Frequently Asked Questions
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Does it matter which country I'm in?
No, as an internet based business we can take your emails from anywhere in the world. It is mainly through emails that we manage the series of steps needed to publish a paperback book or an eBook. Whether you're in London, New York, Tokyo or Timbuktu is irrelevant: once we hand-over to you at the end of our assignment, you have full control of your book wherever you are.
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Do you use any language other than English for communicating with authors?
No - the language of communication with our authors is in English. Note that we only publish books in the English Language.
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Who owns the copyright to my book?
You do, a writer would be foolish to transfer the copyright on their writings to anyone and we have no interest in owning copyright.
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Do I have to sign a contract with Rossendale Books?
No. The legal basis of our agreement (between the author and Rossendale Books) rests upon our Terms and Conditions which can be downloaded on this link. We regularly receive emails from authors who have a contractual basis with a publisher which binds the author to that publisher unless they pay an exorbitant release fee. Just recently, we received an email to that effect where the author would have to pay a release fee of 750 Euros - which is around £675.00 or $1000.00!!! If you publish through Rossendale Books there are no hidden charges or release fees or exclusive agreements. WE DON'T TIE YOU DOWN LEGALLY and WE DON'T TAKE A PENNY from your sales or royalties.
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What can I expect to pay for your various publishing services?
If you go for the full package of eBook and Paperback services (including ISBNs, cover, marketing image and storefront) the total cost would be £240.00. For just the paperback book services (including ISBN, cover and storefront) the total charge is £180.00. Lastly, for an eBook service alone (ISBN, eBook on Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble, marketing image and storefront) the charge is £60.00.
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Do I have to pay for everything up-front?
Not for paperback books, the first payment is set at 50% with the remaining 50% balance being payable once the book is published. For example, for a paperback book only, this means two payments of £90.00. If you take the eBook option along with the paperback book this means two payments of £120.00 (this is half of the total price of £180.00 for the paperback book and half of £60.00 for the eBook). If you only wish to have an eBook without a paperback book option, then there is a single payment up-front of £60.00
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Can I just have an eBook without having a paperback book?
Yes, that's not a problem. Note that there is a single payment of £60.00 for our eBooks service on its own.
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What is the print cost for a single copy of my book?
This is one of the most commonly-asked questions from our authors. The answer depends upon a number of factors including the page count, the page size and the design of each page - if the font is relatively large and the margins generous you get less text on a page and therefore a higher page count. This is why we always ask authors to send us a copy of their manuscript at which point we can then, under no obligation from the author, provide them with a recommended page layout and design and, more importantly, a reasonably accurate page count and hence print cost per copy.
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How do I receive my royalties from either paperback book sales or eBook sales?
For paperback book sales everything is straightforward: your storefront will receive the payments from your storefront provider. This applies to books sold directly off your storefront to customers ordering from anywhere in the world and also to books sold from the Amazon website or other online booksellers. For eBook sales, any sales on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble or any other online site will be paid to your storefont. Notice that for both eBook sales and printed book sales, Rossendale Books does not receive a penny: our business is in providing self publishing services and not in 'creaming-off' from our author's payments.
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But how do I actually get the royalty payments?
For sales off your storefront, or sales of your work through other online resellers such as Amazon, you can choose to have the payments made directly to your PayPal account (from which they can be transferred to your bank account) or you can choose to be paid by cheque.
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How often are royalty payments made?
Unlike the big mainstream publishers, which only pay their authors yearly, self publishing companies pay their authors at much more frequent intervals, often monthly.
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What do you offer that I can't get from other online publishers?
As an independent self publishing company we have the time to treat our authors as someone special. We will go that extra mile to make sure you're provided with friendly and helpful advice at all stages of the publishing process.
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In a nutshell, what will you do for my money?
Professional editing of your text, publishing & designing services. We design your printed book interior & your printed book cover. We design your eBook & your eBook marketing image. We take your advice and suggestions. We arrange for your book design to be printed and send you a complementary copy to your specified address. Printed books and eBooks are given an ISBN. We provide authors with a book ordering service from their own FREE web storefront: you can order single copies or as many as you wish.
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I'm interested in your services so how do I start the ball rolling?
Don't send a payment just yet - we discourage any payments from authors until they fully understand the services which we are supplying. To get that understanding, just send us your email address and any other questions you might have via our website - click on the contact link at the top of all our website pages. This means, once we have your email address, that we can send you various documents explaining all our services in detail. As well as contacting us you can also study our publishing guides shown at the bottom of each of our web pages - just send us your email address and we'll email the documents right back to you.
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How do I send the money to you?
For international transactions we accept PayPal payments from the PayPal link on our website or you can send us a Cheque drawn on a British bank or a Postal Order or by a direct payment into our bank account from another U.K. bank.
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Who sells my printed book?
As the author, you can order as many copies of your book as you wish using your web storefront at cost price and sell them for a price which you set yourself. Through the ISBN, your book will also be sold through online and high street booksellers: through these sales channels the difference between the selling price and cost price must be shared between the author (as royalties), the Print On Demand (POD) service and the bookseller. Notice that, for books ordered at cost price by the author, there are no royalties to be paid for these orders.
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How do I set the price for my book to sell from my web storefront or online booksellers or in bookshops?
Obviously, you don't want to sell your book for less than it costs to produce ie the cost of printing. The printing cost depends on the number of pages, how many copies you wish to order and whether the words or any graphics in the book are black-on-white or use full colour. Hardback books are also more expensive than paperbacks. You also need to add on your royalty so that the final price of your book to a buyer can be set. We'll advise you nearer the time on a suitable price.
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Can I order additional printed books at any time?
Yes, once you've made your final payment you can make requests for books at any time you want using your web storefront, all it will cost you is the price per copy plus the post and packaging charge.
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What's the minimum number of printed books I can order?
One.
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What's the maximum number of printed books I can order as the author?
That's up to you and how deep your purse is and your judgement on how many copies you believe you can sell. I would think in terms of a maximum in the hundreds rather than the thousands. Remember that you can always make a new order once you've sold an earlier order.
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Is there any P & P for eBooks?
No - eBooks are always downloaded by your customers at no charge to them.
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What happens if my book is hand-written only?
Send us the details (number of handwritten pages, samples of your pages etc) and we'll quote you for typing the words into a word processor.
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What happens if there are lots of mistakes in my book so that it needs careful proofreading and correction?
We charge £1.80 per thousand words for a proofreading service.
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What happens if I want to make changes to my book after it is published?
There is a minimum charge of £35.00 to bring out an updated version of your book.
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Do you give feedback to authors on the quality of their work? In other words, do you provide an evaluation or literary review?
We have established authors who will carry out this service for a fee. Let us know if you want this service.
