Assisted self-publishing: what you pay for, what you keep, and how to vet a company

Stage 10 of this guide compares the four main ways to publish. This page goes deeper into one of them, for authors who are weighing an offer from an assisted publishing company or about to ask for one.

What assisted self-publishing is

Think of it as self-publishing with a hired team. You are still the publisher. The company does the work a publisher's staff would do, and charges you for it. Three things should stay with you from start to finish:

• Your rights. You grant the company only what it needs to do the work (for example, permission to upload files on your behalf). You do not license your book to it.
• Your accounts. The retailer and distributor accounts, such as Amazon KDP, are opened in your name, and the ISBNs list you or your own imprint as the publisher.
• Your royalties. Retailers pay you directly, at their own rates. The company earns its money from your fee, not from your sales.

If an offer fails any of these three, it may still be a fair deal, but it is not assisted self-publishing. Judge it as what it is: a hybrid contract, a license or a vanity arrangement.

How it compares with the alternatives

Writer Beware, the publishing watchdog run under the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, separates vanity, hybrid and self-publishing service providers by one main test: does the company take your rights on an exclusive basis, and where does it make its money? This table uses the same test.

Writer Beware also warns that many fee-charging companies call themselves "hybrid" or "independent" because the words sound respectable. "Assisted" can be stretched the same way, so trust the contract over the label.

What a good package includes, and what each part does

A package should name every service, the rounds each includes, and what you receive at the end. Here is what each part is for.

Often priced separately. Ask about each before you sign, because this is where a low headline price grows: marketing and launch campaigns, publicity, extra editing rounds, indexing, permissions for quoted material, extra author copies, shipping, hardcover editions, the audiobook in some packages, and changes after the book is live. An extra is fine. Finding out about it on the invoice is not.

How the money works

Money moves in two streams, and a sound deal keeps them apart.

1. You pay the company for the work, either up front or in installments over the project. The total should be stated in the contract, along with the schedule and what happens to payments if either side ends the project early.
2. Retailers pay you royalties on each sale, into accounts in your name, at their published rates. The company should not touch this stream.

Amazon KDP shows what that second stream looks like. Its eBook royalties page offers a 35% or 70% option; the 70% option applies to sales in listed territories, less delivery costs. Its paperback royalty page gives 60% for list prices of $9.99 and above on Amazon.com (50% at $9.98 and below), minus printing costs. KDP's own example: a $15, 333-page paperback in black ink sold in the US earns (0.60 x $15) minus $5.00 printing, which is $4.00. Sold through KDP's Expanded Distribution, the same book earns 40% minus printing, which is $1.00.

That arithmetic matters when you size the fee. Divide a package price by your royalty per copy and you have the number of copies needed to earn the fee back from royalties alone. At $4.00 a copy, every $1,000 of fees takes 250 Amazon paperback sales to recover. For many nonfiction authors that number is large, so the better question is what the book will do for your work: clients, talks or credibility. If you have not pinned that down, go back to Stage 1 before you compare prices.

Questions to ask before you sign

Send every company the same list and get the answers in writing, ideally in the contract.

Ownership

• Who owns the rights to the book, in every format? The answer should be you, with no exclusive license to the company.
• Whose name is on each ISBN? If it is the company's, it is the publisher of record, and your listing may not survive a split.
• Whose name and email are on each retailer and distributor account? Yours, so you can log in, see sales and change prices yourself.
• Who owns the cover art, interior design and audio? Ask about image and font licenses too.

Money

• What is the total cost, and what is the payment schedule? Get the full figure and the monthly amount, not only one of them.
• Who receives royalties, and does the company take any share? In a true assisted model, all royalties go to you from the retailer.
• What is not included, and what does each extra cost? Ask for the price list for extras now, not later.
• Do I have to buy copies of my own book? A required purchase is a warning sign, not a service.

The work

• Which kinds of editing are included, and how many rounds of each?
• Who will do the work, and what books like yours have they done?
• What is the schedule, and what happens if it slips on either side?
• Who has final approval on the title, cover and text? It should be you.

Leaving

• What files do I receive at the end? The print-ready interior PDF, the full cover files, the EPUB and the audio files, so the book can move without being rebuilt.
• How do I end the contract, and what does it cost? Look for a clear termination clause, with no fee to get your own book back.
• What happens to my listings if the company closes? If the accounts and ISBNs are yours, the answer is: nothing.

Proof

• Can I see books you have published? Order two or three. Check the cover at thumbnail size, the layout and the first chapter.
• Can I speak to authors you have worked with? Pick them yourself if you can.

Red flags

• The company will not show you the contract until you pay a deposit.
• A large fee with a vague description of the editing and design.
• Promises of bookstore placement, bestseller status, awards or a set number of sales.
• Pressure to decide quickly, or a discount that expires in days.
• A requirement to buy hundreds of copies of your own book. Writer Beware lists this as a common vanity tactic.
• ISBNs, accounts or royalties held in the company's name.
• No termination clause, or a fee to release your rights or files.
• Upsells for marketing, reviews or "premium" placements before the book is edited.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It tends to suit authors with one important book tied to their work, a budget for professional editing and design, and no wish to learn every publishing step themselves. It also suits authors who want to keep control of the title, cover, timing and price.

It tends not to suit authors who plan to publish many books (learning to self-publish pays off over time), authors whose only goal is to earn back the fee in royalties, and authors who want a publisher to take the financial risk. For that last group, traditional publishing is the route to try first, usually with a book proposal.

Worked example: two offers side by side

An author with a finished 50,000-word leadership manuscript has two proposals.

How to read it. Offer A looks like half the price, but it is not the same product. Add a developmental edit and an audiobook and the gap narrows. More important, Offer A fails all three ownership tests: the ISBNs, the accounts and the royalties sit with the company, it keeps a share of sales, and leaving costs money. By the definitions above it is not assisted self-publishing at all, whatever the brochure says. Offer B passes all three. Whether it is worth $18,000 to this author depends on what the book is for, which is a question only the author can answer.

If the author liked Offer A's price, the next step is to ask Company A to put the book's ISBNs, accounts and royalties in the author's name and drop the exit fee. If it will not, the comparison is finished.