Guidelines

At the present time, we’re working on an experimental basis with a very limited number of authors.

We are not a vanity press.  You don’t pay us to publish your book.  Our commission percentages — paid to our authors, monthly — are among the top in the industry.

Our current focus is art (both how-to and surveys of artists’ works), paranormal and New Age topics.  We’re adding books related to travel and history.

Please do not send us your completed book unless we’ve already approved your single-page proposal.

At the present time, we are accepting single-page proposals for books related to art (all forms of visual and performance art), business and paranormal topics.  Please submit them via email.  (Do not send partial or completed manuscripts at this time.)

We receive email at email [at] newforestbooks.com

For all other correspondence, our mailing address is:

E. MacIntosh
New Forest Books
1500A Lafayette Rd. #143
Portsmouth, NH 03801 USA

Please include your email address or a return envelope if a reply is required.

Here’s what we expect from our authors, and what we can do for you.

Our publishing model gives you:

• Maximum control over your book’s content and appearance.
• Maximum control of your income.
• Excellent distribution through Amazon.com, America’s largest online retailer.
• No cash outlay required or expected, ever.*
• Minimal involvement in the technical side of publishing.
• At any time, you can arrange to publish your book on your own or through another publisher.

At New Forest Books, a family-owned business, our combined expertise represents over 30 years of writing and editing books, over 40 years’ work in illustration for print media, and over 15 years of professional work in  pre-press  (book preparation).

See our Publisher’s Statement for additional information about our goals and creative vision for New Forest Books.

How we publish

When we first accept a book for publication, we work with CreateSpace.com to create print-on-demand books.  Those books are initially sold through Amazon.com, and through our CreateSpace.com eStore.

As soon as the book is selling well, we will expand distribution to include international Amazon websites, public libraries and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Based on the success of your book, we may later use a large-scale printer to increase distribution options.

We prepare the print-ready books and covers, acquire an ISBN for your book, submit it to the printer, and resolve any issues regarding the quality of the finished product.

Once a proof copy of your book is approved, we list it at our CreateSpace.com eStore, and your book will usually become available at Amazon.com within about two weeks.

After that, we will work with you to increase your distribution — and your profits — at the next levels of publishing, also through New Forest Books.

If your book is acquired by a larger, mainstream publisher, we will work with you and with them, to transfer the rights without any loss of income for you.

Terms

Remember, we don’t charge our authors anything to publish them.  If you don’t make money, we don’t make money, period.

If your book is ready to paste up as a completed book, and you provide all of the cover art and text, our commission will come from the profits from your Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com sales.*

Our base commission is 20%, so you will receive up to 80% of the income from your book.  (That’s about 10x what most traditional publishers pay.)

For example, if your 200-page book’s wholesale price is $5 and you set a selling price of $12.95, we’ll send you about $6.35 per copy sold.

You will be paid royalties monthly via PayPal or by cheque.  You decide.  Generally, your royalties represent book sales from two months earlier.  (That is, your books that sell during January will result in payment at the end of March.)

We will make sure that your book is sold through Amazon.com and CreateSpace.com.  We’ll arrange for it to have an ISBN, a full description, and  a picture of the book cover on the sales page at Amazon.com.  In many cases, a “look inside” preview will be available, with your approval.

We’ll create a promotional webpage for you and each of your books at New Forest Books, and arrange for you to have an author page at Amazon.com.  As we expand, we’ll add additional author services at no additional cost to our authors.

You will receive special instructions so that you can order your own books at wholesale, sell them at events, through stores that you contact, and so on.  We don’t expect a commission from your marketing and distribution efforts.

You always retain the copyright to your work — including derivative works — exactly as you sent it to us.

*You will be responsible for the cost of a proof copy of your book.  Generally, that’s under $15, including postage.  (If you initiate further changes, you’ll need to cover subsequent proof copies, until you’re happy with your book.)

You’ll also have the option of purchasing a professional-level plan — for about $40 — that expands your sales to businesses such as libraries.  Another benefit: This increases your per-book income, usually by a couple of dollars per book sold.

**If your book’s contents and cover — text and illustrations — are not ready to cut-and-paste into a book design, one of two things may happen:

1. We may increase our base commission of 20%, depending on how much extra work is involved.
2. Or, we may ask you to have your book edited and/or the artwork prepared so it’s ready for cut-and-paste.

Acceptance

We have very high standards at New Forest Books.

• We’re looking for art books that inspire creative thought and encourage people to look at the world in new ways.
• We’re looking for ground-breaking paranormal books that are supported with original research and references, and spark debate as well as new approaches to investigations.

In most cases, we prefer “office safe” books.  If your granny or Sister Mary Assumpta would frown at the language or imagery, it’s probably better to submit it to another publisher.  (We make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.  If your book is created solely to shock, it probably won’t interest us.)

Books must be your original work.   Copied or derivative works cannot be published, unless the material is in the public domain and there is a significant reason to publish it.

If your project is accepted, we’ll work with you to create a book that you’re proud of.

However, if you or New Forest Books decide that the project is not meeting expected levels of professionalism, either of us can end our work agreement immediately, no questions asked.  You’re free to take your book elsewhere.

We want to be proud of every book we produce, and we want you to be proud of your book, too.

Preparing your text

Unless it’s a book displaying photos or other artwork, your book must be at least 100 pages long.  That’s usually about 20,000 words, but the number can vary widely with the book format, number & size of illustrations, etc.  (We will not publish books with 16- or 18-point type to fill up the pages.)

Send your book as a TXT or DOC file.  (DOC is preferred, with illustrations included.)

Anything with unusual formatting — such as tables, irregular font sizing, or a quirky mix of text + art — must be sent to us in DOC format at the finished, printed size.  Ask us for the dimensions and settings for your book.

For nonfiction books, please include a list of the words that you’d like included in the index.  We will prepare the table of contents and the index as part of the book design.

Together, we’ll compile the information for the copyright page.

Editing and proofreading

Your book should be checked with a spelling and grammar checker before you send it to us. (Most word processing programs already include a spelling and grammar checker, usually in the Tools tab.)

We can make minor editing changes.  Anything significant — such as changing at least one or two items, per page — should be handled by a freelance editor before we receive the book.  (We recommend elance.com or a similar service, to find a competent editor at a fair price.  We also work with an associate who can edit in French and English, if you’re interested.)

Preparing your illustrations

Illustrations must be 300 dpi (or pixels/inch) or better, and in greyscale for regular books with b&w interior pages.  For art and photography books, use CMYK color settings.

TIF format is preferred, but we can also work with JPGs or — in some cases — GIFs.

If that sounded like a foreign language, let’s discuss your project in more detail.  We may be able to work with your images as they are, or we may recommend help from a professional illustrator.

Remember that all book interior files — text plus illustrations — must be 100MB or smaller, total.  (Cover art is handled separately and not included in that 100MB.)

Know copyright and trademark laws.  This includes photographs of “haunted” buildings.  (See Copyright Terms and the Public Domain, and scroll down to information about architectural works.)

If the face of someone in a picture can be recognized or identified, you must have a signed model’s release for that person and everyone whose face appears in the picture.

Collage art is a gray area.  Ask before submitting collage illustrations that use others’ photos, artwork or images.

Rubber stamp images must be from “angel” companies, or have written permission for use of the images in your book.

Fonts must be approved for commercial use.  Don’t assume that a free font is okay in your book, simply because you found it at a free font website.

The fine print

You retain the copyright to your work, exactly as it was submitted to us.  (You’re automatically protected against use in derivative works.)

Your pen name is also your own.  We have no rights to it.

Each book contract is complete, and does not include a “first option” clause.

If you don’t like any aspect of your book’s design, you can ask us to change it at any time up to final proof approval. You and/or New Forest Books can withdraw from the project if we cannot agree on the book’s content, its appearance or its publication.

The only way we make money if your book looks good, appeals to readers, earns good reviews, and sells well.