FAQ

What do you do?

TPE Publishing is a mass market book publishing company. We publish books with great demand from readers in all major fiction genres and nonfiction niches. We strive to provide readers with the best books possible, and we work hard to give our authors the support they need to produce exceptional books.

Do you charge any fees?

No, we do not charge any fees to publish your book.

Like all traditional book publishing companies, we earn a profit when we sell books to readers through our distribution channels and marketing campaigns.

What royalties will I earn?

We pay our authors 50% of net royalties and 50% of all payments received for subsidiary rights licensing deals. If we earn $10,000 in royalties, you get paid 50% of that amount, or $5,000.

If we earn $5,000 for a 5-year deal to license German language rights for your book, you earn 50% or $2,500.

It’s just that simple: for every dollar your book brings in, you get half (which is 3-5x more than what you would get with a traditional publisher).

How much will I earn for each book sold by TPE Publishing?

That depends on several factors which we will try to explain as succinctly as possible here.

For eBooks: 50% Royalties of Net Royalties*

We can distribute eBooks through all the major online eBook retailers including Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo and Google Play, or we can distribute through Amazon exclusively in the KDP Select program. (We often use KDP Select because because we have tested it and it’s been proven to produce higher royalties and profits than distributing to other eBook retailers in most cases. Amazon dominates the eBook market in the US and UK (the two biggest markets for eBooks in English) with at least 75% market share.

When we sell eBooks on Amazon, they pay us 70% royalties when priced between $2.99 and $9.99. For books priced lower than $2.99 or higher than $9.99, Amazon only pays 35% royalties. Regardless of how much they pay us, we split the net royalties with you 50/50.

For Print Books: 50% of Net Royalties*

For print books, you’ll get paid 50% of the net royalties we receive as usual. Because the cost of printing varies dramatically depending on trim size, page length, color printing options, and other factors, there’s no way to provide you with an estimated royalty amount you will receive until we know more about your specific book.

For Audiobooks: 50% of Net Royalties*

For Audiobooks, you’ll get paid 50% of the net royalties we receive, as usual. Audible dominates the vast majority of market share for digital audiobooks. Audible also sets the pricing based on the length of the audiobook. Therefore, we won’t be able to provide an estimate of your earnings for each audiobook sold until we have an estimate of the total word count for your audiobook script.

For physical audiobooks (such as CDs), we usually license distribution rights to a company that specializes in that market. In that case, you’ll earn 50% of the royalties we receive on any such deals for your books.

*Net royalties means the total amount of money we receive from the sale of a book. For example, if we sell a $19.99 paperback book on Amazon.com and receive $8.86 from Amazon for that sale, the $8.86 is the amount of net income we use to calculate your royalties. In this case, the author would be paid $4.43 per paperback book sold.

**Net royalties clarification: We do not deduct expenses from net royalties unless they are directly responsible for bringing in revenue (such as commissions we pay to foreign rights agents when licensing manuscripts for translation and publishing in other languages). In such cases, we simply deduct your share of the expense from your royalties, which is 50% since we pay 50% royalties. For example, if we sign a 5-year licensing deal to have your book translated into German and published in Germany with an advance of $4,000 and our foreign rights agent charges a 20% commission, our net earnings would be around $3,200 ($4,000 minus the $800 we pay the agent). In that case, your share (and our share) of the earnings would be $1,600. This arrangement is fair for both the author and publisher, and better than what most publishers offer when it comes to foreign rights deals.

What services do you provide?

All of our book publishing and marketing services are free for clients.

We are a full-service publishing company dedicated to helping you build your author brand and promote your books for long-term success.

Here’s just a taste of what we offer clients:

Help with book title ideas and selection
Cover design
Formatting and publishing for eBooks
Interior book design for print books
Audiobook narration, editing, mastering, publishing
Distribution
Ongoing marketing campaigns
Marketing advice, mentorship, and guidance so you can focus on your strengths when it comes to marketing and not waste time doing things you don’t enjoy
Tracking sales and royalties
Foreign language rights sales and marketing
Introductions to leading bloggers, podcasters, book reviewers, and journalists in your market
And more!

Will I still own the rights to my book?

Yes, you will still own the copyright to your book when you publish with TPE Publishing. If we decide to publish your book, you will simply grant us an exclusive license to publish the book for a term of five years.

Does my book have to be professionally edited?

You don’t have to hire a professional editor for us to publish your book. Our editors provide free copyediting, line editing, and proofreading services to clients.

However, remember that your book needs to be of professional quality whenever you submit for publication – no matter whether that’s via self-publishing, through an agent, to the Big 5, or to a small press. Readers really do know the difference and want to see professional-quality work!

You can polish your manuscript on your own, with beta readers or volunteer help, or with a professional editor who can help you spot plot holes, fix pacing, improve structure and flow, and do much more.

It’s up to you whether you hire an editor before pursuing publication, but remember that investing in your book’s success is always a smart strategy!

Will my book be available in international markets?

Absolutely. Your book will be available all over the world in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Australia, Germany, Japan, and many other countries through Amazon and other distribution channels.

In addition, we actively market our titles to international publishers year-round as well as at the Frankfurt Book Fair and London Book Fair.

If you’re interested in foreign language rights for TPE Publishing titles, please contact us at theperfectedition@gmail.com

I previously self-published my book, or had a different publisher. Can I switch to TPE Publishing?

Yes, assuming you still own the rights to your work.

If you self-published your book, you can definitely switch to us right away. We have had many clients switch from self-publishing to TPE Publishing, and we can make the process quick, easy, and painless for you.

If you published your book with another publisher, you’ll need to look at your publishing contract to see if you still own the rights to your work. If you have questions about whether or not a previous publisher controls the rights to your work, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll do our best to help.

How do I submit my manuscript?

Simply email us your typed manuscript in any digital format. We prefer Microsoft Word files in .doc or .docx format, but we can accept PDFs, .epub, .mobi, and a variety of different file types. If your manuscript is in a different file format, just contact us and we can work with it or find a way to convert it to a workable format.

If your manuscript was typed on a typewriter or handwritten, we will definitely want to get your manuscript typed into a word processor on a computer so that we can edit and publish it.

Do you accept unsolicited manuscripts?

Yes, we do accept unsolicited manuscripts.

We read at least the first few pages of every manuscript submitted that meets our submission guidelines. If your manuscript doesn’t fit our guidelines or there are too many typos, errors, or other issues, we will let you know so you can work on improving your manuscript.

How long will it take to publish my book?

At TPE Publishing, we strive to work hard and get your book published as quickly as possible. However, because the major industry book review services (Publishers Weekly, Midwest Book Review, Kirkus, etc.) require an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of books four months in advance of publication, you may have to wait four months after your manuscript has been submitted and approved for publishing.

If you choose to skip the submission process to these industry book review providers, this is how long it will take to get your book published once the editing process is complete:

For eBooks, usually 14 to 21 days, but expect it to take up to 30 days so you can review cover designs, formatting, and marketing materials before they are published.
For print books, usually 30 to 60 days.
For audiobooks, usually 45 to 90 days.

NOTE: If your book requires significant editing work, you will need to hold off on publishing until your book has been thoroughly edited and approved by our editor. Many clients come to us looking for a rush job because they want printed books to sell at an upcoming conference or event. However, if your book isn’t properly edited, it’s much wiser to do the job correctly from the beginning rather than disappointing readers with a rushed book and having to do even more work to fix it later.

Where will my book be sold?

For eBooks

Amazon
iBooks, Kobo, Nook and Google Play (maybe)
In Libraries (maybe)
In Fortune 500 companies and large organizations through licensing deals (maybe, usually for non-fiction only)

For Print Books

Amazon
Bookstores (maybe)
Libraries (maybe)
Bulk sales direct to Fortune 500 companies and large organizations (maybe, usually for non-fiction only)

For Audiobooks

In digital format on Audible, iTunes and Amazon
In CD format at CostCo and other retailers (if our audiobook distributors are interested in your book)

What kind of marketing will you do for my book?

Much of the marketing we do for clients changes depending on the market for the book and the opportunities available to the author.

Here are some common free book marketing services we provide for clients:

Packaging and Branding

We help you select a great book title that is Memorable, Repeatable and Searchable and which represents your brand so that readers can easily remember, recognize, and find your book online and offline.
We design a custom book cover that draws attention to you and makes your book stand out from the crowd (our professional book cover designers will send you several mockup designs to choose from).
We help you craft an extraordinary book description for Amazon and other retailers so that potential readers know what your book is about and why they should buy it right now!
We create a list of at least 1,000 book reviewers who have written reviews for books similar to yours and then provide outreach to help you get legitimate, honest, and ethical book reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and blogs from influencers and top reviewers in your market or genre.

Book Promotion

We help you with thorough market research and competitive analysis for your book and market (you can learn more about some of the tools developed by TPE Publishing CEO Tom Corson-Knowles for market research at BestsellerRankingPro.com).
We submit your book to major book promotion sites, including the two largest ebook promotion sites in the world: BookBub and Buck Books, as well as other book promotion sites.
We promote your book on our social media channels with more than 50,000 followers.
We promote your book to our email list of more than 35,000 active readers.
We promote your book to key influencers in your market or genre, including professional and amateur book reviewers, bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, and more.
We introduce you directly to leaders in your market for author newsletter swaps and joint venture (JV) partnerships to help promote your book via email marketing and other avenues.
We create, pay for, and optimize ongoing PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ad campaigns with Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) book ads and BookBub ads targeting your ideal readers and customers.
We take screenshots when your book hits #1 on various bestseller lists and categories on Amazon (see examples here).
Because we are a traditional book publishing company, we submit your book to industry trade reviewers like Kirkus Reviews, Midwest Book Review, Publisher’s Weekly, City Book Review, Library Journal, Booklist, and more.
We pay for email promotions (sometimes called email solos) to promote your book to your ideal readers in your market or genre.
We do detailed keyword research and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to help your book stand out in search results on Amazon, Google, and other search engines and shopping platforms.

Lifelong Marketing Services and Training for Clients

If you don’t have a website yet, we will build it for you or teach you how to build a website. We will also provide ongoing training and support to ensure you know how to manage and grow your website without having to pay expensive web designers or programmers.
If you don’t already have an email marketing system in place, we will build it for you or teach you how to build it yourself. We will also provide ongoing coaching and support to ensure your email marketing systems, email copy, and landing pages convert more of your readers into email subscribers and lifelong fans.
If you wish to invest money in marketing or advertising programs to build your platform, email list, or sales, we will advise you to help you get the best results for your advertising budget and goals. (To clarify, we do NOT charge any fees or sell marketing services—we simply want to ensure that any money you choose to invest in a marketing program like Facebook Ads is spent wisely.)
We send you targeted leads from journalists looking to write or publish stories about authors like you or related to your areas of expertise.
We provide personalized coaching to help you with every part of your career from writing to marketing and beyond.
We can provide accountability coaching, followup, and support if you’re looking for a little extra help staying on track with your career goals.

Custom Marketing Plans

In addition to all of the marketing services mentioned above, we will also help you create a custom marketing plan tailored to your unique strengths, skills, and weaknesses.

We will help you identify your ideal readers, find the best marketing channels to reach them given your unique strengths and skills, and provide you with detailed action steps and support every step of the way.

1. Market Research

The first step in our custom marketing plans is doing thorough market research for your book.

2. Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Once that’s done and you understand exactly who your target readers are, what they want, and where they spend their time and money, we’ll help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. This will help us get a clear image of the kind of work you love to do and the kind of work you’d rather avoid.

3. Select the Best Marketing Strategies and Create a Step-by-Step Plan for Implementation

Once you know what kind of work you love to do for marketing, we will help you select the best marketing strategies for your market based on your strengths and interests. We will then help you create a detailed plan so you know exactly what to do every step of the way.

If you ever get stuck, confused, or just need a bit of help, our team will be here to answer your questions and get you back on track ASAP.

Here are examples of custom marketing strategies we can help you with:

Getting booked to do interviews on podcast shows, radio, and TV to share your message and promote your book
Getting booked as a public speaker at conferences, seminars, industry events, and corporate events
Writing guest blog posts for top blogs and websites in any market or niche
Becoming a freelance writer with top news sites and blogs like Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Time, and more
Creating your own authority site or blog and using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to attract hundreds or thousands of new email subscribers every month
Creating your own video marketing campaigns and YouTube channel to attract new readers and fans (and how to get paid for creating videos)

Will you do all the marketing for my book?

No publisher is capable of doing all the marketing for an author. You must learn to connect with fans and influencers directly, because it is your fans who will buy your books, tell their friends, and ultimately help you pay your bills.

The truth is, fans don’t care who your publisher is. They care about connecting with you—the author. That’s why we invest so much time and money into helping you build your unique author brand. We focus on all the busy marketing and publishing work so you can focus on what matters most: writing great books and connecting with your audience.

Here are some common marketing tasks we will train you to do so you can grow your fan base faster:

Creating and maintaining an author website (we can also do this for you at no cost)
Creating and maintaining an active email subscriber list (we can also set this up for you at no cost)
Emailing and connecting with influential bloggers, book reviewers, and authors in your niche or subgenre (we have custom software that can send some of these personalized emails on your behalf)
Responding to emails and messages from fans
Creating regular content for your fans (this could mean more books, blog posts, social media posts, images, videos, interviews, merchandise, etc.)

How long does the publishing contract last?

Our standard publishing contract has a five (5) year term and you can renew it if you wish. After the contract expires, you will retain all ownership of your work and will be able to republish it as you see fit. We do not take all your book rights forever like a traditional publisher.

What happens if you reject my submission?

If you submit your manuscript and our editors decide it’s not a good fit for us to publish right now, we will let you know via email.

If your first manuscript submission is rejected by our editors, you are welcome to submit a second manuscript for consideration. However, please only submit one manuscript at a time. We do not review multiple submissions from the same author at the same time.

Do you publish every manuscript submitted?

No. We accept less than 5% of manuscripts submitted. If we do not accept your manuscript, we will make some comments and provide resources and recommendations on how you can improve your book.

Do you accept agented submissions?

Yes, we do accept submissions from literary agents and agented authors.

Do I have to have a big following, fan base, or author platform to get a publishing deal?

No. You do not need any fans, followers, or any kind of platform to get a publishing deal with TPE Publishing. We invest heavily in training and coaching authors like you to help you build your platform. Remember, every great author once started with zero followers and zero fans.

We also invest heavily in marketing and promotion so we can help build your fan base from the ground up.

If you have a large following of fans already, that’s great! However, it’s not necessary to get a publishing deal. We consider the quality of your writing and message to be far more important than how many people happen to follow you on Facebook or Twitter.

How do I submit my manuscript for publishing consideration?

Authors, you can submit your manuscript directly via our submissions guidelines page.

How long do I have to wait to hear back from an editor after I submit my manuscript for review?

The industry average response time for submissions is somewhere between 90 days and never.

Unlike other publishers, we strive to deliver as much value as possible to every author who submits their manuscript even if we don’t decide to publish your book. Our average time to respond to a submission is currently 30 – 60 days, but we aim to improve our response time dramatically as soon as we hire another Acquisitions Editor.

What is the breakdown of sales by format for eBook, print, and audiobook sales?

We report the breakdown of sales by format as a percentage of revenue, because that’s the best way to understand how our authors are earning their income.

As of January, 2018, 40% of book sales revenue comes from print sales, 38% from eBook sales, and 22% from audiobook sales.