If you’ve ever thought about publishing your own book, then you have most definitely come to the right place. The art of self publishing is now more practical and affordable than ever before.  

If you’ve ever had a problem in trying to get your book published and/or promoted through a mainstream publisher, then self publishing might be the answer you’ve been looking for and the solution to all of your publishing-related troubles.  

We are here to help you in the process of self publishing, to cut out everything that could give you a problem and allow you a much swifter and easier route to publishing success. All the information you could ever want with regards to how to set up your own self publishing scheme and get on the fast track to earning what you deserve to thanks to your own hard work.  

Self publishing is something that can be done well by anyone, you just need the determination and the will to go through with it, which the information and examples on this website should help you with. It might sometimes be a bit of a challenge, but you will certainly reap the rewards and benefits that self publishing has to offer.  

Simply put, self publishing means that you are the one in control of how your book is published. You get all the copyright, rather than some fancy guy in a suit taking everything that belongs to you and the best thing is that you get to keep one hundred percent of all the royalties that are related to the publishing of your book.  

You decided when and where it’s published, so you really do have complete control over your own hard work and can shape the direction it heads in. This road is relatively easy, so don’t be put off by people telling you that you can’t do it or don’t have enough money or something like that.  

Benefits of our Publishing Services

• Soft and Hard back options available
• Any size undertaken
• Colour books and colour sections available
• Fast turnaround
• High quality 1200 dpi mono printing
• Various papers available
• Quotes, payments and file upload available online
• Reprint orders can be made with ease
• Secure file storage
• Dedicated customer service team
• Assistance for authors

Manuscripts

Manuscripts can be submitted in various formats, but the safest for replication is PDF which is a more secure way of making sure it prints as you see it on the computer screen.If you supply a word file please make sure that it is set up at the correct finished page size, and with the margins you feel happiest with. We can format your manuscript for you but this incurs an extra charge, based on £25 per hour.We also have a service where you can submit an original book to be scanned and reproduced, or hard copy that needs scanning from a typed manuscript with no electronic files. If it comes in as a hard copy that needs OCR scanning, again this is possible but would incur an extra charge for which the price would be subject to sight.

Timing

• We usually aim to get proofs to our clients with in 2-3 working days, and from proof approval delivery should be 5-7 working days.
• If you require the books for a set date please advise on order placement and we will do all we can to achieve that date.

Page layout/format

• We can accept your manuscript in most PC-based software formats but it must exist as one single document. Please do not submit each chapter or each page separately.
• We would print the pages exactly as you supplied them unless you wanted us to carry out the design work for you, for which there would be an additional cost.
• There are no rules about the font you use or the size; those are completely your own choice. We generally use a font called Times New Roman with an 11 point size. A margin of around 15mm should be left around each page, although the choice is yours.
• For best quality results supplying your manuscript in PDF format is ideal. If you do not have the software to convert your document it is possible to get it converted for no cost on various internet sites. (Type “convert to pdf free” into any search engine to find one). If you have any problem with this we can do it for you from many PC based softwares at an additional cost.
• It is generally accepted that odd-numbered pages should be on the right-hand side as you look at the open book.
• A new chapter starts on a new page. (Do use a page break – Alt I B P in Microsoft Word – rather than a series of returns to achieve that).
• Some people prefer new chapters to start on a right-hand page which may entail inserting a blank page beforehand.
• If you want a gap between each paragraph, insert automatic spacing to appear after each paragraph – Alt O P E in Microsoft Word.
• Be wary that a computer spell checker is no guarantee of correct spelling, and the language setting on your PC accounts for many problems here.
• Do not manually hyphenate words at line breaks. Let your word processing application do that for you automatically. (Alt T L H in Microsoft Word)
• The most common mistake is the over-use of capital letters, which should be reserved for proper nouns (names) and the first word in each sentence only. Too many people write sentences such as The Doctor wrote to the Council to complain about the noisy Aircraft and the delay in getting through to the Call Centre. Not one of those words (apart from the The at the start of the sentence) should have a capital.
• To indent paragraphs, use a tab character not a series of spaces. Better still, let your software do it for you – Alt O P S and choosing the First line option in Microsoft Word.
• Use only one space, not two between sentences.
• Titles of books, songs, films and so forth are generally denoted by the use of italics rather than inverted commas or speech marks.
• Try to avoid typing words all in capitals and try to avoid using bold and underlining as such styles can become difficult to read if over-used.
• Some software automatically defaults to American Letter size pages (216mm x 280mm) rather than English A4 (210mm x 297mm). Do be careful; you can check by typing Alt F U and choosing the Paper option in Microsoft Word.

Graphics

• Graphics – anything that is not text – need to be included within your manuscript. We can add these in for you but that would be an additional cost.
• There is no need to group all of your pictures together; they can be distributed throughout the book.
• If you are scanning items for use, choose a setting of 300dpi. Any lower could make the images print poorly.
• Colour does add to the cost of printing and if you have a colour image on one side of a page with just mono (black-and-white) on the other, we have to charge for two colour pages because of the nature of the printing process.
• Colour images should be in CMYK colour and not in RGB.
• It is very important that you do not use pictures, maps or images without the permission of whoever owns the copyright. You can’t copy from other books, newspapers or the internet without permission.
• Images from the internet may look crisp and clear on a screen but their quality will be too poor to print well.

• Design service is something we can offer you at extra cost and prices are on application.
• If you are supplying your own cover files, it should be in PDF format and CMYK colour rather than RGB. Please do ensure you are buying or using images of sufficiently high resolution for printing rather than low resolution internet ones).
• The design needs to include the back, spine and front as one single file and should have a minimum of 3mm ‘bleed’.
• The spine width can be calculated for you please call if you require assistance with this.

Submitting your work

• When supplying your own files, we require one for the cover and a separate one for the interior pages. The text file needs to be in single page order from 1 through to the back.
• We can accept the material through the post on CD, DVD or memory stick .
• If the files are less than 8Mb we can accept them by e-mail, and if larger then you can use one of the free to use file transfer sites on the internet such as www.mailbigfile.com or www.yousendit.com

ISBN

The ISBN number is an international identification code which is unique to a particular edition of a particular title. It serves to facilitate accurate cataloguing, ordering, accounting, billing and stock control. If you purchase your ISBN numbers (minimum of 10) you will get a form with the list of numbers and you will have to assign one to your book.   The UK ISBN Agency is run by Nielsen and is responsible for assigning ISBN Publisher Prefixes to publishers based in the UK or Republic of Ireland. We are therefore in the unique position of having a direct relationship with over 40,000 publishers which allows Nielsen Book’s database of titles and publishers to be the most up-to-date and comprehensive.

The agency:

• Allocates ISBN Publisher Prefixes to eligible publishers based on the information provided by the publisher
• Advises publishers on the correct and proper implementation of the ISBN System
• Maintains a database of publishers and their prefixes for inclusion in the Publishers International ISBN Directory
• Encourages and promotes the use of the Bookland EAN bar code format
• Encourages and promotes the importance of the ISBN for a proper listing of titles with bibliographic agencies such as BookData
• Provides technical advice and assistance to publishers and the book trade on all aspects of ISBN usage

Contact Nielsen:

Tel:      +44 (0)870 777 8712 (9am-5pm)

Fax:     +44 (0)870 777 8714

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Website: www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk

Registered Office: 3rd Floor Midas House, 62 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 6LQ  

About Nielsen Book

Nielsen Book has four key brands: Registration Agencies (ISBN, SAN, ISTC), BookData, BookNet and BookScan. Nielsen ISBN Agency provides publisher prefixes/ISBNs to publishers based in the UK & Ireland and offer advice on how to apply and use ISBNs. Nielsen BookData provides comprehensive, enriched and timely bibliographic data worldwide to booksellers, libraries and publishers in 110 countries around the world. Nielsen BookNet provides value-added transaction services to the industry. Nielsen BookScan provides the world’s only continuous retail monitoring service for English-language books in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Demark. The Nielsen Book group employs more than 140 staff in the UK. The company is wholly owned by The Nielsen Company, one of the world’s largest publishing and information companies.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is the world's leading provider of marketing information, audience measurement, and business media products and services. By delivering an unmatched combination of insights, market intelligence, advanced analytical tools, and integrated marketing solutions, Nielsen provides clients with the most complete view of their consumers and their markets.Headquartered in New York, USA and Haarlem, The Netherlands, Nielsen operates in more than 100 countries with a global team dedicated to helping clients compete more effectively and discover opportunity with more clarity than ever before.

Legal deposit libraries

Legal deposit is the act of submitting published material to designated libraries and archives. In the United Kingdom the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, and the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (Ireland) make it obligatory for publishers and distributors in the United Kingdom and Ireland to deposit their publications within one month of publication to six libraries that collectively maintain the national published archive of the British Isles:  The British Library, The Oxford Bodleian LibraryThe Cambridge University LibraryThe National Library of Scotland in EdinburghThe Dublin Library of Trinity CollegeThe National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.  This is a four-centuries-old tradition which will make your work available in the reading rooms, preserved for the benefit of future generations, a part of the national heritage. Your book will be recorded in the online catalogues of the libraries, all of which are accessible on the World Wide Web and provide essential research tools for generations to come.

Book Sizes

134 x 197mm (Standard)

216 x 138mm (Demy)

210 x 148mm (A5)

234 x 156mm (Royal)

249 x 177mm (Pinched Crown Quarto)

246 x 189mm (Crown Quarto)

276 x 219mm (Demy Quarto)

297 x 210mm (A4) 

We can cater for almost any size, so please do ask.

We are always happy to help and advice so please feel free to call Dale Burgess or one of our team to discuss your project, and requirements.