FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What services do you provide?
Two Peas Publishing is a new type of publishing company that was created to provide top-notch writers with the top-notch design and editing services their books deserve. We are a service company providing high-end editing, design, printing and distribution services comparable to what you'd expect from a big-name traditional publisher in New York or LA. We also provide marketing materials for our authors to use, but we do not actually market the books for them.
Unlike traditional publishers or “vanity” presses, with Two Peas the author retains all rights to their writing.
How is Two Peas Publishing different from other self publishing firms?
With Two Peas, you work directly with the editor and designer to create a completely custom product comparable to what you would expect from a major publishing firm in New York or LA. Most companies use templates and cookie-cutter approaches to designing your book—and most won't even let you have any say in what your book looks like! One major company's Author Agreement states:
“------- Press will design 1 attractive book cover for the Author. The designer will read from the book summary and then design a cover they feel will best market the Work. Authors with a specific drawing, illustration, or photograph in mind should include it with manuscript submission. If possible and if considered effective in marketing the work, designers will incorporate the image in the cover. -------- Press will consider Author suggestions but does not guarantee it can perform any unusual or special requests or that it will follow Author’s design direction.”
At another major self-publishing firm, if you want to have a custom design or speak directly with the artist working on your project, you have to purchase a “Premium” package—starting at $6,000!
How do I submit a manuscript for consideration?
Follow our detailed manuscript submission guidelines.
Why should I self-publish?
There are basically two ways to get a book published: self-publishing and traditional publishing.
A traditional publisher pays for all the costs involved in taking a book from unedited manuscript to finished product. In exchange for doing that, they will take all rights to the book and give you a small percentage of the sales (usually around 8%-10%). Only a very small percentage of manuscripts submitted to traditional publishers are actually purchased, and most of those offers fall far short of the million-dollar advances you hear about on the news. Plus, even if you land a traditional publishing contract, you will still need to have a marketing plan and do most of the marketing activities yourself.
Self Publishing does require an up-front investment, but you retain the rights to your book, you'll have more creative control, and you'll make more money on each book you sell, making your marketing efforts that much stronger. And once your book starts flying off the shelves, you may still attract the attention of those big traditional publishers.
Simply put, with self-publishing you make more money and you control your own book's destiny.
Why should I use Two Peas instead of printing directly with Ingram myself?
Ingram won’t work with individuals or companies that have less than 10 titles in print. Our relationship with Ingram enables us to list our books in their automated bookstore feed. Our books then appear on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and many others. Any bookstore with an Ingram account can pick up Ingram’s feed, so someone can walk into a bookstore in California and request your book. If you publish yourself and aren’t distributed by Ingram, you would need to manually submit your book to these stores...and would probably need to give them a larger percentage of each sale.
What royalties will I make on each sale of my book?
A complete explanation of costs, wholesale, retail and royalties can be found on our Printing Services page.
What will it cost me?
For general pricing information, please visit our pricing page.
Do you provide an ISBN?
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique 10 or 13-digit number that identifies a book or an edition of a book from one specific publisher. ISBNs are unique to that title and edition. Yes, Two Peas Publishing can provide your title with an ISBN under the Two Peas imprint.
Can I use my own ISBN?
Yes, absolutely! You should understand that your book will still show up in the online bookstores as being published by Two Peas Publishing because Ingram receives the information for those databases directly from us. Ingram typically doesn’t work with self-published authors directly so they must use a publishing company that already has an Ingram account. Your book can be listed under your (or your company’s) name in Books in Print and places where you register your own ISBN.
How do I get an ISBN number?
You can apply for ISBNs at http://www.isbn.org.
How do I get a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number (LCCN) for my book?
The LCCN is a unique identification number the Library of Congress assigns to the catalog record created for each book in its cataloged collections. You can find information on how to obtain a LCCN at http://pcn.loc.gov.
Two Peas Publishing can apply for a Pre-assigned Control Number (PCN) for you, which means that the Library of Congress pre-assigns a control number to your title before it is printed. The PCN will appear on the copyright (verso) page of your book.
We will obtain a PCN for you free of charge. The acquisition of a PCN by Two Peas is an optional service available upon request.
What is a CIP (or a P-CIP) and do I need one for my book?
A cataloging-in-print (CIP) record is a data block that is printed on the copyright (verso) page of a book. It is intended for use by librarians as an aid to more easily catalog a title. Although a CIP is not required for your title, it is useful if you intend for libraries to buy and catalog your title.
A CIP is only for use by librarians and is in no way intended to be a marketing tool.
Because of the rules governing CIPs that are produced by the Library of Congress, Two Peas cannot offer you Library of Congress CIPs. However, we can and will work with a professional librarian to create a Publisher CIP (P-CIP) for your title if you so desire.
The difference between a P-CIP and a Library of Congress CIP is that a P-CIP is created by a professional librarian or cataloger and not the Library of Congress. A P-CIP performs the same function as a Library of Congress CIP, but cannot be labeled as having been created by the Library of Congress.
Two Peas will only charge you the fee that the professional librarian charges us to produce a P-CIP.
Will you file my copyright for me?
Two Peas can file your copyright for you. However, copyright filing is not a service we provide by default as part of our publishing packages.
If you choose to have Two Peas file your copyright for you, we will charge you the price the U.S. Copyright Office charges us.
Where can I find copyright forms?
http://www.copyright.gov
Do I need to buy a barcode for my cover?
For books printed through Ingram, we generate and place the barcode for your ISBN number as part of the formatting process. For books printed through other sources (color children's books, for example), there may be a small fee ($25) for generating the barcode.
What marketing resources do you provide?
Although Two Peas Publishing does not market your book for you, we do provide professional level tools and products for you to use in your marketing efforts. Some of our most popular offerings include postcards, bookmarks, and business cards.
What sort of sales can I expect?
Your sales are dependent on many things: the quality of the writing, the appropriateness of the material to the author's target market, and the marketing effort made by the author. Some self-published authors earn thousands while others never earn a dime.
If you expect to put your book “out there” and then sit back and collect the checks, you are likely to be disappointed. Simply having your book available on amazon.com and in Ingram's catalog does not mean anyone will actually BUY it. Any book needs an active marketing effort to be successful.
How do I get paid for book sales?
A detailed explanation of costs, wholesale, retail, and royalties is available on our Printing Services page. For sales through the distributor, Ingram, it typically takes 90-120 days after the sale takes place for us to get paid. For example, if a sale occurs in January, we would get paid for that sale in April. Once we receive the payment, we send you a check for your percentage. We generally try to get those checks in the mail by the 15th of the month following the month we receive payment from Ingram. So in our example above, the checks would go out in mid-May.
I want to sell my book through my own methods and channels. Can I buy the books from you at a discounted rate?
Yes! In fact, you'll make a lot more money that way. There's more information here on our Printing Services page.
Can I terminate my contract with you?
At any time, with a letter in writing sent to our mailing address. It may take a little while for your book to be completely out of all of our distribution partners' systems. With Two Peas Publishing you retain ownership of your book, although you cannot use the cover or interior layouts we created for you.
