Book Publishing
Frequently Asked Questions
How does traditional publishing compare with self-publishing?
Publishing the traditional way involves an author hiring an agent to shop his/her manuscript to large publishing houses. If a publishing house has an interest in the manuscript, they will buy the rights to the book from the author. Whether a publishing house is interested in publishing a book is not just determined by the quality of the writing or the content. Often there are other factors involved such as the genre of books the editors are seeking, and what the market is purchasing.
After selling the rights to a manuscript, the author has no control over the editing, the design, printing, promotion or distribution.
Self-publishing is when an author pays for publishing their manuscript. It affords the author control of their book’s printing process, complete ownership rights and allows the author to keep 100% of the royalties (profit from the sales).
How do you distribute my book?
When you publish with Lael, your book is placed into one of the industry’s largest global distribution networks of 39,000 outlets covering:
• Independent bookstores
• Online stores
• Big chains
• Little chains
• e-book retailers
• Local niche retailers
• Libraries
• Schools
• Universities
Does my book have to be edited before publishing?
Absolutely! We recommended that your book is professionally edited before publishing. It's never a good idea to publish a book without it going through a full editing process. The book may have great content, but if it's unprofessionally done with grammatical errors and misspellings, it will not get good reviews, and you will not see high sales. As a result, the author has wasted his/her time and money.
The Lael Agency works with professional editors who specialize in various genres of writing. It is well worth the investment of time and money to have a manuscript polished by an editor to make your book the best it can be.
Who designs my cover and do I get to have input?
Yes. That's the beauty of self-publishing. You will work with one of our graphic designers to create a cover that represents you and your book to your satisfaction.
The old saying goes, "Don't judge a book by its cover." But, the truth is if the outside of the book has poor design quality and is unappealing, most readers will not pick it up much less pay for it.
Should I print my book or just do an e-book?
At Lael, we publish both printed books and e-books. The e-book is an electronic book purchased for digital download to read on devices such as Kindle, Nook, iPad, smartphones and others.
When deciding to publish a printed version or an e-book (or both) the author should consider two things. First, what are the overall goals of the book and two, who is the audience for which the author hopes to market the book? A Lael representative can help you make that determination.
What type of books do you publish?
We publish the following genres:
Christian themed non-fiction & fiction
Self-help
Children's books
Cookbooks
Business Publications
Poetry
How do I get started with the publishing process?
Contact us, let's talk.