Author FAQ

We take an evergreen approach to book publishing. We choose books we believe can remain relevant, find new readers, and sell for years to come. Our commitment extends well beyond publication day: we publish with the full life of a book in mind.

Experience has taught us to be patient. Some of our most successful titles took three or four years to build meaningful momentum. Readers discover books at different times, through different channels, and for different reasons. That is why we do not treat the first month of sales, or the initial launch, as the final measure of a book's success.

Our approach requires persistence and a willingness to adapt. When a book is not reaching its audience, we look closely at how it is positioned, presented, and promoted. We adjust the marketing, explore new ways to reach readers, and use what we learn to guide our next steps. When a more substantial change is needed, we may revise and relaunch the book with a new cover, a stronger description, or, in some cases, a new title.

Each of these decisions serves the same purpose: to give a book a better opportunity to connect with the readers who will value it. Publication begins that work; it does not end it.

Our goal is to build lasting value together: books that continue to find readers, generate sales, and earn income for the author and for us over years and, where possible, decades. We cannot promise how any individual book will perform, but our approach is grounded in patience, sustained attention, and a belief that a worthwhile book deserves time to grow.

The short version. Your royalty is 25% of the net profit from the book's sales, after deducting the direct costs of printing, shipping, warehousing and distribution. We do not deduct advertising or marketing expenses. Those are our investment in the book.

A worked example. If a sale brings in $10 and the direct costs total $4, that leaves $6 in net profit. Your 25% royalty would be $1.50. Those are example figures, not a forecast; the actual amount varies by format and where the book is sold.

Why it is calculated this way. We start from the money actually received for a copy, not the printed cover price. A retailer does not pay us the cover price: it buys at a wholesale discount, and the platform or distributor takes its own fee. Our agreement calculates the royalty from what is genuinely left after those costs, so the same percentage applies honestly in every channel rather than being inflated on paper and then clawed back.

What comes off the top. The cost of printing, manufacturing and duplication; shipping, freight and fulfillment (which includes warehousing); discounts given to retailers, wholesalers and distributors; distributor, retailer and platform fees and commissions; card and payment processing fees; refunds, returns and chargebacks; and sales tax.

What never comes off. Advertising, marketing and publicity. We do not charge the book for the money we spend trying to sell it.

No double deduction. If a distributor has already withheld its fee before the money reaches us, that fee is not deducted a second time. Our calculation starts from the money we actually received.

Returns. Bookstores and distributors buy on a returnable basis, which means a sale is not always final. To keep your royalties accurate, we may hold back part of the royalties earned on print sales in a period as a reserve against books that may come back. Any reserve is cleared within two statements, and if fewer books come back than the reserve allowed for, the difference is paid to you.

Sales that do not earn a royalty. There are some copies on which no royalty is paid, and all of them are cases where no revenue reaches us: copies given away free for review, promotion or charity; author copies; copies sold at or below the cost of manufacture, including remainders; books that are returned, refunded or charged back; previews of your work inside another of our books; and use of your material in advertising without payment to us.

Your own copies. You receive 20 free printed copies on publication. Further copies can be bought at 50% off through our website, and additional discounts are available on larger orders. Because you are buying at a discount rather than at a profit, those copies do not carry a royalty.

Royalty statements are issued once a year, in PDF, on or before January 15, covering sales in the calendar year just ended. Each statement shows copies sold and returned, gross revenue, every deduction used to arrive at net profit, any reserve held or released, and the royalty due.

You don't have to wait for the annual statement to see how your book is doing. Every author gets access to the LTP Nexus, our own author platform. It shows your sales, royalties and returns, and tracks your book's progress on its way to publication. Sales data comes into the Nexus directly from our distributors. The Nexus is a service we provide and is not part of this agreement. The annual statement is the official record of what you are owed.

Payment accompanies the statement, whatever the amount, by bank transfer in US dollars. Currency conversion costs are ours, not yours. You will need to give us a completed W-9 (or W-8 if you are outside the United States) before payment, and we issue a 1099 where the law requires it. You will be responsible for your own taxes on royalties.

We publish across all the formats the market carries: paperback, hardcover, eBook and audiobook. It is not one or the other, and nothing in the agreement limits your book to a single edition. The formats are produced under the same agreement, at our cost, and the royalty is the same 25% of net profit in every one.

Each format gets its own ISBN, because ISBNs identify a specific edition in the book trade, the way a barcode identifies a specific product. A hardcover and a paperback of the same book are different products to a retailer, a library and a distributor, so each needs its own number. We obtain and assign them; they are registered under Library Tales Publishing or one of its imprints.

ISBNs have nothing to do with copyright. An ISBN is a trade registry identifier assigned per format. Copyright protects the work itself. You can hold the copyright in a book that carries five different ISBNs.

We produce audiobooks at our own cost, with the same 25% of net profit royalty as every other format, and the audiobook sales appear in your annual statement alongside print and digital.

Can I keep the audio rights instead? Possibly. The standard agreement grants us exclusive audio rights along with print and electronic rights. Audio rights can be negotiated, though. If you'd like to keep them, or share them in a different way, tell us before you sign and we'll talk it through.

As a rule, we don't pay advances. Our money goes into the book instead: editing, cover design, typesetting, print, warehousing, shipping and marketing, all before a single copy sells. An advance is a payment against royalties that haven't been earned yet, and as a small press, we are highly selective with our advance payments.

There are exceptions, however. We may offer an advance to an author with an established platform or public profile, or to an author publishing a second book with us. These are decided case by case, and any advance has to be written into the agreement.

Publishing a book involves many stages, and we want you to understand what is happening at each one. From manuscript submission through editing, production, and release, everything takes place within our proprietary app (The LTP Nexus), our central workspace for your book.

Your manuscript, correspondence, editorial feedback, revisions, proofs, and publication updates all come together there. You can follow the progress of your book, see what requires your attention, and refer back to the decisions made along the way. Our approach is built around full transparency: you should know where your book stands, what happens next, and what we need from you to keep it moving.

Delivery: Submitting your manuscript

You submit your complete, final manuscript through LTP Nexus in an editable format, such as Microsoft Word. Your submission should include any photographs, illustrations, captions, or other materials intended for the book, together with any necessary permissions to reproduce material owned by someone else.

“Final” means the manuscript is complete and ready for editorial review. It will still go through editing, but it should contain all the material you intend us to consider for publication.

Keeping the submission together in LTP Nexus gives everyone a clear starting point and helps prevent missing materials, conflicting versions, and uncertainty about which manuscript is being reviewed.

Acceptance: Establishing the starting point

After reviewing your submission, we confirm in writing through LTP Nexus whether the manuscript is acceptable in form and content.

If revisions are needed before acceptance, we provide written comments explaining what needs attention. You then have 60 days from receiving those comments to submit a revised manuscript through LTP Nexus.

Formal acceptance is an important milestone. The Acceptance Date establishes the starting point for the publication schedule. Submitting a manuscript and having it accepted are separate steps, and we make that distinction clear so you know when the schedule begins.

Editorial assignment and your editorial report

Once your manuscript is accepted, an editor is assigned to your book. Your editor reviews the manuscript and prepares an editorial report outlining their assessment and the areas that need attention.

Depending on the manuscript, that feedback may address structure, organization, clarity, pacing, consistency, or opportunities to strengthen the writing. The purpose is to give you a clear understanding of the editorial work ahead and the reasons behind the recommendations.

The report comes from the editor assigned to your book, after acceptance. Your editor will provide the delivery date for your particular manuscript through LTP Nexus. We would rather give you a meaningful date based on the work your book requires than a generic estimate.

Editing: Developing the manuscript together

The manuscript then moves through editing, with feedback, revisions, and correspondence managed within LTP Nexus. You review the edited manuscript and respond to the editorial work there, keeping the discussion connected to the book and its progress.

Editing is a collaborative process. It gives us an opportunity to strengthen the manuscript while preserving your voice and intent, and it gives you an opportunity to understand, consider, and respond to the changes being proposed.

Throughout this stage, LTP Nexus provides a shared record of the work: the feedback you receive, the revisions you submit, and the questions or decisions that need to be resolved before production.

Production: Turning the manuscript into a book

After the editorial work is complete, the book moves into production. This is where the edited manuscript is prepared for publication through design, formatting, and the preparation of proofs.

Production updates and any materials requiring your review are shared through LTP Nexus. When a task needs your attention, the relevant instructions and deadline are communicated there so you can see what is expected and how it fits into the next stage.

Proofs: Your review before release

You receive proofs through LTP Nexus so you can review the book as it has been prepared for publication. This is the stage for identifying remaining typographical, formatting, or production errors and returning clear corrections. You have 14 days to return them; if we hear nothing in that window, the proofs are treated as approved.

Please plan to give this review your close attention. Proofs are intended for final corrections; substantial rewriting at this point can affect completed editing and layout work and may require discussion about its effect on production.

Release: Bringing your book to readers

Your book is released, within two years of the Acceptance Date. The specific release timing and the steps leading up to publication are communicated through LTP Nexus as the book progresses.

From your first submission to the release of your book, LTP Nexus remains the central home for the process. Our commitment is to make that process visible and understandable, with clear communication, a shared record, and a practical view of what comes next.

The short answer: we have final say, but the process is collaborative. Under sections 12, 14 and 23, final decisions about editing, the cover, the title, the jacket copy, your author bio and the book's price rest with us. That responsibility comes with a commitment to listen. You bring an understanding of your work, your subject and your readers that matters to the decisions we make together.

We want your input, and we take it seriously. We will share the proposed cover, title and jacket copy and invite your comments before those elements are finalized. Tell us what feels right, what concerns you and why. Thoughtful feedback helps us make stronger decisions, and we want you to feel heard and involved throughout the process.

We may not agree on every choice. When our views differ, our aim is to discuss the concern, explain our reasoning and work toward a result that serves the book. We retain final decision-making authority and cannot promise an author veto or that every requested change will be made.

What you get to review. You review the edited manuscript before the book is typeset, followed by the proofs, with 14 days to return corrections. You also have the opportunity to comment on the proposed cover, title and jacket copy before they are finalized.

If you spot a factual error, a misleading description or something that does not accurately represent your work, raise it plainly and as early as possible. The same applies to creative concerns: explaining the reason behind your objection helps us understand it and consider possible solutions. Changes are easier to address before production is complete, and your timely participation is an important part of getting the book right.

Our counsel may review the book before it is published (section 13). If they conclude that something in it creates legal exposure, you are asked to make the changes they ask for; that is a condition of publication rather than a negotiation.

The usual causes are quotes and lyrics without permission, real people written about in ways that could be defamatory, and claims in nonfiction that cannot be supported. Clearing those before you send us the manuscript is the fastest way through review.

The copyright is yours. The agreement is a licence to publish, not a transfer of ownership. The copyright notice appears in your name in every edition and every language.

We register it. We are responsible, at our expense, for registering the copyright in your book with the United States Copyright Office in your name, and we will send you the registration certificate and registration number upon request. You may be asked to sign a short document to allow that, which is normal.

Translations. If your book is published in another language, your name appears as the author in that edition, the translator is credited on the title and copyright pages, and that edition carries its own ISBN. The royalty is the same 25% of net profit on translated and foreign-language sales.

You license us the exclusive right to publish, distribute and sell the book worldwide, in all languages, in the print, electronic and audio formats we publish, for the term of the agreement. That includes the right to license others: a distributor, a foreign publisher, an audiobook platform.

What is not in the grant. Film, television, stage and audiovisual rights stay with you (section 1(g)). We do not acquire them and we cannot sell them, so a producer who wants to option your book comes to you, not to us.

We ask for worldwide and all-language print, electronic and audio rights because a book that can be sold in one territory in one format is a book we can only invest in once. The breadth is what allows us to spend on production, and to say yes when a foreign publisher or an audiobook platform asks. Revenue from those licences is shared with you at the same 25% of net profit, and sublicensing income is reported in your annual statement.

They are yours, and they stay yours. Section 1(g) keeps film, television, stage and all other audiovisual rights with the author. We take no share of them and we have no say in how you license them.

That means no one at Library Tales is fielding producer enquiries on your behalf. If a producer approaches us, we pass the enquiry to you and point them at you. If you option or sell those rights, the terms are between you and the producer; nothing in our agreement applies to that deal, and no royalty is owed to us on it.

Your book has to be human-written. The agreement requires the work to be written by you, not generated by AI, and any use of AI in producing it must be disclosed to us (section 16). That is a disclosure obligation, not a ban on your using the tools of your trade: tell us what you used and where, and we will take it from there.

AI training. We will not license your book for AI training without your consent. While we hold the publishing rights, you cannot license it for AI training either. Either of us wants to say yes to that, both of us have to agree.

While the agreement is in force you cannot self-publish, or bring out a competing version of, the same work (section 31). That covers the same book in whole or in substantial part, under this title or another, through any platform or printer.

It does not restrict anything else you write. Your next book, a different subject, a different story: none of that is affected, and you are free to publish it wherever you like.

Clearing permission is your job, and your cost (section 22). Song lyrics, passages from other books, poetry, and any image you did not create each need written permission from whoever holds the rights, covering the formats and territories we publish in.

Send the permissions with the manuscript, in writing, and keep a copy. Publication waits on them, and a missing or too-narrow permission is one of the most common reasons a release date slips.

If you have an agent, we can pay the agent directly and handle the paperwork with them (section 9). Your statements and the royalty are unchanged by that arrangement; it only changes who the money goes to first.

The agent's commission is yours to cover. It is not an additional cost the book carries, and it does not come out of our share.

The term runs for the life of copyright, with no renewal decision to make and nothing to renegotiate while the book is selling.

The reason is simple. Most publishers will not take on a book that has already been published elsewhere, so a contract that lapses usually leaves the author holding a book nobody can sell. We also spend real money before publication and recover it slowly, over years, and the term is how that investment is recovered. And a book that stays in print is a book we can keep working on: we relaunch titles regularly with a new cover, a new description, and sometimes a new title, and that turns a slow book around about half the time. A short term and an expensive launch do not go together.

If you have a specific reason to want a fixed term, raise it with us before you sign. We would rather discuss it than surprise you later.

A book that sells slowly is not the end of it. We have found that poor sales are more often a positioning, marketing or branding problem than a problem with the writing, which is why we relaunch: new cover, new description, sometimes a new title, and back out to the market.

If a book genuinely stops being available, the agreement has a defined exit. The book is "in print" for as long as any print edition is available for sale. It is "out of print" only when we no longer make any print edition available. If it is out of print for more than 90 days, you can write to us and require a print edition; if we do not make one available within six months, the agreement terminates and the publishing rights return to you.

We want to be straight with you about this, because it is better to know now than later. The agreement sets out plainly what happens when a book can no longer be published as planned, and every exit below leads to the same place: the publishing rights come back to you.

The exits that follow from the book itself:

• Out of print. As above: 90 days out of print, a written request from you, six months for us to reinstate a print edition, then termination and reversion of the publishing rights.
• We fail to publish. If we have not released the book within two years of the Acceptance Date, you may demand publication, and if it still has not happened six months after that demand, you may terminate and the publishing rights revert.
• The manuscript cannot be made acceptable. If after revision we still cannot accept it, or our counsel concludes the book cannot be published without legal exposure, we may terminate.
• We become insolvent. If we are adjudicated bankrupt, make a general assignment for the benefit of creditors, or liquidate and cease publishing, you may terminate on written notice and the publishing rights revert. Any royalties then due remain a debt owed to you.

What happens on termination. Your publishing rights in the work come back to you automatically. Not everything on the book comes back with them: under section 2(g) the cover art, the interior layout, the ISBNs we assigned, the edits we commissioned and any audiobook masters stay with the Publisher. If you republish elsewhere you will need a new cover, a new interior and new ISBNs, and it is worth planning for that rather than assuming the files travel with you.

We may also sell remaining printed stock for six months, on which you are paid your royalty as normal; digital editions come down within 60 days; and the confidentiality, warranty and indemnity provisions that protect both of us survive.

Royalties keep being paid. Your royalty interest is an asset of your estate (section 36). It does not lapse because you are no longer here to receive it, and the rate and statement schedule do not change.

How an executor claims them. The person administering the estate, whether an executor, a trustee or someone acting under a power of attorney, should write to legal@librarytalespublishing.com with (1) the death certificate or the document that gives them authority over the estate, (2) the estate's bank details, and (3) a completed W-9, or a W-8 where the estate is outside the United States. We then update the payee and the statements continue in the estate's name.

It helps to tell us who will act before it is needed. An email naming the executor, kept on file, saves the estate weeks of correspondence.

If the business is sold, or the agreement is assigned to a successor, the agreement transfers with it (section 36) and the successor takes over the Publisher's obligations to you. You are notified when that happens.

Your royalty rate, the statement schedule and the grant of rights are unaffected by the sale. The terms you signed are the terms that carry over, and the copyright in your work stays yours throughout.

Notices under the agreement are served by email, to the address you give us (sections 34 and 35). That makes your inbox part of the contract: a notice sent to the address on file counts as delivered, whether or not you still read that mailbox.

So keep it current. Tell us the moment your email, postal address, bank details or tax status change, and check the address we hold appears on your annual statement. If you use an agent, tell us whether notices should go to you or to them.

E-signatures count. Signing electronically is valid and binding, and the copy you receive back is the operative version (section 40). Keep it somewhere you will still find it in five years.

Changes have to be in writing. Nothing varies the agreement except a written amendment signed by both of us (section 42). A conversation, an email exchange or a promise made in a meeting does not change it, however well meant.

If we agree to different terms at any point, we put them in an amendment and both sign it. That protects you as much as us: it means the variation is written down rather than remembered differently by two people.

Got questions? Please email us at legal@librarytalespublishing.com.