How it works
How to publish a book in Australia, stage by stage
Six stages, four to six months, and you approve each one before the next begins. This page is the whole process with real timings, not a sales funnel.
The process
The six stages in detail
Timings are for a standard-length novel in reasonable condition. Illustrated and reference books take longer.
- 01
Read and assessment
Weeks 1–2An editor reads the manuscript or a substantial sample and writes back on what it needs. This is free, and it is also the stage where we tell you if the book is not ready.
Your part: Send the manuscript and say what worries you about it.
- 02
Scope and fixed quote
Week 2A written plan: the stages, what each produces, the dates and one price. Itemised, so you can drop the audiobook, defer the marketing, or take the edit alone.
Your part: Read it, cut what you do not want, ask what anything means.
- 03
Editing
Months 1–3Structural edit, then your rewrite, then a line edit. The longest stage by a distance, and the one that decides whether the rest of the money is well spent.
Your part: The rewriting. Most authors take four to eight weeks over it.
- 04
Design and typesetting
Month 3–4Cover concepts and interior typesetting run alongside each other. Proofreading happens on the typeset pages, where layout faults actually appear.
Your part: Choose a cover direction and approve the sample pages.
- 05
Registration and proof
Month 4–5ISBNs registered in your name, imprint set up, retailer accounts created, print specification settled and a printed proof copy posted to you.
Your part: Read the proof on paper and sign it off. Nothing publishes until you do.
- 06
Publication and distribution
Month 5–6Listings go live across retailers, print on demand is enabled in Australia, legal deposit copies are lodged and library suppliers are notified.
Your part: Choose the publication date and tell people.
Deliverables
What you have at the end
Every file and account, in your name. This is the list to hold us to.
- 01
A print-ready interior and its source file
Typeset PDF built to your printer specification, plus the working file, so a correction in two years does not mean paying to rebuild the book.
- 02
Cover artwork for every format
Wraparound print cover sized to your final page count and paper stock, ebook and audiobook squares, and the layered working files.
- 03
An ebook that passes validation
EPUB with a working table of contents and semantic structure, tested on Kindle, Apple Books and Kobo rather than exported and hoped for.
- 04
ISBNs and legal deposit
One ISBN per format, registered to you as publisher, with your imprint recorded and the deposit copies lodged as the Copyright Act requires.
- 05
Retailer and distribution accounts
In your name with your bank details, so royalties arrive from the retailers rather than passing through us.
- 06
A printed proof copy
In your hands before publication. Authors change something after seeing the proof in roughly half of all projects.
What is fixed, whatever the book
- Written quote
1
Written quote
Issued after the read. The figure you accept is the figure you pay.
- Stages, each approved by you
6
Stages, each approved by you
Nothing moves to the next stage until you have signed off the last.
- Printed proof copy
1
Printed proof copy
Posted before publication on every project that goes to print.
- Of files handed over
100%
Of files handed over
Source files included, so you are never locked in by what we hold.
Avoidable mistakes
Where projects actually go wrong
Three failure modes we design the process to avoid, because we have seen all three arrive on our desk.
Designing before the text is final
A cover is built to a page count. Edit the book after the cover is finished and the page count moves, which changes the spine width, which means redrawing the cover. Doing the stages in order is not bureaucracy; it is the cheapest route.
- Typesetting starts only after the proofread
- Spine width calculated from the final page count
- Cover and interior checked against each other before print
Proofreading the manuscript instead of the pages
A manuscript proofread cannot find a stranded heading, a running head left over from the previous chapter or a contents page pointing at the wrong number. Those faults are created by typesetting, so the proofread has to happen after it.
- Two passes: text, then typeset layout
- A marked-up PDF your typesetter can work from
- The corrections themselves checked afterwards
Marketing a book that is not ready
Advertising a book with a weak cover or an unedited interior buys you one-star reviews faster than it buys sales. We will say so, and recommend spending the money on the book instead. It is the most common conversation we have.
- An honest read before any marketing is sold
- Advertising started small enough to learn from
- A recommendation to stop when spend is not returning
I am seventy-one and I did not want to spend my retirement learning what an ISBN was. They handled the registration, the legal deposit and the distribution, and they explained each step once in plain English rather than making me feel foolish for asking. The book is in two libraries near me now.
Jenny Harlow
Author of Saltwater Country · Self-publishing
Questions authors ask
Questions about the process
Four to six months for a standard novel from the first read to being on sale. Editing is most of it: a structural pass, your rewrite and a line edit genuinely take two to three months. Design and typesetting run alongside, and registration and proofing take another month. Illustrated books take longer.
Sometimes, to a point. A clean manuscript booked in advance can move through in eight to ten weeks. What we will not do is cut the proof copy or shorten the editing, because both failures are permanent and visible. If your date is immovable, tell us early and we will say honestly whether it is possible.
Read and respond at each stage, and do the rewriting between the two editing passes. That last part is the real work and nobody can do it for you. Beyond that: choose a cover direction, answer the proofreader’s queries, sign off the proof copy and pick a publication date.
You pay for the stages completed and take the files with you. Work is invoiced by stage for exactly this reason. Some authors stop after the edit and publish themselves, which is a perfectly good outcome and not one we will argue you out of.
One person, named, from the first call to publication, with your editor and designer named too. You speak to the editor directly about the manuscript rather than relaying notes. If a specialist is brought in for illustration or audio, you are told who before work starts.
Say so. Every change arrives as a tracked change with a reason, and you can reject any of them — it is your book. If you find yourself rejecting most of an edit, the pairing is wrong rather than you, and we will put a different editor on it rather than argue.
Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.
Start your publishing journeyA clear way forward
Start with a free read
Send the manuscript and an editor will tell you which of these six stages your book actually needs, and what they would cost.
- 1
Tell us where your book is now
- 2
We read it and recommend the next step
- 3
You decide with a written quote in hand