Recent freelance gigs have made me finally realize that I ought to add a new service to my business: assisted publishing.

People hire me to write their manuscripts. They hire me to edit their manuscripts. They hire me to format their manuscripts. Now they can hire me to edit, format, and publish their manuscripts.

Here’s how it works.

The comprehensive packages each include three rounds of editing (initial deep edit, edit of the revised manuscript, and final proofreading), formatting (with up to three revisions), and publishing the document through Kindle Direct Publishing. The author may contribute a self-created cover design or outsource the cover design to a graphic designer with whom I will be happy to coordinate.

To publish the book, I’ll need the following information from the author:

  • Page specifications (which I’d need anyway for formatting)
  • Paper preferences (white or cream)
  • Cover preferences (matte or glossy)
  • Up to seven (7) keywords for SEO
  • Cover image file
  • Back cover blurb (i.e., book description)
  • Book category selection (maximum 2)
  • Desired e-book and print prices for the book (Amazon establishes minimum prices, so that will serve as a guide)
  • Decision whether to enroll in Kindle Unlimited
  • Author’s Amazon login credentials.

If the author does not have an Amazon account, then I’ll help set one up. The author must also enter his or her bank account information and tax information with Amazon, liking the buyer profile with the author (seller) profile, so that Amazon can pay royalties directly to the author’s bank account. If the author isn’t sure how to go about this, then I’ll be happy to help.

That’s the beauty of this service: all royalties are paid directly to the author, but I do the heavy lifting of publishing the book. The service will take advantage of the free Amazon-assigned ISBN number for printed titles; e-books don’t require ISBN numbers. The author pays me up front: I don’t take a percentage of anything, nor do I claim any ownership of the copyright. I will, however, enter Hen House Publishing as the publisher.

The packages are all-inclusive. There are no add-on fees. And the author gets a professionally produced book.

If all you want is someone to assist you in publishing your book through Kindle Direct Publishing without the editing and formatting work, then we can discuss that.

So, if you’ve been using COVID-induced free time to write that book, then let’s get it published!