HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK

Learn how to publish a book here! Using our many year’s experience we will guide you step by step through the process from your precious manuscript to the finished book.

As a UK book publisher with experience in the full range of book genres including novels, children’s books, biographies, non-fiction, true stories and not being afraid to take on controversial issues, we are open to a range of voices and we want to see your manuscripts. If your book is ready to publish, simply choose from one of the options below. Our manuscripts usually arrive in digital format but, if you only have a physical copy, please contact us via our contact form. We get a lot of submissions and working with digitised copies enables us to speed up the process and reduce costs thereby offering the best possible publishing packages to our authors.

To find out more, just follow either of links below or give us a call so we can begin the process of making your nook come alive.

People want to write books for many reasons. It may be that they have an individual passion which they want to share with others or maybe they have written an incredible new fictional concept and want more people to read it. The UK publishes more books per capita than anywhere else in the world with almost 200,000 books published each year and over half a million published each year in English worldwide. With such competition, if you want to see your work in print it requires a lot of effort and ShieldCrest can help make your dream come true.  Beware, there are a lot of companies that say they are book publishers or offer book publishing services but they outsource most of the work so, in reality, you are only dealing with the front man.

ShieldCrest is part of Pressman House Publishing Ltd a mainstream publisher with years of experience. We do all the work in-house and turn your manuscript into a high quality professional book which will stand tall against any book you will see on a bookshelf by the world’s leading mainstream publishers.

At Shieldcrest, we also won’t give you any false promises. As well as our range of publishing packages, we have a range of support schemes and guidance on marketing. Competition is tough and we treat our authors as part of the family and have the tools to help our authors succeed in getting their work out there.

Many publishers will say they are the best but we rely on independent companies to assess the real situation and ShieldCrest have been No1 for many years on the independent FreeIndex site from over 200 UK book publishers and based on customer feedback taking into account service, quality and price and ultimately success. We have also been voted the UK’s best self-publisher by SME Business Journal in both 2019 and 2020.

Don’t just listen to what we say, listen to what our authors say. We are unable to access or influence what an author says as these are held by independent companies.  OK, we are proud of our achievements and you can see what our authors say here.

Option one is a basic publishing package without mass distribution.

This is ideal for community projects, business handbooks and manuals or smaller personal work. For example, we have produced company training manuals and family memoirs which have been researched by a family member requiring it to be handed down to future generations.

With this option, we provide professional standard formatting and layouts, design the front and rear covers according to your instructions and a print ready document. You will receive a proof copy within 21 days and the finished book should arrive within a further 14 days.

Option two is the mass retail distribution package. This will include:

Allocation of a unique ISBN, incorporating the necessary copyright protection, lodging book copies with the Legal Deposit Libraries, ensuring your book is available for order through all major high street booksellers and the metadata for the book will be available both online and through retailers worldwide including on-line retailers such as Amazon.

Your royalties from resultant sales through retailers and the author web page are paid quarterly.

The support for your work doesn’t end with the initial publication. At ShieldCrest, we provide additional ongoing support for your book for at least ten years.

Once a book is out there, the challenge is then how you get people reading it. ShieldCrest offer a range of marketing and promotional services which are described on our web site. This includes a customised author webpage which is particularly useful if you want to arrange book signings and want to offer discounts to entice people to buy your book.

One of the most successful in recent years has been social media. With our social media promotional packages there is the opportunity to engage with your potential audience, giving them the chance to learn why they should buy your book and to turn them from casual onlooker to a potential fan.

We also ensure that our author’s work is beyond criticism and free from typos, grammatical errors, misquotes, etc. by offering a proofreading service. This is something we strongly recommend where required. There is nothing worse than having a great novel which, when reviewed, is criticised for its typos and poor grammar.

Full editing is another option. All authors find that by the time they get to their third book their style and ability to write effectively and keep the reader’s interest improves considerably. With published authors on its team, ShieldCrest will give that first time author a more seasoned voice but it is important to emphasise that it is not the job of an editor to change a writer’s style. What they do is look at what you are trying to say and make it tighter and more effective. Sometimes when reading a book it can take the reader out of a moment if they feel the description is excessive or the individual is talking in a way that doesn’t seem to fit how the writer has set the character up.

For many people, their love of books and reading can be traced back to the stories they read as a child. Whether it was the adventures of ‘Just William’, the mysteries of the ‘Famous Five’ or recent additions such as the work of David Walliams, there is something special in the relationship between children and stories they feel have been crafted for them.

What to think about

There are a few factors to consider when writing a children’s book. The first is to consider what ages you are writing for, as this will affect the kind of language you use and the style of narrative. If it’s for toddlers just learning to read then it needs to be very simple, whereas for older readers the plot can be more complex.

This also affects the kind of characters you choose – do some of research on the kind of things kids of that age are interested in as that will make it easier to determine what you can work with. Ideally, you also want something that can tie in with personal experiences as children also tend to know if a story feels like it’s been too obviously crafted with them in mind (as personified in the “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme).

It is also important to remember that children’s books are not “easier” than any other form of narrative. For example for smaller children crafting rhymes with a rhythm that fits and makes sense can often be more challenging than you think.

Another factor is younger readers often favour complete stories as opposed to cliff hangers or ambiguous endings. Even with a series, children tend to want each part to feel complete.

Illustrations

At ShieldCrest we offer an illustration service, using our own team of experienced illustrators. For younger children, it is recommended that the story stick to around 50 to 1000 words, with the illustrations highlighting the main point of the story.

If you are writing a young adult novel then this is different as they are more likely to engage with reading providing the concept is strong enough and sufficient interest created by the writing. For example, you may only want an illustration such as a map to indicate the key locations in a fantasy novel or possibly pictures at the start of each chapter to highlight key events.

Crafting

At the heart of it, crafting a children’s story is the same process as crafting a story for adults. You still need characters that they can engage with, a plot that entertains and for them to be left satisfied by the end.

ShieldCrest can not only publish your work but we also offer proofreading, editing and other services to help get your children’s book out there. We want to see you succeed and we have the tools to help you do it. For more information please contact us today and we will be happy to discuss our publishing packages in more detail.

Throughout history, something that has always been part of any community has been the need to tell stories. From the first cave paintings to the latest movie being streamed, we have still enjoyed sharing stories and experiences in book form.

Books are still one of the most powerful forms of storytelling as it enables readers to use their imagination of the setting, people and events they are engaging with. It also gives the author immense pleasure, to transport people to a distant fantasy land or to learn about people through their real life stories. There is something particularly engaging when it comes to reading something on the page and forming images in your mind.

For many, there is also the desire to be one of those people writing the story. It may be that they want to share a family history, thereby giving something that can be retold for generations to come.  It might also provide a reference point for people who want to continue their family story in the future.

Often they have an overwhelming desire to write about a character or their world, something that may be personal to them but equally something they believe might be of interest to others and want to share it.

At ShieldCrest Book Publishing, we know that the story you have to tell is important. However, there are challenges when it comes to getting your work out there. This is why we have created this guide on how to publish a book to give you the best possible chance of success.

Often the biggest challenge when writing a story is the moment when you face a blank canvas, be it a notepad or computer screen. How do I get started? Undoubtedly it will require research for background details and authors all develop their own methods to create an overall structure that will make the writing process easier.

In some respects it’s like studying. Different people have different work processes and some will work better than others. Whatever methods you adopt to get started, at some point you have to begin writing.

The most important part for the first draft is to get your ideas down. Don’t get too worried at this point about editing or proof reading as this will come much later. Most authors will have the end in sight even before they start but others will not be sure how it’s going to finish until they are well through the plot. Whichever it is, once you begin the ideas will begin to flow.  Each story has a beginning, middle and end although you may rearrange the order as the book takes shape.

Once you have your first draft, now is the time to take a step back and give it a couple of days before coming back to it. This gives you the best chance of looking at it with fresh eyes so you can then get to work on a second draft.

At this point or any time in the future, you may need some feedback on the work. Ideally, you need someone who is objective enough to look at what you are trying to say and able to make constructive suggestions.  It is important that you don’t just ask a friend who will be more inclined to be excessively positive.  What you need are constructive comments even if they are sometimes critical as it all forms part of the learning curve.

By the nature of writing it can be easy to go off on auto-pilot, something that can be effective when you want to get your first draft down but needs to be structured once this has been done. Sometimes the plot can get lost and would leave the reader bewildered. This is one reason why ShieldCrest Publishing offers proof-reading and editing services as an editor can offer advice and suggestions. With our parent company, Pressman House, we also often ghost write for the author who is usually a well-known person.

The fact is you can have a strong character with an engaging plot but the reader can be put off if it is poorly written.  We learned to our cost in our early days when a review was put on-line which said; “A great story but it is a shame the publisher didn’t iron out the many grammatical errors in the text before publishing it”.  Ouch!  Never again we said.

Once you have completed your draft and are satisfied with it, you should then think about how it is formatted. There are various book sizes and Shieldcrest can publish in any size. As examples, we offer UK and USA novel sizes, A4 and even the USA Pocket Book size and everything in between to suit. Most authors will ask us to recommend the best size as it not only affects the appearance but also the print cost which we endeavour to keep to a minimum as it ultimately affects the sale price. This obviously becomes an important criterion as you need to weigh up the sale price and its effect on the number of book copies you are likely to sell.

Formatting is also about making sure that the look and feel of the book is right and this is something a professional publisher should work closely and advise you on.

Unlike some publishers who only provide a digitised proof copy (if one at all), an important part of ShieldCrest’s strategy is to provide our authors with a physical proof copy so they can see the actual look and feel of the finished book before it goes into volume print. It also provides the author with the opportunity to make any last minute amendments.

The term “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is often trotted out. While it works as a metaphor for not judging people, it is not always the case in promoting a book.

The look of the cover of historical fiction will be very different from a romantic drama but in all cases they are visual shorthand for someone glancing at the options. For sure a good cover design will make it stand out.

This is why we have professional illustrators on our team who can provide the ideal cover to give your book the best chance of being noticed by potential readers.

There are hundreds of thousands of books published each year. While it is an achievement to have something published and made available for purchase, it is important to think about who you approach and what they have to offer.

One of the problems approaching mainstream publishers is that they will usually work through agents and refuse unsolicited submissions while others may focus on a particular genre so it is therefore important to do your research before submitting to them.

ShieldCrest offers a number of publishing options which you can choose from depending on what is appropriate for your work.

We are able to provide solutions from small print runs for local groups and communities to very large global distribution projects.  All are available at a modest cost.

Where books are required for a society, club or business, it doesn’t have to be prepared for mass distribution. That’s fine, and it’s why we offer a publishing without distribution package, but we never relax on the quality of the finished book so it always incorporates formatting, chapter headings and making sure everything is brought up to our normal professional standard.

As with books published for distribution, a proof copy is provided and once you are satisfied and made any amendments, you will receive the full run of books within 14 working days.

Full distribution means your book gets its own allocated ISBN number, incorporated copyright protection as well as being available in leading bookstores and online retailers worldwide.

Don’t forget, we also make an investment with all our authors which gives them the comfort of knowing we believe in the quality of their work and prepared to share part of the risk. Ours is also a long term investment as ShieldCrest will give your work ongoing support for at least ten years.

People can make the mistake of thinking that the main goal is getting their book published. While it is something to be proud of and an achievement, the fact still remains that you want people to read it.

This is where promotion and marketing comes in. In recent years, there have been more channels available to help get your work seen. Aside from traditional print and broadcast media, social media has also become more important.

Being able to pitch an idea effectively is what will grab people’s attention before they have read a single word. It’s not as easy as it seems to get the message across in a way that entices people to buy and is a skill in itself.

Boasting that your book is the next big thing in that genre is not always the best way.  Whereas it is important the author is proud of his work and confident that people will enjoy it, imparting that message effectively is where the skill lies and the use of third parties will help achieve this.

With people becoming much more knowledgeable about social media now, putting the message on the right platform is important. ShieldCrest offer a range of social media marketing packages and where authors decide to use this as part of their marketing strategy, we have social media experts who can engage with them and explain the benefits of the various packages available.

Beyond social media, ShieldCrest offers a full range of marketing services to help generate sales after publishing. For example, we create snappy press releases to make your book newsworthy and more likely to get featured in a paper or magazine. These press releases are distributed to over a million media outlets worldwide which are interested in you book’s genre.

We also have a featured author page on our website, giving more exposure to individual authors and offering their book for sale at a discounted price to help sales lift off.  It also introduces people to the book and the person behind it.

ShieldCrest want to receive your work. We like to see interesting and engaging stories on a wide variety of topics. We are open-minded, always looking for titles that we feel would be engaging and where there is an audience and appetite for the subject.

The fact is; markets shift and tastes change. Often, something out of the ordinary may end up becoming a bestseller and in turn help to change the market.  We believe it is important to gauge each title on its own merits as opposed to current prevailing trends. Whether it is fiction or non-fiction, it is where the end product fits and can satisfy the potential reader.  We also never shy away from controversial subjects.

If you would like to submit something to us, simply complete our submission form which can all be done easily and swiftly on line and attach you manuscript. It sometimes happens that the manuscript is in written form so if this is the case just let us know via our contact form so that we can arrange to digitise it.

Digital formatting is what allows us to keep our costs down, so that we can provide a better service to our authors while, at the same time, keeping costs to a minimum. Occasionally people are concerned about releasing their masterpiece in case of plagiarism and we would like to reassure potential authors that we receive hundreds of manuscripts and if we do not go ahead with publishing, all manuscript we have received are either returned or destroyed.

Something we haven’t mentioned is that all our author’s books are print-on-demand so our authors do not need to invest in large quantities. Many are also first time writers who need guiding through the process when first getting started. We regard this as another important aspect of our job; to work closely with first time authors and offer advice on the design and content of their book and the most effective publishing packaging.

In addition to physical copies (hard copies), we are also able to convert the work to an eBook in the different formats necessary to suit different e-Readers.  Once done, we make them available for download in over 60 countries.

Our authors also receive their royalty reports every three months, thereby keeping them up to date on progress of book sales.

In short, ShieldCrest do all we can to help our authors see their publishing dreams come true. At the same time, we are here to give guidance and support. Books are something people will always want and despite the range of visual media available, curling up on the sofa with a good book is still something people love to do.  We saw the evidence of this during the recent pandemic when our book sales soared.

To find out more or to discuss your manuscript with us please use our contact form or give us a call and we will be happy to discuss your book and help you on your publishing journey.