This is the exciting part!  Your book is ready to come alive and this page will describe the process in detail from the moment we receive your completed manuscript to the time you hold your finished book in your hand. 

STEP ONE: DOCUMENT REVIEW

Your completed manuscript is e-mailed to us in a Microsoft Word document.  We reformat your document into the book's trim size and turn your manuscript into a book signature paginantion.  This ensures the book prints precisely as it should.  But before printing, there are a few more things we must do . . .

STEP TWO: FOLIOS AND CHAPTER BREAKS

We typeset and lay out the author name and chapter folios on each page. These folios are the lines at the top of each page that name the chapter and author alternating between each side of the book.  We also include other necessary informational and traditional book inclusions such as the Dedication Page, Half-Title and Full-Title Pages, and Table of Contents update to reflect book pages versus manuscript pages. The ISBN and EAN-13 numbers, as well as the Library of Congress Cataloging info is added to your publisher's page at this time as well.

STEP THREE: CURSORY AND PROOF EDIT

We'll assign a proofreader to read the book from cover to cover as a final pair of eyes to check the book for spelling and obvious grammatical errors, and any blatant contradictions in content.  Our proofer's findings are then forwarded to you for change approval.  Once you have OK'd any suggested changes, the corrections are made and the process proceeds to next step.

STEP FOUR:  THE COVER

While the proof edit is taking place, our Art Department has been working on your cover based on the description you will have previously provided.  Perhaps you even sent us a mock-up of your ideas.  From all of the information we will have received, your cover is created.  Once it is finished a PDF will be provided for your approval.  Once any corrections are added and you have signed off on the cover it gets flowed into the production schedule and meets up with the printing of your book block.

STEP FIVE:  THE PRINTING

The cover and book block are printed and the book is perfect bound.  The cover is "varnished" with a high gloss and the books are trimmed.  At this point a proof of the final book will be mailed to you for your approval.  Once you have approved the final product, we will print whatever your initial order is. THERE ARE NO MINIMUMS!  Whether you want a single copy or 100,000, it doesn't matter. 

STEP SIX: DISTRIBUTION

We will immediately list your book with Amazon.com and include all of the descriptions and keywords that drive the book browsing public to your particular title.  NOTE: This is a very important part of your book's distribution plan.  Amazon.com accounts for 78 percent of all online book sales throughout the world, and 62 percent of all book buyers purchase from Amazon.  In order to sell a new book on Amazon you must either have a publisher, or be recognized as a publisher yourself with all of the pertinent ISBN, EAN-13, and distribution facilities required by Amazon.  We provide all of this as part of your book design through House of Penguin.  In addition to Amazon, your book will also be available through Barnes and Noble.com, and WHSmith.com.  Finally, librarians around the world responsible for purchasing also have access to your title by subject. So if your book is of interest, they can place an order which we fill immediately.   (NOTE: Most libraries prefer to order new titles through Amazon as they offer discounts that are usually much greater than through typical publisher direct purchasing.)

STEP SEVEN: SALES MANAGEMENT

When you order sets of books for sales that you have made directly, or for sales at speaking events, you price and collect those sales directly.  You order as many books as you need, pay for production and shipping (you will already know your price per copy for printing) and we produce and ship your order directly to you.  Any online sales (with the exception of books you sell directly from your own Web site) are collected by us from any online retail orders. The royalties which are collected over and above the costs of printing and shipping are forwarded to you monthly with a sales statement.  Your royalties from these sales are paid to you directly on a monthly basis via Paypal.

So there you have it. Seven simple steps to creating and marketing your book. And the best part?  On average it takes just three weeks from start to finish, and depending on the readiness of your materials, it can be in as little as 10 days.