SeaStory Press is a collaborative subsidy publishing house specializing in small press-run books by local authors. Our mission is to produce books about the Keys/South Florida, by area authors. We are structured so that the authors may retain the greatest possible profit from their works.

The SeaStory difference: 100% Royalty.
Author retains possession of books.

SeaStory will design and print your book and assign an ISBN number. Your book will be listed in the library and booksellers' reference: "Books in Print." Press-runs are usually between 500 and 2000 copies. Your book will appear on this website with basic information about price, format and topic . You may include an e-mail link at no additional cost.

Book design and production includes:

  • page layout
  • custom selected fonts
  • custom selected binding and paper
  • scanning and file preparation of illustrations
  • indexing or table of contents
  • cover or dustjacket design
  • EAN bar code for use of booksellers  on your back cover
  • electronic pre-press preparation
  • editorial services, including proofreading and content editing
  • printing

Publishing services:

  • Issue ISBN
  • generate EAN barcode
  • list in Books in print
  • Marketing and distribution consultation

Optional services, subject to separate agreement between author and publisher

Click here for SeaStory Press Author's Agreement (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Be published in Paradise! Call for an appointment for a free consultation: (305) 296-5762

Click here for a complete listing of SeaStory Press Books in Print

What is Subsidy Publishing?

There are three ways to get your book into print: commercial publishing, self-publishing, and subsidy publishing. What are the differences? In most cases you retain copyright to the original work, but you may not own rights to the book produced from your work.

  • A Commercial publisher buys manuscripts from authors. The publisher issues the ISBN and distributes the book. Typically the author receives an advance against future royalties, and receives no further royalty until that advance is met. The royalty is generally less (sometimes much less) than 10% of the publisher’s selling price. If the publisher sells directly to the public, the basis is the retail price. If the publisher sells to booksellers or libraries, they will sell at a 40% discount off retail. Distributors usually purchase at 55-60% discount. Once the publisher buys your manuscript they have rights over editing, book and cover design, selling price and all other details of marketing. They may even purchase rights to your book and never produce it.

 

  •  When you self-publish must purchase an ISBN (it is possible, though complex, to do this from R. R. Bowker, the company that issues and keeps track of this international book identification system). You must contract with a designer who will professionally layout and design your book to prepare it for printing. You cannot do this with a word-processing program or an office-style desktop publishing program! These applications will not produce a document a printer can use. You must find a printer who specializes in book production to print your book. There are book producers (aka "vanity presses") who will undertake production from pre-press to printing. You will, of course pay for these services, and you may have limited control over the book’s final appearance as you are usually offered a selection of generic templates. You must market and distribute your book, including providing invoices and tracking payments and consignments (if any). After you pay these costs, you keep 100% of sales. Caution: some booksellers and most distributors will not buy self-published books, preferring to deal with a publishing entity.

 

  • Subsidy publishing means you will pay for the cost of producing your book. The publisher issues and owns the ISBN number. Beyond these basic facts there are substantial differences in what you get for your money. Subsidy publishers undertake the production of your book from manuscript to final product. They pay you a royalty on sales of the book. The larger subsidy firms generally pay up to 40% of the selling price, wholesale or retail; some as low as 10-15%. They offer varying degrees of control over the appearance of the final product. Like “vanity presses,” they may use templates, generic cover designs and layouts, and mediocre materials. They usually retain possession of your books except for a small number of free author copies to be sold by you or used for reviewers or promotion.

 

    • Some small independent presses, such as SeaStory Press, take a collaborative approach to subsidy publishing. While you will still be paying for production costs, you will retain possession of your books and keep a royalty of 100% of the selling price, except as agreed in any separate distribution or storage and fulfillment contracts with the publisher. Author and publisher can work closely together on details of book design, cover design, materials chosen, editorial control, and selling price. This approach allows a low-budget press to publish specialty books such as poetry or art that might not otherwise be produced. The Author is responsible for marketing and distribution, but the publisher can offer varying levels of assistance in these areas, according to agreement between Author and Publisher.

 

Return to top