Celticfrog Publishing is the imprint I created to publish my own books. I was tired of ‘so you’re self-published’ and people backing away. I put as much time, money and effort into my books as the traditional publishers.
Then a friend wanted help with her book, so I used my imprint to bring out her middle grade fairy tale. Then others in the area heard about that and asked for my help. Celticfrog Publishing moved to being a small press. A really small press.
If you are looking for traditional publishing with your book on bookshelves in stores, I’m not the person you want to talk to, though you might want to use my editing service to add some polish. I have edited for people who are traditionally published and a recent client had a book picked up by a publisher. I have a list of markets sources on the editing page.
What I offer is someone to help work through the brambles of the independent publishing world. I use Ingram Spark for printing, so all my books can be ordered by ISBN by book stores. I also will help you create a Kdp account on Amazon to post both ebook and paper. The reason for that is it is easier for someone to order from Amazon than from Ingram, and you make more money too. I will also help you set up an account at Draft2Digital to cover the other ebook sellers if you want to go wide.
The reason I get you to set up your own accounts is then money from sales flows directly to you from Amazon and Draft2Digital. Only if books are ordered through Ingram will I need to send money.
What you get is my help producing a quality product. I will do a quick edit as part of my work as publisher, or you can get a stronger edit through CelticfrogEditing.com. At this time, I don’t have a proofreader on staff, but I can connect you with people, and give you tips on checking your own work.
I will also make sure your book is properly formatted both for print and ebook. If you have a book that is especially complicated, we will negotiate the cost.
I will also help connect you with an artist to do your cover. There are all kinds of sites from pre-made covers to photo manipulation to illustration. A good cover is essential, so if you have a cover you want, and it doesn’t look good, I will tell you. I don’t pay for the cover. They can run you from $40 US up. I usually pay $300 for mine.
I can also connect you to artists who might be interested in interior illustration if that is something you want.
I don’t charge any ‘package fee’. You would pay for the cover and illustrations yourself, and any editing you want beyond what I do.
What I do is charge $1 for each book printed through Ingram Spark. So if you order 50 copies, you’d pay the printing cost, (probably between $3 and $8 depending on format), and the shipping cost, (anywhere from $15 for a single book to $1 or $2 a book for a larger order), plus my one dollar. So if your cost per book from Ingram is $9 a book, you would send me $10 a book. I would also take a dollar from the payment for each book sold through Ingram Spark.
I won’t go into the whole process of checking galleys etc, but we will work hard to make your book as polished as humanly possible. If an error does creep past us, (Honestly, it is practically guaranteed. Even the big five have books with mistakes in them.) I will fix the error and re-upload the files to Ingram and give you the files to upload to Amazon and D2D. I will not be responsible for the cost of books with errors in them.
If you are interested in working through me, email me and we’ll talk about your book and whether I think it is a good fit, and whether I think it is publishable. I don’t believe there are bad books, but there are a lot of books that need more work. If you aren’t willing to put that work in, I’m not for you.
Please do not send manuscripts. A query letter is OK, but a lot depends on that one on one dialogue.