Frequently Asked Questions

We understand that being a writer, you must have innumerable questions related to writng and publishing. Here are some FAQs that may help you. If you still have any confusions, you can always contact us.

FAQs on Writing Process

There are no iron-clad rules to adhere to but a few ‘common’ writing formats that make your manuscript appear more professional. If you’re unaware of how the formatting works you can read it here.

Word Count makes it easy to distinguish your book in sub-genre. Also, readers expect a certain ‘length’ of the book so any literary agent or publisher will be sensitive about the book length. Of course, there are exceptions! But if this is your debut novel it could be wise to stick to the rules.

There is no hurry to fixate on a title if you’re not sure. You can submit your file with a tentative title and finalize it later or even go with the tentative title it is all your choice.
Depending on the trends for your book’s story can be a risky game. Publishing a book is not an overnight process, it takes months/years for a book to hit the shelves. So by the time your book is on the market, there could be another topic trending in the market. Trends only work on social media so don’t force the idea.
Genre hopping is writing in more than one genre. It is as difficult as it sounds and probably takes more effort than writing a single genre. Genre hopping is complex and demands extra efforts, a learning curve, patience, determination, and so on. Also, genre hoping should be highly avoided if you’re a debutant. Most of the famous writers have mixed the genres only when they were popular in the literary world. So first build your audience.

The prologue sets the environment of the story. Writing a prologue that is short, self-contained, and comprehensive must work fine. If you’re confused that the prologue works or not, try the prologue litmus test, i.e. remove the prologue and see if the plot still makes sense. If it does then use the prologue as a means to set the mood of the story or a backstory to an important main plot.

The decision of project acceptance and rejection is dependent on the editing panel but there are few pointers you should stay steer clear from. Note that your manuscript should not, be copied content or inspiration that is too much like the original work, be sexually explicit, hurt human sentiments—religious or cultural beliefs, or be communal in any way.

Copyright provides ownership to your creation as an artist. Being your publishing partner, we will do all the legal work to give all the copyrights of your book to you (if it is included in your package).

FAQs on Publishing

ISBN or International Standard Book Number is a 13 digit code, which works as the identity of the book—including language, publisher, edition, whether e-book, paperback or hardcover. In modern lingo, it provides your novel with a unique username id that cannot be used by others again and when searched will lead to your book.

The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is a serially based system of numbering cataloged records in the Library of Congress, in the United States. LCCN is not required for every book. Authors mainly send their book to the Library of Congress with the hope to be added to their catalog, however, of the million copies sent only 25% get selected.

Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) data is useful for some books but not entirely necessary for all books. Big Publishers get the CIP from the Library of Congress whereas indie or self-publishers can reach out to freelance cataloguer for their CIP data. This CIP data is printed on the copyright page with other information.

Traditional vs Self-publishing both come with their sets of pros and cons. The key difference between the two is the distribution of ownership and royalties. If the author owns the rights and royalties the book is self-published and on the contrary, if the publisher owns the rights and royalties then the book is traditionally published. You can read more here.

Reader’s Meet offers both traditional as well as self-publishing for the writers. Our team of creatives will work alongside you to help the book hit the shelf. We have a qualified team of editors, designers, and marketers who will give distinctive attention to your book.

We allow the author to customize their package, and curate the same according to their needs. All the final charges (Revision charges, or Extra copies) will be further decided on this package.
A literary agent will represent your work to publishers or editors. Many authors prefer having an agent handle the legal aspects which they don’t understand. Also, these literary agents act as a gatekeeper for the self-publishing authors. But if you publish with us, you don’t need a Literary Agent our professionals will help you in all matters.
If this is your debut novel, it is recommended to use the traditional publishing options. With traditional publishing, you get a team of experts helping you alongside.
Book is the author’s prized possession and we support all the processes required to make it a bestseller. If you’re not content with the services offered, you can always apply for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by emailing us the reason or feedback. On receiving the request our team will issue you the NOC.
No, this will be unethical and illegal. You will have to wait for the NOC and then work with any other publishing house you wish to work with.
Through on-demand book printing, the book copies are not printed until they receive an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. This process is inexpensive, and reliable for debuts. If you think you would sell only a handful of copies then print-on-demand can make the process cost-effective.
E-publishing refers to the electronic distribution of your book. The reader community is divide into books and eBooks. Though the market size is relatively small, big players like Amazon’s Kindle have surged eBooks again in the market.
E-pub comes in XML, XHTML, and CSS formats, so your e-pub is a webpage. This digital version can be easily be read with free applications like Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre or on several eBook readers like Sony readers. E-pub does not come in a format so everything flows in one single file. This gives the reader to adjust the format as he sees fit. If the book formatting is simple you won’t even notice this change, but if the book formatting is complex it would affect the overall presentation.
You will receive a .zip file with a folder containing .jpeg of your cover, a file with the extension .epub, and .mobi—these can be directly uploaded on Amazon. The .epub extension can easily help you upload the file on Amazon Kindle while .mobi will enable you to upload the file on other eBook readers. Prefer Kindle if you want that one final check before making your eBook public

As mentioned, with eBook the platform might change the design and look of your book. If it is an InDesign file, it gives us more flexibility over the look and design of the book, regardless of the platform it is being published on.

FAQs on Printing

A cover describes the wrap around your paperback book. A jacket and case wrap are both associated with hardcover books. The jacket is removable—can be a box or have flaps. Whereas case wrap is like a cover that wraps the binder board which wraps your text pages.
The simple most misunderstood aspect of printing is page numbering. If we observe a book odd-numbered pages are always on the left while even-numbered on the right. This means the format is 1 front-2 back-3 front… and so on. However, many numbers the page 1F-1B, 2F-2B… and so on. The correct numbering is 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
If you want to print an image from the edge to the edge of the book then that image “bleeds” and is often used for book covers. This enables the printer to trim the edges of the book so that the image does not get trimmed off. The trimmed-off section is called ‘bleed’. A 6 x 9″ cover that bleeds all 3 sides on the front will be a minimum of 6-1/8 x 9-1/4″. And a children’s book that is 8 x 8 will have pages that are 8-1/2 x 8-1/2″.
‘Text’ refers to everything included in the book—words, images, artworks. If your images/artworks are monochrome then the text is one-color (black) but if these images/artworks have colored the text is full-color.
ISBN of your book is translated into a worldwide compatible bar code format-Bookland EAN (European Article Number). Every bookstore chain and smaller bookshop uses bar code scanning at the checkout register.
No. the whole process involved in reprinting is the same. The only choice you have is to fix a few errors and typos. Opting out of proofreading may save some time, but there are no monetary benefits to reprinting.

The printing machine used to print a book and other documents is different. The inkjet uses droplets of ink to print whereas laser printers use heat to fuse particles of toner dust on the paper. On average, inkjet prints a couple of hundred pages before running out of ink, while laser printers can print thousands. Another difference is the quality of the printing. A publishing house ensures that the quality is not compromised which is why you should skip the tour to your local printer.

As soon as we received the author’s approval on the typeset and cover, we send the book for printing. The book can take roughly 8-10 days for printing and then 8-12 days to reach us. Once we receive the printed copy our team inspects the quality of the book and in 48-72 hours it is shipped to the author. Delays may occur in this process, but rest assured we aim to deliver only the best to you.
We keep at least 50 copies stocked in our warehouse beforehand. But we provide Print-On-Demand, i.e. the copies will be printed as soon as we receive an order from the readers, customers, or the author. Also, the authors are assigned few free copies as per the package selected, if the author wishes to have any extra copies they are available at a discounted rate.

Others

In the reprint version, there are no major changes, perhaps a few typos and errors are fixed. A new edition means there have been significant changes in the content, like the removal or addition of information.
An ISBN and a bar code are two different things. An ISBN is a number. A bar code is a graphic with vertical lines that encode numerical information for scanning purposes that you see the bookseller scanning at the desk.
Yes. Each language version is a different product. The ISBN does not change if typos are corrected it only can change if the product changes.
No, once an ISBN is assigned to you, it can never be used again. Even after the book goes out of print, the reason being this number is used to categorize your book in libraries and traded by used booksellers.
No, mailing yourself a copy is not the same as getting a copyright registration. Nor is this reliable if you have to provide it in form of evidence in case of copyright infringement.
The author is regularly updated about the process through emails. And if the author wishes to contact us there are various other methods i.e. through our social media accounts or the contact number provided.
The selling price of the book is mutually decided by the author and the publishing house. Every book has a base production cost, and anything reasonable above the cost price can be decided mutually by the author and the experienced team members, it will be the final MRP of the book.
Reader’s Meet creates a specific dashboard for the author which tracks all the detail of the project along with the number of copies sold, through which method they are sold (online/offline), when they are sold, and if sold at a discounted price.
Reader’s Meet offers 70% net royalty to the author.
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