Services
Publishing services for Australian authors
Sixteen services across writing, design, publishing and marketing, with children’s book illustration and picture-book layout at the centre of what we do. Take all of it, or the single stage you are stuck on.
Find your starting point
Where is your book right now?
Start with the stage you are at. We can help with one piece of the work or the whole publication.
An idea or early draft
Shape the structure and find out what the manuscript needs before production begins.
Find your directionA finished manuscript
Bring the words, cover and interior together into a book that is ready to publish.
Prepare for publicationA published book
Work on the next stage: distribution, visibility and reaching the readers you wrote it for.
Plan your next step
The full list
Every service, grouped by where it sits in the process
Four groups, in the order a book usually moves through them. Each page tells you what the service includes, how long it takes and what it costs.
Choosing
Not sure which of these you need?
Most authors arrive certain they need one thing and leave having bought something else. That is usually a good sign.
The most common example: an author comes for a cover and a line edit, and the read shows the manuscript needs restructuring first. Paying for a cover before the book is finished means paying for it twice, because the page count changes and the spine has to be rebuilt.
So the first thing we do is read. A manuscript assessment is the cheapest way to find out where your book actually is, and its fee comes off your edit if you go on to book one. If you already know you want the whole process handled, self-publishing is the page to read, and our guide to what it costs to publish a book in Australia sets out the numbers before you speak to anyone.
- Every service priced on its own, so you can buy one stage
- An editor reads your manuscript before anything is quoted
- We will tell you when a service you asked for is the wrong one
- You keep the rights and the royalties whichever you choose
The order of things
How the services fit together
Whichever services you take, they sit in this order. Skipping a stage is fine; doing them out of order usually costs money.
- 01
Assess
A read and a written report, so you know what the manuscript needs before you spend.
- 02
Write and edit
Ghostwriting, structural editing, line editing. The book becomes the book here.
- 03
Design
Cover, illustration and typesetting, once the word count has stopped moving.
- 04
Proof
Proofreading on the typeset pages, then a printed proof copy in your hands.
- 05
Publish
ISBN, legal deposit, retailer and library listings, print on demand in Australia.
- 06
Grow
Launch marketing, an author website, audiobook and trailer if they suit the book.
Portfolio
Covers and interiors from author projects
Design and production work, shown with each title and author.
I came in wanting a photograph of myself on the cover. The designer talked me out of it and showed me what the book looks like at the size people actually see it, which is about the size of a stamp. The geometric version reads at that size. Mine did not. I am glad somebody said so.
David Ngata
Author of The Quiet Advantage · Cover design and marketing
Questions authors ask
Questions about choosing a service
Yes. Every service on this page is priced on its own, and plenty of authors take one: an edit, or a cover, or ISBN registration. The packages exist because taking several together is cheaper and better coordinated, not because the pieces are unavailable separately.
A manuscript assessment, in almost every case. It is the cheapest service here, it tells you whether the book is ready, and its fee is credited against your edit if you book one within six months. Starting with a cover or a marketing plan before the manuscript is settled is the most expensive order to work in.
No. You own the files and the accounts at every stage, so you can take the edited manuscript to another designer, or bring us a finished book and only use distribution. We would rather do one stage well and have you come back than lock you into a bundle.
That is the normal starting point. Send the manuscript, or a chapter of it, with a note about what worries you. An editor reads it and tells you which services would actually help and in what order, including the ones you do not need yet. That conversation is free and carries no obligation.
Editing, design, typesetting and publishing setup are handled by our own editors and designers. Illustration, narration and video are specialist work and we bring in a specialist, named to you before the project starts, with their samples. Nothing is passed to an anonymous subcontractor.
Yes, regularly. We decline marketing for a book that is not ready, covers for manuscripts still being restructured, and audiobooks where the budget would be better spent on editing. We say why and what we would do instead. You are free to disagree and buy it anyway, but you will know our view.
Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.
Start your publishing journeyA clear way forward
Not sure where to start
Send the manuscript or a chapter of it. An editor reads it and tells you which services would help, in what order, 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