Process

From manuscript
to shelves, calmly.

A typical book goes from first call to live retailer listing in 5 to 7 weeks. Here's exactly what happens in between, and what you'll be asked to do.

1.

Week 0

3 days

Intake.

A 20-minute call, a brief, a flat quote. No commitment until you say yes.

You leave with

A scoped quote, a delivery date, and a calendar invite for kickoff. Nothing signed until you read it.

  • Both Discovery call, we ask about your manuscript, audience, deadlines, and which channels matter to you.
  • You You send us the manuscript (Word, Pages, Markdown, Scrivener, whatever you have).
  • Us Technical review through our LLM-powered analysis pipeline, surfacing structural notes, accessibility flags, and metadata signals you can use during production. Not a black-box score, a structured notes document.
  • Us You receive a single-page line-item quote and a proposed schedule.
  • You You approve, edit, or pass. 50% deposit kicks off production.
2.

Weeks 1 – 4

Production

Production.

Cover, interior, ebook, and metadata happen in parallel, with proofs at every stage.

You leave with

Approved cover, approved interior PDF, approved ebook files, and a finalized metadata sheet, all signed off, all in your hands.

  • Us Cover design, two concepts in week 1, refined direction in week 2.
  • Us Print interior layout, first proof at end of week 2.
  • Us Ebook conversion, runs alongside print, validated against EPUBCheck and Ace.
  • Both Metadata workshop, 30-minute call to nail BISAC categories and keywords together.
  • Both Up to three rounds of revisions on each deliverable. Most books finish in two.
3.

Week 5

1 week

Launch.

ISBNs filed, files uploaded everywhere, every listing verified by a human before you announce.

You leave with

Live listings on every channel, ISBNs registered to you, and a launch-day checklist for your readers and newsletter.

  • Us ISBN registration through Bowker (US) or Nielsen (UK).
  • Us KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play uploads under your accounts.
  • Us IngramSpark wholesale setup, the channel that opens bookstores, libraries, and Bookshop.org.
  • Us 72-hour post-launch verification, every listing checked on every device.
  • You Final invoice, 50% balance due on launch day.
4.

Ongoing

Steady state

Steady state.

Royalty reporting, metadata tweaks, typo fixes, reprints, for as long as your book is in print.

You leave with

A book that doesn't need babysitting, and a small monthly retainer (or pay-as-you-go) for whatever you need next.

  • Us First monthly royalty report lands in your inbox by week 6, once retailers post their first statements.
  • Us Monthly consolidated PDFs, plus tax-ready CSV exports on request.
  • Us Typo fixes within 48 hours of a report, free for the life of the book.
  • Us Print reprints triggered when IngramSpark inventory drops.

Our promises

Three things we will always do.

Meet you where you are.

Every author arrives at a different stage, with a different budget, and a different idea of what success looks like. We don't have a one-size payment model because we don't have one-size authors. We'll find a structure that works for both of us.

Be honest in our dealings.

Plain language, plain numbers, no asterisks. If a thing will cost more, we say so before you sign. If we made a mistake, we own it. If we don't know the answer, we say that too.

Stay on your side.

You are the author. You hold the rights, the accounts, the readers, and the upside. We work for you, not around you, and the moment that stops being true is the moment you should leave.

Ready when you are.

Book a 20-minute call