We’re glad you’re considering applying to work with us. Before you get started, there are a few things we’d like you to know.
Emerald Lake Books is a hybrid publisher.
That means we’re paid for the work we do to publish your book. If you have questions or reservations about hybrid publishers, please take a moment to read In Defense of Hybrid Publishing, which describes the three main business models used by all publishers and the pros and cons of each model.
Choosing the publishing model that’s right for you depends on your specific needs as well as the needs of your book. Hybrid publishing is a great option for certain authors and specific circumstances.
Who this is for:
- You don’t want to wait 18 months or more after you sign your contract for your book to be published.
- You want to retain the rights to your content.
- You don’t want to be responsible for managing the publishing project or hiring all of the talent you’ll need.
- You want to provide creative input to the editing, cover and design of the book.
- You want a high-quality product (book) produced by a professional team who knows what they’re doing.
- You don’t want to have to figure out how to actually distribute your book to reach the widest audience.
- You are willing to do the necessary work, but want someone to guide you through the things you do need to do step-by-step, so you’re not wasting time.
- You want your book to accomplish something specific, and you’re ready to hire a respected team to help you achieve your goal.
If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you because this is what we provide. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what a few of our authors have had to say about working with us.
So who are we?
As a boutique publisher, we provide personalized service to our authors while producing high-quality, award-winning books. Founder Tara R. Alemany and Art Director Mark Gerber are passionate about publishing books that are positive, entertaining, enlightening and educational.
If we take on your project, you’ll be working directly with Tara and Mark. Your initial call won’t be with a salesperson who passes you along to a project leader, who then serves as a buffer between you and the people actually editing and designing your book. You’ll have direct access to us. So, the relationship we begin building with you from our first phone call will give you a good impression of what it’s going to be like working with Emerald Lake Books.
One of the key things we look at when we assess a manuscript for inclusion in our catalogue is the author; not so much how large their platform is, although that’s always a positive thing, but things like:
- Are they passionate about their book?
- Do they love what they’re doing?
- Are they coachable and willing to put in the work to make it a success?
- Do they maintain a positive focus?
When the answer to these questions is a resounding “Yes!” it brings so much more energy to the project and is often a predictor of success.
To hold up our end of the deal, we are proud to conform to the Independent Book Publishers Association’s (IBPA) Hybrid Publishers Criteria.
Those criteria state that a hybrid publisher must:
- Define a mission and vision for its publishing program.
- Vet submissions.
- Publish under its own imprint(s) and ISBNs.
- Publish to industry standards
- Ensure editorial, design and production quality.
- Pursue and manage a range of publishing rights.
- Provide distribution services.
- Demonstrate respectable sales.
- Pay authors a higher-than-standard royalty.
You can find more details about the IBPA’s criteria here.
At Emerald Lake Books, though, we take things a bit further. We don’t just publish your book. We coach you along the way, positioning you and your book for success. Our personalized service meets you where you are, and provides you with only those services you actually need.
As part of our commitment to making sure our authors know what to expect, we’ve even created a special guide for new authors. We found that many times we’d get on a phone call with an author and they had no idea what questions to ask or what they should be aware of before signing a contract. Unfortunately, this is a common issue for many authors. In some cases, it’s resulted in disastrous experiences with the publishers they did choose to work with. Since we want to make sure that our authors are making informed decisions they feel confident about when they choose us, we created a special guide called “61 Questions to Ask Your Publisher Before Signing a Publishing Contract.” Whether you choose to work with us or someone else, we highly recommend reading it to get the most out of your conversations with publishers.
We don’t offer package pricing.
Every author and every book is different. If we were to offer a package price, we would have to set a sustainable price for that package. Naturally then, many authors would be forced to pay more than necessary to publish their book and other authors would pay less than it should otherwise cost.
We believe it’s more reasonable to offer a fair price to each author based on their book’s merits, the goals they have, and the services they require. That way, each author pays a price that’s suitable for their specific book and needs; no more and no less.
That’s why we don’t offer package pricing. What one author or manuscript needs or hopes to achieve is very different from what another author or manuscript needs. So, how can one price fit all?
That said, most of our publishing projects cost from $6,500-8,500 for books that are around 40,000 words. There can be exceptions on both sides, of course. However, this price includes editing, cover design, interior layout, publishing and distribution of the book, as well as our coaching and personalized guidance.
At this time, we only work with authors based in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.
This has more to do with our familiarity with those countries’ tax reporting systems than anything else. We hope to expand to more countries as time allows us to learn their reporting requirements. So, if you’re in another country, but we seem like a good fit for you, go ahead and apply and we’ll see if we can accommodate you.
At Emerald Lake Books, your book is given the attention it needs to become the best it can be.
And its author is given the attention they need, as well. Our process involves more than simply taking your manuscript, publishing it, and distributing it to the various retail outlets. We provide you with coaching to help you define your goals for your ideal reader, your business and your book. Then, we partner with you to ensure that your book is well-suited to achieving those goals. (You can read more about our methodology in our book, “Publish with Purpose.”)
Throughout the process, you’ll work closely with our editors and art department to craft a professional book that reinforces the goals you’ve set. And you’ll also receive training and homework to make sure its launch and ongoing marketing efforts have the desired results.
Once a book is published, not only do we continue to promote it, we are always on the watch for opportunities for our authors to market their books and further their careers.
We’re very proud of the authors we work with and the books we’ve created together.
And they seem to like working with us too! (At least, according to their testimonials.)
Many of our authors have become award winners after working with us. Therefore, we don’t accept every book that is submitted to us for consideration. Sometimes, after reading a manuscript and having a conversation with the author, we recognize that the situation is not a good fit. It could be a financial decision on the part of the author or perhaps we feel this particular book doesn’t fit within our own goals as a publishing company.
So, if you’re ready to invest in your work and you’re looking for a publisher to work with who cares about your success, look no further.
If you like what you’ve read and are ready to explore publishing with Emerald Lake Books, we invite you to complete our application. And if you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us.
