Welcome to AsterHighPublishing.Com
Aster High is a Publisher of Christian Books
Introduction
Have you written a book? Did you try to get it published? Did you find out that it is almost impossible to get a regular
publisher to accept your manuscript? Did you discover that they will not accept it unless you are a "name," a well-recognized
person or VIP who has several thousand followers on a social media, like Twitter (now "X"). The fact is, they cannot
afford to publish your book unless they think they can make money on it, and they cannot make money on it unless you are
a well known figure, regardless of how important your book may be. So, now what do you do? Is all that time spent working on
your book now wasted?
Publishing Options
If a publisher won't accept your manuscript, what options do you have? There are at least three. One is to publish the book
yourself, as by using a desktop publishing system. One of the most popular systems is
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing system. By using the Kindle method, you can
create an eBook (or digital) version of your book, although you will have to learn how to use the system. Whenever you get
a sale, you will receive 35% of the sales price, while Amazon gets 65%.
Once you have created your eBook, if you choose, you can then create a paperback version, although this requires more time
since the whole book has to be reformatted. This can be done by using the Amazon Kindle add-on to the Microsoft Word program.
Amazon's Kindle system uses the print-on-demand method of printing. This means that, when someone orders a paperback copy
of your book, one single copy is printed at that time and shipped to the customer. The cost of printing, which may be
around $8.00 for a 250 page book, lets say, is then taken out of the sales price of the book. So, if your paperback sells
for $13.00, the $8.00 is then subtracted from that, with $5.00 remaining. Of this, Amazon gets around 65%, and you get 35%,
or $1.75. At least this way, it is no longer necessary for you to have hundreds of copies printed all at once and stored
by you in your garage or elsewhere. Of course, if the book is published by you, this will be indicated in some
manner in the book's display page on Amazon — in other words, your book will not be associated with a
publisher's name.
Besides engaging the Amazon Kindle system, you will also need to apply for, and purchase, a copyright from the
United States Copyright Office, which costs $65.00
(2024). And you may also want to purchase an ISBN number for your paperback, although this is optional for eBooks since
Amazon has its own internal numbering system. An ISBN costs around $125 (albeit, these can be purchased in bulk, such as
buying ten at a cost of $295). A company named Bowker
is a good place to get this number. But learning how to use and navigate through all these systems takes time. And what if
you are employed, trying to raise a family, or involved in other pursuits, and just don't have the time to deal with all
these issues? Besides, you may want to just write and not have to spend time trying to get your book out to the public.
What, then, can you do? Is there an alternative option?
If you decide you do not want to go the route of publishing the book yourself, your second option is to try to use a
self-publishing company. These are publishers who will publish your book for you for a price. Normally, publishers who
accept your manuscript will pay you to publish your book because they think they can make money on it. But if this is not
the case, self-publishers will publish it for you, if you will bear the cost of the production. Typically, the cost
to publish, let's say, a 250-page-book, can be anywhere from $2500 or $3500, up to as much as $9,000 or $10,000 (although,
according to one website, Reedsy,
which also contains a wealth of information about self-publishing, the price can be as low as $500 or even $250 with certain
over-seas publishers). Westbow, a subdivision of HarperCollins Christian
Publishing, is a good example of the former range of costs, although they do not have good online reviews for some reason;
Scriptor Publishing Group is another — and there are many
others. But what if you don't have thousands of dollars to invest in this process, especially if you plan to write several
books over time? Can you afford to repeatedly spend $2500 or $3500 to get all your works out into the public? If not, what,
then, can you do?
Actually, there is a third option: you can use Aster High Publishing. We publish ebooks and paperbacks using the Amazon DTP
system but charge much less than do other self-publishers, in part because we do not offer additional services, such as
proof-reading, editing, promotional, or distributional services. Other self-publishers may offer some of these
services. (However, we do offer to list your book on our website for free.) Concerning proof-reading, we can recommend a
couple of companies that offer this service, such as Amnet-systems.com (associated
with Amazon) and Reedsy, the
cost of which may be around a thousand dollars for a 250-page book (2020 pricing). We do require that manuscripts adhere to
standard English grammatical requirements acceptable to the publishing world. Manuscripts need not be 100% perfect, but we
do require that writers demonstrate the ability to meet some proficiency in their writing skills. Or writers can find their
own proof-readers or editors. Remember, you are going public with your work; if your book is full of typos and grammatical
mistakes, this will reflect poorly on yourself and us as well.
Our Publishing Details
If you are interested in what we can offer, you can contact us for an estimate of what it would cost for us to publish your
book. A typical rate is $300 for a 250-page eBook (although, this price is subject to change without previous notice). The
price may vary a little according to the length of the book, but, in reality, there is little difference in the time required
to publish a short book as for a long book since publishing usually does not deal with the internal content of the book
— unless your book contains charts, graphs, internal images, etc. Obviously, these would affect the price
because they require special treatment and thus, more time. Creating a paperback version would cost an additional $100.
Concerning internal images for paperbacks, it is recommended that they be in black and white since color doubles
or even triples the cost of printing.
We note that the $300 price for an eBook does not include the cost of the copyright or an ISBN. As mentioned above, a
copyright costs $65. As also mentioned, an ISBN for an eBook is optional since Amazon has its own internal numbering system.
But it is required of a paperback. Our company can provide one at a cost of $30.
As also mentioned, producing a paperback version would cost an additional $100. You could always start with an eBook and
decide later if you want a paperback, after you have seen how the eBook turns out. Incidentally, a separate copyright for the
paperback version is not needed; only one copyright is needed for both. However, a separate ISBN would be needed since a
paperback is a separate volume. After signing an agreement, a non-refundable down payment of $100 will be required for us to
be able to start work on your book.
Our work is guaranteed. This means that if not satisfied with our work, you can request a refund; after being granted, your
book will be "unpublished" and removed from the Kindle store. However, the down payment is not refundable, nor is the cost
of the copyright ($65) or the ISBN ($30), if these have been acquired. There is a 30-day limit to the refund offer (after
the date of the publishing of your book).
Concerning book cover images, we prefer that authors submit an image they wish to use. There are thousands of images that are
available online, which can be acquired; some are free, and for others, there may be a reasonable cost. We will require
proof that a particular image has been acquired legally and/or ask for the source of the image. Alternately, authors may
submit a picture that they themselves have taken since they own the images they have taken. Once we receive an image from
a writer, we will modify the parameters in order to make sure it is compatible with the Kindle system. Here are some examples
of websites that carry images: shutterstock.com,
dreamstime.com,
istock.com,
depositphotos.com, and so forth. To find more such websites, simply run an Internet
search for "images for sale." But be aware that there are fraudulent websites supposedly selling or giving away images. If
uncertain, the author can search for reviews of any particular site, such as "reviews of shutterstock.com" or consult the
BBB (Better Business Bureau) online. On the other hand, if an author is unable to submit
a book cover image, we can use one of the simple cover images available in the Kindle system, which usually consists of some
kind of colored pattern.
Another advantage for using our company to publish your book is that you are the one to set the sales price on Amazon. If the
primary motive for publishing your book is not to make money, you can set the price as low as you want, although
Amazon's minimum price is set at 99 cents (for eBooks). So, if you are more concerned with getting your work into the hands
of the public, you can sell eBooks for as little as $1.00, $2.00 or $3.00 (of course, paperbacks have a much higher minimum
due to the printing costs). If sales increase rapidly, you can increase the price. It's all up to you, although we do charge
a fee for making price changes for you. Again, as mentioned above, Amazon will pay you
a royalty of 35% of the sale's price for each eBook sold. So, if you set the price of your eBook at, let's say, $3.00, you
will get $1.05 and Amazon will get $1.95. And for paperbacks, the
royalty is 60% for each one sold (after deducting the
printing cost, of course). The money is sent directly into your bank account by Amazon. Of course, we have no part of this
and do not profit from any sales, unlike the regular publishers. However, be prepared for low sales and even no sales for
months at a time, unless you have a significant following on social media. As one self-publisher (Mike Wourms of Christian
Services Network, now out of business) once said, "The only thing harder than writing books is trying to sell books." Buying
advertising in Christian magazines or elsewhere is expensive and typically yields little or no results.
There is still another advantage for using our system: you can makes changes to your works or update them at any time.
Perhaps, in the interim of having published your book and reviewing it on occasion, you discover a mistake, and you want to
modify the wording of something, or you may want to update your work — we can make those modifications for
you for a reasonable fee. There is no need to update your copyright unless major changes have been made.
If you would like us to take a look at your book, please use the submission link below. However, please keep in mind
that we are a small organization, and the number of books that we can work on at the same time is very limited. This is to
say that we cannot accept every book submitted to us, but will consider any that are submitted. Also, authors need to
understand that, if we do accept and publish your manuscript, you can claim to be "self-published;" you cannot claim to be
"published." The same is true of all other self-publishing publishers.
Let us understand that the purpose of this company is to bring to life a possible writing ministry for people who could not
otherwise afford to do so. Some people have something to say about the Christian life and just need the means to do so. Others
feel called to write, but just don't have the opportunity to get their works out into the public view. We strive to bring
to fruition the aspirations writers who want to serve the Lord in some literary means.
Books Published by Aster High
To see examples of books published by Aster High, please click on the following link.
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