Review the publisher's company website for navigational ease and professional design. Peruse their staffing credentials and years of experience in the publishing arena. Look for expertise in sales and marketing and technical editing and illustration skills. Ascertain if the publisher will market your book or if marketing is your sole responsibility.
Research a few of their published titles to determine distribution. You want to ensure their titles are available through popular retailers such as Amazon.com and that they are compatible with e-readers. Obtain a title and review the cover, illustrations, editing and formatting.
The publisher's contract should state who retains book rights and what royalties you will receive. Ideally, you should retain all rights to publication. Other rights include subsidiary, digital and renewal and royalty clauses. Do not sign away your rights to your characters, editing or your name. Avoid refusal options that allow the publisher to reject one or all of your titles. Do not work with any publisher who asks you to purchase bulk quantities of your work. Royalties are negotiable.The contract should state how and when royalties are dispensed.
The following publishers are royalty-based and do not charge any publishing fees. Fictionwise publishes fiction and non-fiction material. Fiction genres includes history, children, classic, fantasy, horror, human, romance, suspense, science fiction and young adult. Their non-fiction works include business, children, education, health and fitness, history, people, political, reference, travel, spiritual and self improvement.
Treble Heart Books.com publishes ebooks under four divisions. Treble Heart Books publishes romance works--contemporary, paranormal, suspense, historical and short fiction. Mountainview Publications handles Christian fiction and non-fiction. Western works should be submitted to their Sundowners division. WhoooDoo Mysteries covers mysteries, horror, science fiction, action-adventure and young adult books.
The following publishers charge a publication fee and pay royalties to authors. Createspace.com provides total publishing support including fulfillment and online distribution. This company works with completed works and books requiring additional editorial and graphical assistance.
Schiel & Denver offers a variety of publishing packages from $599 to $19,999, as of April 2011, and has marketing and publicity, editorial, and design services. This company has a distribution network of over 25,000 outlets and offers black and white and full color publishing.
Lulu offers four prepublishing packages, three marketing packages and three distribution packages. You are responsible for all final creative decisions and will work with a project coordinator during the printing, marketing and distribution process.
CreateSpace allows authors to self-publish their materials for the millions of Amazon.com customers and distributors. Customer ebooks are produced on demand so you eliminate costs associated with maintaining inventory. Publishers and authors who maintain digial book rights can use this service.
Kindle Direct Publishing lets authors upload and format books for the Kindle Store. This service is free. Your books must be in a digital format. Kindle Direct Publishing keeps 30 percent of the price of each book sold. Books are compatible with Kindle devices and Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac, Blackberry and Android-based devices. You can publish books in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.