OUR PROCESS

Initial Manuscript Development

Books come to Laureate Life Press in a variety of stages—from an outline with just a few fleshed-out ideas to a fully finished manuscript. What they all have in common is that their authors are passionate about publishing their work and in finished form, these works will help others grow. Laureate Life Press does not accept agented works, so authors should feel free to contact us directly via the submission form on our website. We will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

We begin the publication process by looking through your manuscript, in whatever form, to decide whether or not it fits our Laureate Life Press mission. If it does, we will give you an estimate of when we could begin work—depending on our existing commitments—and a “guesstimate” of costs and publication date.

Depending on the quality of the manuscript, we sometimes begin the process with a flat-fee charge to read through your manuscript and provide a written report about what we feel is needed for your book.

At other times, we begin the editing process directly, communicating with the author via text, email, phone, and document exchange. After the Laureate Life Press team edits the document, suggests changes to the author, and receives the edited document back (which can require a couple or many “back-and-forths”), we begin turning the manuscript into a book.

From Manuscript to Book

This includes:

Continued proof reading on the part of the Laureate Life Press team and the author, including one complete copy edit from an award-winning editor
Ongoing cover design suggestions, planning, and creation
Back cover book summary, author bio, and headshot provided by author
Interior layout with author input regarding font options, line spacing, and pagination, and
A physical copy of the manuscript to use for two thorough copy edits.

Publication

Once the book is completed—as agreed upon by the Laureate Life Press team and the author—we move on to publication on Amazon. This includes:

Creating an account for the author at Kindle Direct Publishing (owned by Amazon) through which you will track book sales and marketing
Applying for the book's Amazon ISBN number in the author’s name
Making sure the book meets all Amazon technical requirements
Submitting the book to Amazon and following up until publication
Ordering and doing a final proof of the book after publication
Applying for the author’s copyright with the Library of Congress
Listing the book on our Laureate Life Press website linking it to its Amazon sales page
Promoting the book on our Laureate Life Press and personal Facebook pages, and
Creating the e-version of the book if author desires.

Cost

Initial fee--depending on length and complexity of the book--collected for manuscript and content review, plus appropriateness for a Laureate Life Press book.
Billing at $90 an hour occurs monthly, payable by check, Zelle, or Venmo. The Laureate Life Press team can provide a “guesstimate” of total cost and time.
Final Laureate Life Press fee of $2000 (sometimes less for a children’s book or smaller adult book) is collected for the final edit and everything involved in the submission for publication.
All printed copies necessary for copy edits are the author’s financial responsibility and subsequently will become the author’s property.
Laureate Life Press can facilitate the development of an e-version to sell on Amazon at the author’s cost.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The Laureate Life Press team recognizes that AI is a tool that pervades almost every aspect of the modern world. We believe that AI has specific benefits that can be employed cautiously and judiciously. However, we also believe in what the human mind, experience, intellect, and creative spirit can accomplish, especially in composition.

To that end, we require writers to affirm that their manuscripts are not generated by AI. Therefore, manuscripts must be substantially created and written by a human author. Additionally, copyright protection applies only to the original creative expression attributed to and generated by a human author.

Laureate Life Press’ goal is not to prohibit the thoughtful and careful use of new technology but to preserve what matters most: the authentic human voice behind every story.