prices so reasonable?
A.  As far as we know we are the best value self publishing company out there, we do not charge you several thousands of pounds just to print a few copies of your book. The prices are all inclusive and you get a very professional product. We are looking for good quality writers and enjoy working with you rather than just being interested in the money like some in the business

Q.  Do you edit copy or proofread?
A.  We can edit copy a little, but would prefer you do this. Basically, get your book as good as it can be before you send it to us as we may have to charge if the manuscript requires a lot of work. We do a quick proofread on all books, i.e. spellcheck and basic look over. Any obvious mistakes we may change but any queries we’ll get back to you. See here also

Q.  Do you type up manuscripts?
A.  We do, and charge slightly below the industry standard rate (£13 per 1000 words) – approx. £10 per 1000 words.  However we’d prefer you do this yourself as it will save you a lot of money in the long term and as we are usually very busy with various projects it may take us a long time to type up your work

Q.  What about marketing?
A.  This is the million dollar question! Getting your book in front of people is the really hard part. We do help a little: we add you to our website so the world can see, you will be on Amazon of course, both in the UK and US, plus we also include all new books we publish in a monthly newsletter. We also ‘tweet’ your book every now and again. More on promotion here

More to be added later…