Beaten Track Publishing Services

Submissions and Publishing Services

Submissions

We are currently accepting submissions for publication.

However, you need to know that we are what you might call a 'hybrid' publisher, which is to say that whilst we do not pay advances, we also do not take editorial control, nor claim exclusivity over your work. We will engage in some marketing on your behalf, but ultimately this remains the author's responsibility.

Because we publish via 'print on demand', we don't need to worry about whether your book is going to be the 'next big thing', giving us freedom to publish what we like rather than what is currently most popular. Thus, when we consider a submission, we judge it only on the basis of whether we can recuperate the time and money we invest into publishing it.

If we feel we are unable to publish your book for you, we will always explain why. As you will see below, we also offer a range of self-publishing services and can still help you to get your book out there in print and/or ebook formats. These services are available to all independent authors - some are free, some are not, but we aren't in this for big profits, so you will find that our rates are very reasonable and we are also open to negotiation!

So, if you would like to submit your work for consideration, please contact us via the Contact page in the first instance, explaining a little about the work you will be submitting and whether you are seeking to be published by us (we take the risk) or with us (you pay for our services).

We usually require manuscripts to be sent via email in a standard document format, such as .doc (Microsoft Word document) or .rtf (Rich Text Format), although this might not be appropriate (for illustrated books, for example), so when we respond to your message, we will discuss/suggest the most convenient means of submitting your work.

Services

Below you will find a list of general services that we offer for authors.

However, we always work with authors on a case-by-case basis, depending on how you wish to proceed with publishing your work. In other words, tell us what you want - we will do our very best to make it happen!
For further information, please read our Publishing Examples.

If you require something that is not detailed on this page, please contact us with your query, as we will probably still be able to help (assuming that what you require relates to publishing your work, of course!).

Free Services:

(Jump to Paid-For Services)

Sell your publications directly through our online shop

What we offer:
We are happy to sell your books for you, providing that:

You are the legal owner of the work and have a right to sell it;
The work does not come under the jurisdiction of the obscene publications legislation (i.e. contains any pornographic, offensive or violent depictions without artistic merit / are not for the public good).

We do not consider it our place to make legal / moral / artistic judgements as to the quality of your work. However, we reserve the right to refuse work which could be considered obscene or offensive and in all cases, we refuse to sell anything that intentionally incites hatred or violence.

What's in it for us?
We take a flat rate of 15% commission on sales. That's it! All other net profit on the cover price is yours!

eBooks
If you would like to sell electronic books through us, please provide us with the files / a link to where these can be downloaded.

We will require:

The file/s for the book itself, in one or more of the following formats: mobi, epub, pdf;
Artwork (front cover) in jpeg, png or gif format;
A brief description of the book (you may also, optionally, provide a longer description);
(Optional) Author's photo and brief bio;
The price you wish to sell at - please note that if your book is available via Amazon, then it is worth checking their pricing policy when deciding on how much to sell your book for elsewhere.

Physical Books
If you would like to sell physical books through our store, then you can either provide us with a small stock, or we can process orders on your behalf. If you choose the latter, then you are accepting that you will ship these orders in keeping with our Payment and Shipping and Privacy policies. We will forward any postage paid to us along with any payments you have accrued through sales.

For physical books, we will require:

Artwork (front cover) in jpeg, png or gif format;
A brief description of the book (you may also, optionally, provide a longer description);
(Optional) Author's photo and brief bio;
The price you wish to sell at - please note that if your book is available via Amazon, then it is worth checking their pricing policy when deciding on how much to sell your book for elsewhere;
EITHER a small stock (minimum of 3 copies) of your book OR an assurance of your compliance with our Payment and Shipping and Privacy policies.

Listing of your publications available elsewhere

We can list your existing and new publications on the site for free. Simply contact us, making sure you include the link to where your publication is available to purchase / download and we will do the rest.

If you decide to list publications with us, it would also be helpful to provide us with a little information about the author, so that we can set up an author profile page for you too.

Author profiles

When you list publications with us, this automatically creates and author profile page, on which you can include the following (optional) information:

Brief Bio;
Picture;
Website;
Blog.

Initial proof-reading

We offer an initial proof-reading for free. This is a consultative read-through and the feedback will depend on the purpose; for instance:

brief commentary on the quality of the manuscript;
outline of possible changes / editing required to bring it up to publishing standard;
preparation for receiving a quote on pre-publishing services.

Limited guidance on editing and formatting documents for publication

As editing and formatting is one of our paid-for services, we would be doing ourselves out of business to offer you full guidance for free. However, we are happy to provide brief guidance on how to edit and format your document yourself.

Paid-For Services:

Proof-reading

The cost of this service will depend on the purpose of the proof-read and the length of the work. You will need to let us know what you require in your initial contact with us.

In most cases, this will consist of checking a manuscript for errors prior to publication and this may mean we need to print it first. You can then choose whether we correct any minor errors or just mark them for your attention.

Our hourly rate for copy editing is £21 per hour and generally you can expect that we can cover 1-2000 words in an hour.

You can also combine proof-reading with the other services below.
To receive a detailed quotation, please contact us and we will let you know how to submit your manuscript.

Critique / critical reading

This is a detailed analysis of the work, with commentary on possible changes / editing required to bring it up to publishing standard. We would also comment on the target audience, style, structure and overall comprehensiveness of the manuscript.

Copy Editing - grammar, spelling, punctuation checks

The cost of this service will depend on the length of the manuscript and the extent of the editing required. Our hourly rate for copy editing is £25 per hour and generally you can expect that we can cover 750-1500 words in an hour. However, if your grammar, spelling and punctuation need a lot of work, or if indexing and contents pages are also required, then it will take us longer.

To receive a detailed quotation, please contact us and we will let you know how to submit your manuscript.

Cover design

We can fully design your covers for you, or take your artwork and format it for publishing on demand services. The cost will of course depend on how much detail is involved in the cover and whether it is necessary to commission a graphic designer to provide artwork.

Please contact us with your requirements and we will provide an estimated cost.

Formatting for printed / electronic publication

We will format your manuscript as required for the type of publication to be undertaken and return the formatted files to you. The fee for this is around £30 (estimate based on standard novel using standard formatting - we are happy to negotiate with you).

This service can be combined with the other services on this page. If you use this as a stand alone service, then we will assume that the work has been edited and proof-read.

Submission to publishing on demand services

We will format your work for you and submit to the publishing service of your choice (or you can let us choose for you).

If your manuscript is already edited and you only require electronic publication, then we are happy to prepare your manuscript in Kindle and ePub format. The fee for this is around £30 (estimate based on standard novel using standard formatting). We will include your work on the website.

Submission to distribution channels

This service is available for paperback / hardcover editions published with us. We work with Lightning Source, and thus can make your work available via the major international distributors, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The fee for this is £15 per year, unless you are making a bulk purchase of your publication at the outset (see our Publishing Examples below).

Website optimisation / help with online presence

If you are struggling to be seen by search engines, or are technophobic in general, we can provide you with assistance and support.

On a basic level, we can provide you with tags and other information to include on your website to ensure it can be found. We can also recommend ways of developing and connecting your presence online in different location.

Publishing:

Publishing Examples

Example One: Advanced Bulk Purchase of Copies
If you have a novel in need of editing and intend to purchase a large number of copies yourself (250+), then we would take our 15% commission (discounted if you order 1000+ copies) on your order and edit / typeset your book for free. We will also pay the costs for setting up in distribution channels. The figures would look something like this:

Manuscript of 100K words typeset as standard paperback = approx. 300 pages.

Cost of printing: £3.70 per copy
Cover price: £6.99
Block purchase of 250 copies: £925
Total retail price: £1747.50
Our commission: £262.13
Total outlay for author: £1187.13
Total profit for author: £560.37 (approx 32%)

Example Two: Publishing on Demand
If you have a novel that is 'print ready' and want to make it available 'on demand' (i.e. it is printed only when it is purchased):

Manuscript of 100K words typeset as standard paperback = approx. 300 pages.

Cost of printing: £3.70 per copy
Cover price: £6.99
Our commission: £1.05
Print Company Handling Fee: £1.25 per order
PayPal fees (if relevant): £0.40
Total outlay for author: £6.99
Total profit for author: £0.59 (approx 8%)

Please note that this does not include submission to distribution channels and assumes your novel is truly 'print ready' - for more information on what this means, please contact us .

Selling Model:

Author sets the cover price
Fees are payable only on sales (i.e. no initial outlay)
Fees consist of Beaten Track's commission (15% of cover price) and PayPal fees (see below).

Examples: A breakdown on figures for selling through our online shop

The following examples are for illustration purposes only, as printing costs vary, depending on the number of pages / size of book.

PayPal fees are estimated, based on the assumption that each order is for one copy only.
Print fees are based on a handling charge of £1.25 per order and, again, assume that each order is for one copy only AND that we are printing on your behalf. Please ignore the print fees if you are providing a stock of books for us.

You also have the option to offer customers free delivery on your physical books if you are providing these for us (which will reduce your profit, but can be a good selling point if it's financially viable).

eBooks
eg. eBook, selling for £1.50 per copy

Our commission: 22.5p
PayPal fees: 12.5p
Net profit for author: £1.15

Paperbacks
eg. Novel of 300 pages, selling for £6.99 per copy

Our commission: £1.05
PayPal fees: 40p
Print fees: £4.95 (£3.70+£1.25 - if we are printing on your behalf)
Net profit for author: 59p / £5.54*

Hardcovers
eg. Novel of 300 pages, selling for £13.99 per copy

Our commission: £2.10
PayPal fees: 68p
Print fees: £9.25 (£8.00+£1.25 - if we are printing on your behalf)
Net profit for author: £1.96 / £11.21*

*The second figure assumes you are providing us with a stock of your book/s.

PayPal fees are as follows:
Orders under $12:
5p + 5%

Orders $12 and over:
20p + 3.4%

Correct 01/07/12