FAQ

We operate with a fundamentally different business model that puts the author first, not the publisher.

Traditional publishers are gatekeepers who reject most submissions. They seek books that they believe will make them money, which usually means they are confident that they can sell 10,000 copies or more. Many excellent books don’t pass that test.

A traditional publisher such as HarperCollins or the University of California Press buys the rights to your book. They (may) pay you an advance against royalties, which typically are 12-15% of the wholesale price of the book (for example, about $2.40 on a $20 book). That’s what you earn in exchange for selling the rights and giving them control. They, in turn, handle design, sales and distribution. They may edit your book, but that has become less common as publishers try to control costs.

We are a fee-for-service company; you pay us for the services you need. Rather than being gatekeepers, we are facilitators who help authors of good books that don’t fit traditional publishers’ business models get into the market. You retain all the rights and all the revenues to your book and earn a higher percentage of sales (40-60% of retail), but you carry all the costs. You pay for editorial help, design, and publishing, as you need them.

Yes. Our designers work only on books. One of them will collaborate with you on your cover design, the interior design and, if necessary, any graphics you need us to create for you.

Yes. We publish your book on Amazon for direct-to-consumer sales, and IngramSpark for wholesale purchase.

Yes, our audiobook partner Punch Audio will handled all aspects of recording, producing and distributing your audiobook.

Yes, we provide book publicity services through our partner PR by The Book.

In some ways, you’re in charge of pricing. We price each project individually, based on your unique needs.

When Hal and Lou set up this company after 40 years in publishing, they knew what they wanted to do: bring together the best people they could to make the best books they could.

That’s what we’ve done.

Our team members have decades of experience in books. We are very good at what we do, and we compete on quality. Our prices reflect the market rate of working in depth, over an extended period of time, with excellent people in our field.

Here’s a link to our pricing page.

You own all the rights and all the revenues.

Maybe, but probably not through book sales.

For many of our authors, a book is a way to elevate themselves in their field, establishing their visibility, credibility, and expertise. This can lead to new business, paid speaking engagements, and professional opportunities. Many of our authors tell us that they’ll recoup their costs if they acquire even one or two new clients through their book. Here are some of their stories.

Making a profit through sales is harder, because you will have invested potentially tens of thousands of dollars into the book. You will net 40-60% of the Amazon retail price of each copy of your book if you publish through us, and a similar amount on the wholesale price through Ingram Spark.

Your book will be available for retail purchase through Amazon and for wholesale purchase by bookstores, event planners, companies and others who want to buy in bulk through IngramSpark.

The chances that you will make a national bestseller list are small, and we don’t make any promises in this regard. For one thing, lists are gamed, often at great expense. For another, there are many viable definitions of success for your book that have nothing to do with being on a bestseller list (a topic we’ll discuss with you as part of shaping your book).

That depends on your book and your availability to collaborate when we need you.

Going from idea to published book typically takes eight to 12 months.

If you come to us with a written manuscript, editing and publishing can take about four months.

If you come with a manuscript that is proofread and ready to publish, we can have your book out in about three months.

Because each project is different, we’ll give you a time estimate as part of your proposal.

The most important part of working with us is our relationship. We don’t work with just anyone (and you shouldn’t, either).

First, you’ll meet our founder Hal Clifford by Zoom so he can understand you and your project. Depending on what services you need, we may have another call to build your Book Foundation and write a proposal for you. We’ll introduce you to your ghostwriter or editor, if you are going to be working with one, so you can have confidence in your closest collaborator. If you don’t click with them, we’ll introduce you to someone else, because trust is essential to making the best book with us.

Once you’ve given us a thumbs-up, we get to work. Depending on your availability, this initial process takes a couple of weeks.

Every person on our team is an experienced book professional; nobody is learning on the job with your book.

The collaboration between you and your editor or ghostwriter is key to a successful book journey, which is why we ask you to meet with them before you sign an agreement to work with us. We want you to click with each other (if you don’t, we’ll introduce you to someone else). If we’re publishing your book, you’ll also work with one of our designers and one of our production editors.

Before we ask you to pay for anything, you’ll meet our founder Hal Clifford for a Zoom call. By getting to know you and what you need, and by thinking about the strengths of each team member, Hal is able to match you to someone he thinks will be a good fit.

We may also ask you to go through a deeper dive with us on your project before we suggest a creative partner.

Once we make that match, we’ll give you the opportunity to approve it or ask to meet with someone else.

Hal works directly with only a few authors each year as their writer or editor. If you work with another writer or editor on our team, he is available as a resource to both of you if you get stuck or run into a problem.

Absolutely not. We ask for a deposit to start a project, and then bill you over the course of the project.

We never use AI to create text for books. We do use Grammarly for proofreading.

Each of our writers and editors is an experienced book architect, able to meet you as an intellectual partner over a wide range of topics. You’re the subject matter expert; we’re the book and story experts. We rely on you to provide the content.

We can help you with citations, footnoting and indexing if you wish.

Yes, but only as part of a larger project, either writing or editing your manuscript.

We have a relationship with the Big 10 publisher Wiley. For select books that we believe fit Wiley’s editorial needs, we will pitch your book to Wiley if we scope that as part of our project plan.

How long is a piece of string? No, seriously, there are multiple variables, but in general Amazon pays a 60% royalty rate on your retail price (which you set). However, you also have to pay shipping costs, so expect your net royalty to be closer to 40%. A similar calculation applies to your wholesale books.

We publish on Amazon (for direct-to-consumer sales), and Ingram Spark (for wholesale).

Avocet Books, our proprietary imprint.

Fact-checking is not part of our normal editorial process but can be added if you wish.

Because our business is focused on helping authors publish their books without the gatekeeping of literary agents and traditional publishers, we do not work with agents.

We do not edit or publish fiction.

We do not provide this but may require it as part of our agreement, depending on the book’s subject matter. We will refer you to a literary attorney.

Sadly, no. This may be possible in the future.

No. We are all about books.

First, raise your concerns early, so we can fix them. We’ll do our best to make you happy. If we can’t, we’ll wrap the project up where it stands. You’ll owe us for work done, and you’ll own all the rights to what we’ve completed. There are no financial penalties.

We will not let you publish a bad book.

We are not going to say nice things to you if we need to say hard things in the course of helping you make the best book you can make. We give you the best advice we can, based on decades of experience, but all the decisions are yours. You are in control of every editorial and design choice. That’s one of the joys of fee-for-service publishing. You get to work with experts, but you also hold the reins.