Book Publishing
Service Overview
ShieldCrest Book Publishers offer the unique service whereby we look to invest in your book.
ShieldCrest Book Publishers will review your manuscript on it’s merits and, if we believe that it will be successful in the specific market, will look share the cost of publishing on a 50/50 basis.
Unfortunately not every book will meet our criteria, so we may not be able to offer the 50% but we aim to be competitive even at 100%!
Book Editing
Service Overview
It is always a regret to ShieldCrest to have to reject scripts, no matter how good the storyline, because they are so full of typing errors and poor grammar that we simply don’t have the time to devote to making the necessary corrections.
We always recommend to authors that on completion of their scripts, they have them proof read by someone who has not been involved with the writing. Authors never see their own mistakes and will always read what they intended to write rather than what is actually on the page.
In addition, we always suggest to our authors that they get someone known to them to read their latest book. This should be someone whose views they respect and who won’t just offer polite comment so as not to offend. They should also be invited to give an honest opinion of the storyline. Very often, with just minor changes, the improvement can be dramatic.
We have several experienced copy editors, which enables us to provide authors with both services.
Editing goes deeper to make sure that the piece of writing is good in every respect. Sentences may be re-constructed so they work better and other changes will be suggested. Often the author may know what they want to say but have got a bit mixed up putting it down into a sentence. This does not change the author’s ‘voice’ and their style remains intact. It is just tidied up and the finishing touches applied.
In essence it makes a first time author look like a seasoned writer.
Proof Reading
Service Overview
It is always a regret to ShieldCrest to have to reject scripts, no matter how good the storyline, because they are so full of typing errors and poor grammar that we simply don’t have the time to devote to making the necessary corrections.
We always recommend to authors that on completion of their scripts, they have them proof read by someone who has not been involved with the writing. Authors never see their own mistakes and will always read what they intended to write rather than what is actually on the page.
In addition, we always suggest to our authors that they get someone known to them to read their latest book.
This should be someone whose views they respect and who won’t just offer polite comment so as not to offend. They should also be invited to give an honest opinion of the storyline. Very often, with just minor changes, the improvement can be dramatic.
We have several experienced proofreaders enabling us to provide authors with this services.
Proof reading will ensure that typos, punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors are eliminated. Sentence flow and clarity of message are also commented on.
Author Webpage
Service Overview
Writing you book was probably difficult enough but expecting sales to automatically take off is more a hope than expectation. Our most successful authors have worked hard at it with our help in order to kick-start their sales.
One of the tools in our armoury is to give early birds a discounted copy of your book. But with retailers wanting a 60% margin, what are the chances of doing that?
ShieldCrest offers all our authors the option of having their own web page on our site where their books can be sold at cost with just the author royalty added. Purchasers can pay on-line and we do the rest. This is particularly helpful following book signings or after there has been publicity about your book.
Marketing Your Book
Service Overview
Marketing – that indefinable route to success.
There are three things the writer needs to decide.
- Are you trying to do it for a living?
- Are you doing it for family and friends or to satisfy an urge to see your work in print? Nothing wrong with this, many do.
- Could you successfully market your book without much outside assistance?
There are no right or wrong answers to these and it will determine the level of help you need. Ultimately, it will dictate the level of satisfaction you will receive from ShieldCrest.
Let’s clear up one thing right away and it’s something, regrettably, that publishers are reticent to tell you or make misleading statements. If you think that by simply having your book available on Amazon or any of the other major retailer web sites, it will automatically sell thousands, then forget it. If no-one knows the book exist how are they going to find it among the millions of other titles available? Marketing is very important but as already stated, placing a book on a bookshelf will not automatically guarantee someone is going to buy it. You certainly can’t make anyone purchase your book.
So what does ShieldCrest do to help?
Firstly; we’re honest about the prospects for new and unknown authors so they don’t think they are going to be an overnight success.
Secondly; we provide a range of support services to help get book sales underway.
Thirdly; our news release service lets readers know your book is out there which helps accelerate sales.
Fourthly; we make the book available in paperback and e-book versions to suit all electronic readers worldwide.
We’re always here and never stop helping our authors
Book Illustration
Service Overview
ShieldCrest provide a complete book illustration service. These range from children’s story illustration, cartoon characters to pictorials and cover design. Pictures can be black & white, sketches or full colour.
Please check the website for examples and further information.
eBooks
Service Overview
As they say: “You can’t stop the tide coming in” and so it is with e-Books. More and more people are downloading and reading from electronic terminals, in fact e-Books are now almost half of all book sales for standard novels.
Well, it makes sense doesn’t it, the cost is far less than the paper version and it is immediate. No ordering and waiting until it arrives, no shipping costs and it’s right there when you want it. OK it doesn’t look anything like as attractive as a set of books on your bookshelf but if you’re going on holiday and want to take several novels with you, what about the weight?
But what about the formats? There is Kindle, EPUB, LRF Mobi, PDB What do you do? Which terminal uses what? Aahhh.
Let’s take Kindle for example. Amazon are striving to achieve a 50% market share in e-book sales for novels but if you purchase a Kindle terminal you’re locked in to Amazon. What about iBooks from Apple, Kobo books etc. Your Kindle’s no good for these.
Would you bet against Apple dominating the book market after their success in the music sector? Downloading in E-Pub format works on their terminals – no problem. Then what about the Sony, Samsung and many other terminals, shouldn’t you be able to download from any book supplier to these terminals?
ShieldCrest offer a full e-publishing service that will prepare your book for download, to Kindle and all other e-terminals which form the majority of the market. It includes the allocation of a new ISBN which is necessary for all eBooks for general distribution.
Professional Book Reviews
Service Overview
One of the best ways to increase the sales of your book is to have it reviewed by an experienced book reviewer to give an independent view of your work.
We provide this service to all our authors who wish to distribute their books.
The good news doesn’t finish there, we have reached agreement with our partners where this highly advantageous service can be offered to our authors at the unprecedented price.
Authors can elect for the full review to be linked to the on-line promotion of their book or any publicity which they intend to do themselves.
All the reviewers are experienced and many are themselves authors and they cover the full spectrum of genres.
We also provide a video review option whereby the reviewer will provide a visual analysis of the book which is loaded on Amazon with the book details and on YouTube where it can be linked to the author’s own web page.
When requested, the author’s book will be placed with a reviewer who has in-depth experience and a love of the particular genre.
A free, non-returnable, copy of your book must be made available to the reviewer after which a detailed review will be provided together with a summary, which can be used on the cover of your book if required.
In order to take advantage of this service, you simply have to request it when taking Option 2 for full distribution.