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PUBLISHING PROCEDURES & POLICIES

  • Browse our website to know and choose which package is suitable for your book. Once you’ve decided, write a query email to us indicating your request to publish your book with us. (Fill Contact Us form or write to info@mysterypublisherslimited.com). Your query email should include your manuscript’s number of words. 
  • Once we receive your query email, we will send you a Non-Disclosure Agreement to be signed by the Publisher and the Author. The NDA will be send to you together with a Pro-Forma Invoice for manuscript evaluation.
  • On signing the NDA, you pay the manuscript evaluation fee; and, upon confirmation of the payment by the Publisher, you submit your manuscript following our Submission Guidelines.
  • The manuscript will be reviewed and evaluated, and if it meets our publishing policies, you will be contacted with the feedback. If publishable, a publishing contract depending on the publishing package for your book is send to you for signing.
  • Once the agreement is signed, you pay the whole amount or 60% of the package cost deposit (balance before publication) for the publishing process to commence (the process entails):
    • editing and proofreading – you will be assigned an editor with whom you work  in comprehensive editing of the manuscript. (The duration taken during editing is depended on how promptly both the editor and the writer correspond.);
    • cover design and layout & design for print/POD files and eBook; and
    • ISBN allocation, printing and proofing sample copies, and registration of the work with the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).

NOTE: The author is reminded that editing does not involve ghost-writing for the author; the editor makes suggestions that the author may accept or reject. The publisher may terminate the agreement if the author does not want to have their work edited, unless they had had their manuscript professionally edited.

  • The Publisher develops three sample covers for the author to choose one for their book/e-book; or the author submits their cover concept with detailed description of how they conceptualise their cover together with images, if any, to the publisher for cover design. The author must approve the covers in writing. The author should own the copyright for the images and photos submitted, or have obtained permission from the copyright owner to use the images, or if royalty-free images from the Internet the images be licensed for commercial use.

NOTE: If the cover or the book requires illustrations, the author pays for all the illustrations and artwork (Check out our illustrations services Here).

  • Once the editing is done, the editor submits two copies of the edited manuscript in MS Word—one with the tracked changes and the clean copy with the changes incorporated—to the author.
  • The publisher then designs the manuscript to the final book/eBook format applying industry standard book trim sizes, appealing interior design, and proper formats (e.g. Kindle, PDF, .mobi, .epub, etc); or what the author wants to have on their book.
  • The publisher submits all the designed copies to the author and a proofreading editor for proofing.
  • Once approved by the author, the book is published on different online platforms—Amazon, Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Mystery Publishers’ bookstore.

PRINT COPIES

  • If the author wants to have print copies of their book, the publisher prepares the print-ready files. The author may elect the publisher to organise for printing of the books, or may choose to look for a printer themselves. (The cost of publishing is not inclusive of printing.)
  • In case the author elects the publisher to organise for printing, we print any number of copies (minimum 30 copies),cost depended on the size of the book (quotation will be provided once the print-ready files have been forwarded to a printer and appraised); otherwise the author is linked with the printing partner.

NOTE: The printing is paid for by the author.

  • The printer prepares a sample print copy that is send to the author for approval. Once approved, the book is then printed. The publisher will deliver the printed books within 30 days (depending on the MOQ ordered by the author).

Check our printing services Here.

BOOK LAUNCH

If the author needs to officially launch their book, we may help organise the launch. We work with Alliance Française de Nairobi and Soma Nami Books (Greenhouse Building, Along Ngong Road, Nairobi) for such events. We shall discuss logistics of the book launch with the author.

MARKETING

  • Mystery Publishers does not offer book marketing and promotion services save for online book promotion on online platforms available to the publisher.
  • The author remains the owner and custodian of the printed books, they stand to benefit 100% profit of the books sold through their network. We offer FREE online marketing on online platforms available to us.
  • The author gets 100% royalty for books sold through the publisher’s distribution channels—Kindle, Amazon, Smashwords, and 80% from our online Bookstore, or direct sales during book events. The author is paid the total royalties (minimum of Ksh. 1,000 or $10 USD) less transaction fees and Withholding Tax.

DISTRIBUTION

We DO NOT distribute books on behalf of the author. However, we have partnered with the following organisations and bookstores for distribution. We are continuously searching for more distribution channels:

Once your book is published, you may elect for the Publisher to help distribute the book for you. We will enter into another agreement to that effect.

GUIDELINES & TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION

We will submit your book to the US Library of Congress for evaluation. If it meets their requirements, we will inform you to print the required copies. (There is an agreement signed for this.) Genres accepted are:

  • fiction,
  • poetry,
  • or narrative non-fiction.

Books distributed through African Books Collective MUST not be published on Amazon.

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