Submission Guidelines - The Self Publishing Studio

First things first we will read every submission, quickly, provide feedback, and may recommend you do further work before we can take it forward. We will review your second iteration. It's not a one chance and you are out. We believe we started a relationship the minute you sent us your manuscript, and we would like to foster this where possible. We won't obsess about the perfect enquiry letter and synopsis, as long as it makes sense. We will do our best to keep your excitement going, and not drift into weeks or months before you get a response.

Please be aware that adhering to the rules set out here will make the process much easier and faster.

You should allow up to 7 working days for initial feedback. All submissions should be via the submission form.

Zip your text and images (where applicable) in to a single zip file. The zip file should be named AuthorName-BookName.zip.
All submissions should be submitted via our submission form either as a file upload, or as a shared link from a file sharing service such as Dropbox or WeTransfer.
Zip files should be no larger than 25mb if submitting as an upload, if you are submitting via a file sharing service then the limit is that of the service provider.

Please supply it as a single Microsoft Word (or similar) document.
It should be double line spaced, in left aligned, 12pt font size.
It should have the first new line for a paragraph indented.
It should contain page breaks at the end of each chapter, or after each poem. Please don't use repeated returns. You can do this by press CTRL + ENTER, or through Word you can use Toolbar > Insert > Insert Pagebreak.
Please ensure you number pages, in Word this can be done in Toolbar > Insert > Page Numbers.
It should be presented in the order in which you expect it to appear in the book.
Please ensure it has correctly formatted footnotes/endnotes if you have used them.
Please include a title page, author name, dedication, acknowledgements and/or table of contents where appropriate. The page numbers can be left out of the table of contents if desired as they may change once the book has been professionally typeset.
It should be saved in a file name with the title of your work, appended with -text or -manuscript. For example BookTitle-text.doc.

Please supply it as a single Microsoft Word (or similar) document.
It should be a summary of your manuscript.
It doesn't need to be any more than one A4 page in length
It should be saved in a file name with the title of your work, appended with -synopsis or -blurb. For example BookTitle-synopsis.doc.

Images should be separate and not embedded within the text document as this can degrade the image resolution.
Images should be print ready JPEG/JPGs scanned at a minimum of 300dpi, A5 size or larger. A4 or larger for children's books.
Images should be in CMYK colour model if the images are to be used in colour. See the FAQ.
Images should be in greyscale if they are to be used in black and white.
Images should be named in such a way to identify the order and position in which images will appear in the book. For example: 001BlackCat.jpg. This way its clear that this is the first picture in the book. Subsequent images would be prefixed 002, 003 and so on.
Please also provide a complete list of all images, and clear guidance about your desired placement within the text.

If you don't have your own illustrations, we can provide an illustrator as an extra service.

Please ensure that any content you supply is your own original work and that you own the copyright for any images you supply, or that you have written documentation of permission to use copyrighted material.
Take careful note of the submission guidelines above. If we receive your files in other formats, we may not be able to open them and begin work on your manuscript and you may be asked to re-submit, or to pay for the additional costs of correcting or re-formatting files.
As a small organisation we have to be selective about the work we finally decide to take on, in order to maximise your chance of success in a crowded marketplace. This means work intended for publication and distribution into the trade should be of a high standard.
Copy-editing and proofreading are recommended before publication.