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Genres

Fantasy and science fiction book publishing

The genre we have produced the most work in. Series-aware covers, continuity editing that tracks your own rules, and distribution built for authors publishing more than one book.

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Portfolio

Fantasy and science fiction covers we have produced

Cover and production work, each shown with its title and author.

  • Given — an anatomical heart wreathed in vivid flowers and bare branches against deep black

    Given

    Elayna R. Gallea

  • Return of the Martial Messiah — a lone robed figure on a crag beneath a luminous rift in storm clouds

    Return of the Martial Messiah

    ToraAKR

  • Mountainfall Academy — an anime youth channels a swirling vortex of ice and gold magic

    Mountainfall Academy

    AJ Jontz

  • Leoncrest Academy — a swordsman and a noblewoman beside a stone lion inside a broken gold crest

    Leoncrest Academy

    Kal Griffith

  • Homestead Crafter — a bearded man's silhouette filled with pine forest, river and a log cabin

    Homestead Crafter

    S. D. McKittrick

  • Smite the Soil — a bearded paladin in chainmail and apron tends glowing vegetables by a thatched cottage

    Smite the Soil

    Beatrix Penrose

  • Advent of the Density God — two faces almost touching inside shattering ice, one eye blazing green

    Advent of the Density God

    ToraAKR

  • The Jade Necklace — a gargoyle crouches atop a carved stone archway as purple feathers drift

    The Jade Necklace

    Jad Phillip

See the full portfolio
A reader lying in long grass with an open book in a green field

What this genre needs

Series are a different publishing problem

One novel is a project. A series is a system, and the decisions that matter are made before book one goes on sale.

A series needs a cover system rather than a cover: a repeatable layout, a colour logic that still has room at book six, a title position that works whether the title is two words or seven. Retrofitting that onto a standalone cover usually means redesigning book one, which is the most common expensive mistake in this genre.

It also needs continuity editing that tracks your own invented rules — magic costs, timelines, who knows what and when — and a series record set up properly at the retailers so readers can find book two. We handle that through book cover design, book editing and book distribution.

  • A cover system designed to extend across a series
  • Continuity notes kept as a document you own
  • Series metadata set up so book two is findable
  • Wide distribution, or exclusivity if you choose it knowingly

What's involved

What series publishing involves

Four things that are harder with a series than a standalone.

  • A cover system

    One layout logic that still works at book six, not six unrelated covers.

  • Continuity tracking

    A living document of names, rules, timelines and who knows what, kept as you go.

  • Series metadata

    Series name and numbering set at every retailer so readers find the next book.

  • A release schedule

    Dates set so the gap between books does not lose the readers book one earned.

Case study

An epic fantasy jacket, decision by decision

Two covers can both be fantasy and compete for different readers. This one is built for scale; the emblem jacket beside it in the grid is built for a series.

The Saltwing Heir — a winged figure silhouetted against a storm above ocean cliffs

The Saltwing Heir

Rowan Ashby

The brief: book one of a planned five-book epic fantasy, where the cover has to promise scale, survive being shrunk to a thumbnail, and leave room for a system that still works at book five.

What we did

  • Kept the figure deliberately small against the cliffs, so the scale reads before the subject
  • Built the palette around storm light, which leaves four more colourways for later books
  • Set the title high where the sky is simplest, so no artwork is lost behind type
  • Tested the jacket at 20mm against a mocked-up category page
  • Specified the spine treatment first, because a five-book series has to line up on a shelf

What was delivered

  • Front cover at thumbnail, retail and poster sizes
  • Wraparound print cover with spine and barcode area
  • Ebook and audiobook squares
  • A series style sheet: type, palette and layout rules for books two to five

Questions authors ask

Fantasy and science fiction: questions authors ask

You do not have to, but you should know the shape of it. Readers in this genre are unforgiving about long gaps, and a series that stalls after book two loses its audience. At minimum, have book two drafted before book one goes on sale, and tell us the planned length so the cover system can extend.

Yes, and they bring specific production problems: stat blocks and system messages have to be typeset so they survive reflow in an ebook, and they often break naive formatting. We set them as styled blocks rather than images, so they stay readable at any font size and remain accessible.

More often in this genre than most, because many fantasy readers read in it and page reads can be a real share of income. The cost is digital exclusivity to Amazon for the enrolment period, which closes Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play. We will set out both sides; the decision is genuinely yours.

Readers tolerate more length here than any other genre: 100,000 to 150,000 words is normal and epic fantasy goes further. The practical limit is print cost, since page count drives both unit price and spine width. We will show you what your length does to the printed price before you commit.

Usually yes. Bring the existing covers and the source files if you have them, and we will build book three to the same system. If the original covers have no reusable system, we will say so and tell you what matching them will cost in compromise, rather than promising a seamless fit.

Yes, as a commissioned addition. A map needs designing for print, which means it has to read in black and white at page size, not just on screen in colour. We will tell you honestly when a map adds nothing but cost, which is more often than authors expect.

Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.

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Make room for your book.

From your desk to a reader’s shelf

Plan the series, not just book one

Tell us how many books you are planning and send what you have written. We will come back with a cover system, a production plan and a price per book.

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