The Opportunity
Whether you’re a previously published author or a first time writer, Cambridge House has the ability to bring your project to market unlike any other entity. If your project is of superior value, Cambridge House might be your choice for success in the challenging realm of commercial publishing.
We can take your project from any point and partner with you in actually publishing the finished product into the marketplace and beyond. Unlike other packagers, Cambridge House not only produces books but also publishes, distributes and markets them. We're not a printing company, we're a full-fledged publishing company- and we can be your partner in bringing your project to market succesfully.
Publishing, Not Printing
Cambridge House produces saleable, commercial trade books and publishes, sells, distributes and markets them into the marketplace. We are not a printer. We are not a print-on-demand or vanity publisher. We do everything Simon & Schuster does, and more. If you’re looking to spend $500 to print 10 copies of your book, there are many companies that provide that service. Cambridge House is not one of them.
The books that we develop are professionally designed, edited, printed, sold and marketed just like the major publishers demand and the major booksellers require. We don’t publish books that are not up to market standards. We’re not in the business of producing books with writers, we’re in the business of selling books with authors.
The Requirements
1. A valuable project.
It doesn’t matter if you have an idea or an entire manuscript edited and ready to go, in order to be considered by Cambridge House you must have a compelling and commercial project.
2. Enthusiasm.
As you already know, writing is tough. Re-writing is even tougher. As a result, if you’re not enthusiastic about your project, you will soon find better things to do with your time. Enthusiasm translates into sales, and Cambridge House is looking for books that sell and authors that are enthusiastic.
3. Resources.
Making a book is not a cheap undertaking (keep in mind that Print-On-Demand is printing, not publishing, and several worlds apart from what Cambridge House does). Mainstream publishing companies like Simon & Schuster and Random House spend more than $100,000 in labor and overhead to develop a single book (not including the actual printing of the books and marketing). Since these mainstream publishers typically take 18 months to prepare a book, that timing is reflected in that six-figure cost.
At Cambridge House, we can ‘crash’ a book in as little as 30 days, though our average is 4 months. While that time savings generates directly into cost savings versus the major imprints, producing and publishing a book with Cambridge House is not inexpensive; Author's costs range from $8,000 and upward, depending on the amount of work involved. However, that investment is repaid from first-proceeds and the royalties are 4-5 times what the standard publishers pay. With some financial risk comes increased financial reward- it's only fair. See #11 below regarding a more detailed breakdown of royalties.
The 12-steps of Book Production and Publishing:
1. Evaluation
You send us your project and our editors, sales and design team determine suitability for the commercial market and whether Cambridge House feels able to invest in the success of the work. This process generally takes one week. Hardcopy is preferred but electronic submissions are accepted as well. We only take on a few projects each month since the financial and time investment is considerable.
2. Contract
If your project is deemed commercial enough for our investment by Cambridge House, a contract will be submitted to you for review and discussion.
3. Writing (optional)
Depending on the status of your manuscript and genre, Cambridge House can help with original writing.
4. Editing
Cambridge House will edit your project for content, style, context, tense, continuity, grammar and spelling. This may take from two to six weeks, depending on genre and length. Cambridge House also handles permissions as well.
5. Design
Our in-house designers will design your dust-jacket (hardcover), trade paper, or mass market cover.
6. Typesetting
The book will be laid out after all the editing and writing has been completed. This takes about one week.
7. Galley Printing
The book is printed in galley form (also known as ARC- Advanced Review Copy) for distribution to the media, advanced reviewers and long-lead magazines.
8. Sales
The Cambridge House sales team calls on all book outlets across the country to pitch the project to the buyers at the bricks and mortar stores (Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Hudson News, B. Dalton, Walden Books, WH Smith, Books-A-Million, etc.), the distributors (Anderson Merchandising, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, American Wholesale, AMS, Levy, Follett, Bookazine, etc.) and all online sales entities (amazon, bn.com, borders.com, etc.). If the project is a good fit, it will be pitched to specific book clubs as well.
9. Printing
Based on initial sales estimates and advanced media, Cambridge House will print books and begin distribution.
10. Marketing
With a publicist assigned to your project, Cambridge House arranges author appearances and media to support the launch and continued promotion of the book. An outside agency may also be involved in promoting the project.
11. Income
As a partial underwriter for the initial expense of developing and publishing the book, the Author is paid 60% of all income until the initial investment has been recouped. After the Author has recouped the initial expense, the Author and Cambridge House share in the proceeds at 50% each for the remainder of the life of the book. We're only successful if you're successful.
12. Subsidiary Rights
If applicable and desirable, Cambridge House sells subsidiary rights to the project, including first and second serialization, syndication, book club, film, television, radio, dramatic, audio, video, reprint, foreign translation, abridgement, excerpt, anthology, textbook, electronic publication and e-book. All proceeds from these sales are distributed evenly between Author and Cambridge House.
More information is available in the Publishing Contract that will be supplied should Cambridge House choose to partner with the Author in the publication of the work.
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