Customers are free to call us any time or to arrange to drop in to meet us in our office in Rockland. It is best to call ahead. If you are not ready to actually publish, but would only like to discuss the process we offer a consultation session for $135 per hour. However if you have your manuscript ready and you would like to look into pricing to consider proceeding, we ask that you follow these steps.

STEP 1: First you need to know the cost of the project.  You may phone us or simply go to our QUOTE form to begin the process. Costs vary from $300 dollars and up to $5000 depending on the quantity, ink colors, editorial needs and size of your book, so calling to get a “ballpark” without our actually building an estimate for your book is not a service we offer.

STEP 2: Within 1 to 3 days you will be emailed a rough price estimate with different options for editing, design, printing and publishing your book.

STEP 3: After receiving your estimate you may want to arrange to meet with us, have a phone conference with our staff or request a copy of our catalog and brochure. Keep in mind that although our pricing may look substantially lower than other printers and publishers you may have contacted, our reputation for quality is known by museums, galleries, authors and artists throughout Maine. We are happy to send you samples and references upon request.  This is also a good time to meet and show you a sample of a written marketing plan and discuss your layout, cover design and marketing needs.

STEP 4: Once our proposal has been accepted and we agree to work together you will want to email your manuscript  and any images you  are using to us at: UPLOAD. After receiving your manuscript we will give you a more accurate estimate of cost (images, paragraph breaks and chapters influence the page count). A rough mock up of the layout (if images are included) is helpful at this stage as well.

STEP 5:  Books going into our trade catalog are required to be fully edited and proofread. If this is needed for your book, we will send you an estimate of your editorial needs.  A deposit is needed to begin. Within 4 to 12 working days we will complete your editing and send your manuscript back to you in a form where you may accept or reject our suggestions.

STEP 6: Once you finalize your edited manuscript, email it or UPLOAD it back to us and we will begin your page layout and cover design. You will then be given a timeframe for receiving a PDF file of your book and cover design for your approval.  We ask that you look this over carefully, perhaps printing it out. It is much less expensive for you to make changes at this stage than after the book is actually proofed out on press.

STEP 7: Within 3 to 5 days of receiving your approval, you will receive an actual press proof of your book. You may pick it up at our office or receive it in UPS. “UPS Ground” within the state of Maine arrives “next day” and usually two days for out of state customers.

STEP 8: We ask that you “live with” your press proof for a day. Customers are responsible for proofreading and approving their press proof. If you have further changes we will repeat steps 6 and 7. This happens often so don’t be discouraged, it is part of the process. We do not print without a final, approved press proof no matter how small the correction may be. There are no exceptions to this important policy.

STEP 9: Once your press proof is approved, your books will be ready in 2-3 weeks. Authors who choose to be in our trade catalog will want to leave a box of books with us at our office for shipping and fulfillment to bookstores.