MKK Lion | Books | Book Publishing | Bishops Stortford, UK
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Martin Harris

I am Martin Harris and writing is something that I always enjoyed.

In 2015, I wrote “Diary of a Little Dog" and self-published on Amazon.

In 2021, it got the attention of several publishers and was professionally published. I learned about the hybrid publishing model and that I could provide a much better service and 'value of money'.

This is my book publishing service to help you.

We charge just £250 (inc. VAT)
to produce and publish your book.
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Welcome to MKK Publishing

This page describes the process we follow, what the costs are and how the royalties are shared, so you can be clear what to expect.

1

Submit your manuscript
 

  1. Send us your manuscript.

  2. We review your manuscript

    • The review process can take a month, but we'll go as fast as we can.

2
 
Contract offer
 

  1. We make you a contractual offer

    • If we think your manuscript has potential, we will offer you a contract that clearly states what we will do for you, how much it will cost and how royalties will be shared. 

    • If we decide not to make you an offer, the process stops here.

  2. You sign and return the contract.

    • You review the contract and if you are happy, sign, date and return it.

  3. You make payment

    • Once you have made the payment, we move onto the next step.

3

Author questionnaire
 

We send you a questionnaire to fill in and return to us.

  1. Personal Information
    1. Contact information and address
    2. Hobbies
    3. Professional qualifications
    4. Short autobiography - this will go in the 'about the author' section in the book and on websites
    5. What do you hope to achieve from publishing this book?
    6. Email a photo of yourself - we will use this on websites.
  2. About Your Book
    1. Brief description about your book - this is known as the 'blurb' to grab the potential readers attentions and make them want to buy and read your book.
    2. Are there any books similar to yours?
  3. Target Audience
  4. Publicity and Promotion
    1. Names and addresses of any bookshops that you frequent, or are local to you.
    2. Local newspaper
    3. Local radio station
    4. Magazines you think could be interested in your book
    5. Websites that you think could be interested in your book
  5. Author Promotion
    1. Do you have a website?
    2. What social media accounts do you have? ​
    3. Can you attend promotional events?
4

Formatting and layout
 

We transform your manuscript and make it into a book.

  1. We add your manuscript

    • We add your manuscript to our book template.

  2. We add your additional text

    • We add the 'About the Author', the blurb, the acknowledgement and the introduction to our book template.

  3. We give your book it’s ISBN.

    • We assign an ISBN number to your book.

    • The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally.

  4. We create the publishing page

    • This includes legal statements about your rights as the author, it states your name as the author, the book's ISBN, it lists us as the publisher (name, address, web address).

  5. We choose the font and style

    • Our default font style and size are “Times New Roman, 12”. 

    • This is a very common font used by books, newspapers and magazines, because we the readers, are so used to this font.  

    • However, the book’s genre can impact the font style and size, e.g., children’s books with lots of pictures, often use much bigger and ‘sans-serif’ style fonts.

  6. We choose the book size

    • Our default book size is 5” (13 cm) wide x 8” (20 cm) high.

    • This can be changed if you had a specific size in mind, e.g., children’s books that are full of pictures, are often much larger.

  7. We send you a draft document to review

    • We send you a copy of the book as a Microsoft Word document (or a PDF if you do not have Word), so you can check and confirm you like the layout, font style and size.

    • We can print and post you a draft book on A4 paper, if you prefer to have a paper copy to review.

    • REMEMBER: this is just to check the visual layout of the text. We haven’t proof-read it yet. That comes next.

5

Proof-read, amend, repeat
 

  1. We proof-read your book

    • We read the text, again and again and again, looking for spelling mistakes, typos and grammatical errors.

    • We use automated tools and real people reading your book, looking for mistakes.

  2. We make corrections, edits and changes

    • We amend the draft book with any changes we recommend and send you a new draft to review and approve (or reject).

    • We take our time on this step, to ensure your book is as perfect as it can be. There's no harm having multiple edits.

  3. You sign-off the draft book

    • When you are happy with the contents of the book, we ask you sign-off the draft.  

    • We then consider the draft ‘locked’ and don’t make any more changes to the content.

6

Design the cover
 

  1. Discuss our thoughts about the book cover

    • We work on book cover ideas together.

  2. We create, review and edit the book cover

    • We produce the first draft of the book cover

    • We add your ‘blurb’ to the back cover.

    • We add publishing information, ISBN number and barcode to the back cover, along with our name and logo (discreetly).

    • Reviewing and editing the book cover continues until you are happy with it.

  3. You sign-off the draft book cover

    • When you are happy with the contents of the book, we ask you sign-off the draft.  

    • We then consider the draft ‘locked’ and don’t make any more changes to the content.

7

Publication day !!!
 

Congratulations! Your book is going to the printers.

​

  1. Printing

    • We instruct our printer to produce the first run.

  2. Registration

    • We register your book with:

      • Neilson's (the UK' national database of all books with an ISBN), and

      • Gardners Books (the UK’s largest wholesaler - this is where Waterstones buy their books from).

      • Waterstones.

      • Foyles.

  3. Distribution

    • We send you 20 copies of the book.

    • We send copies of your book to reviewers and book clubs, to generate interest. 

    • We send copies of your books to your local newspaper and radio station, to generate interest.

    • Gardners Books will only buy your book in volume, when their customers start to order them (independent, chain (e.g., Waterstones), specialist and online retailers and school & library suppliers).

8

eBooks
 

The electronic world of books is just as important as physical books. Amazon has a huge market share, but there are other significant online retailers too. We submit your eBook to all of them.

​

  1. We produce your eBooks

    • We produce an eBook version for Kindle and publish it on Amazon.

    • We produce an eBook version for Apple Books.

  2. We submit your eBooks to

    • Amazon

    • Apple

    • Barnes & Noble, Blackwell's, Goodreads, Nook, Rakuten Kobo, The Book Depository, World of Books

9

Social media & promotion
 

This stage never ends. Continual promotion to keep pushing your book. This is where you can assist too, self-promoting on your own social media accounts.

​

  1. Websites

    • We add your book to our library of publications, so that visitors to MKK Books will find your book.

    • We kin kyour book on our page to your Amazon listing, making it easy for customers to buy your book.

  2. Social Media

Using social media is now very important for generating interest and a following.

  • MKK’s Social Media

    • We add messages to our social media accounts to promote you and your book.

    • We use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

  • Twitter

    • Twitter is so simple to use on your smart phone.

    • If you don’t have a Twitter account, we can create one for you and set it up.

    • We can make your Tweets appear automatically on your website and on your Author page, on our website.

    • We can link our Tweets with your Twitter account to generate interest.

  • Videos

    • We will create a video, talking about your book and post that onto our social media accounts.

  1. We send you a promotion plan

    • We send you a promotional plan, giving you ideas how you can help promote and market your book.

  2. Press release

    • We create press releases, informing your (a) local bookshops, (b) newspapers and (c) radio station about you and your book. See if they want to interview you, the local author.

  3. Reviewers and book clubs

    • We send copies of the book to reviewers and book clubs to generate interest.

    • The aim is they add their comments and links about your book on their social media, expanding your reach to an online audience.  This is why having your own website is useful.


Cost

How much will all this cost you?

£250

inc. VAT

We are so much cheaper than other hybrid publishers, but we still provide an excellent level of customer service that you expect.

​

Our philosophy is "keep production costs down and we will both make money from the royalties".

We make very little money making your book. We give our time to produce, proofread, design and publish your book essentially for FREE.

​

As a comparison, in 2021, when I a hybrid publisher 'produced' and published my book, "Diary of a Little Dog", I paid £2,200 inc VAT. 

They didn't do very much that I couldn't have done myself.

It was poor value for money.

​

So, I created my own book publishing service. 

But, far, far better value for money.

What does £250 inc VAT get you?

  • FREE reviewing, editing and proofreading your manuscript (unlimited times until you are happy).

  • FREE designing the cover.

  • £20 assigning an ISBN number.

  • £100 printing and distributing copies of your book to you.​

  • FREE registering your book with the big book wholesalers who Waterstones and WH Smiths buy from.

  • FREE uploading your book onto Amazon and Apple Books, as print-on-demand paperback books and eBooks.

  • FREE adding your book onto our MKK Lion website and blog.

  • FREE promoting and marketing your book.


Sharing royalty payments

We have two models for sharing royalties depending on who prints and distributes the book...​

eBooks and "print on demand"

When books are sold online as an eBook or 'print-on-demand' by the retailer, then the online retailer does all the work. The online retailer sends the VAT to HMRC (if applicable), takes its profit and pays for print and distribution (eBooks have a tiny distribution cost). The online retailer sends us the remainder, which we then share with you, the author.

​

Because we produced your book for free, to keep initial costs and risks down to a minimum, we ask that royalties are split 50/50.

MKK print & distribution

When high street bookstores and book wholesalers buy your book from us, they pay what is called the "Net Sales Price". This is typically the book price that Joe Public pays in the shop, minus (upto) 60%, to cover the bookshop's costs and desired profit. We pay for the books to be printed and distributed, further reducing profit levels which can be shared as royalties.  We pay you a percentage of the "Net Sales Price". Seeing you book on the shelves in a high street bookshop is really cool, but it is actually the least profitable sales channel per book. You need a greater volume of sales to really earn good money from bookstore sales.​

Author's Royalty for eBooks &

Print-on-Demand books

50%

Here is an example for a 150 page book (assuming 0% VAT)...

  • cover: no additional cost for a colour image on the cover.

  • interior: no additional cost for black text on white pages.

  • Prices are per book.

​

Here is how the money is divided up (per book)​

Author's Royalty for books

sold in high street bookshops

20%

Here is an example for a 150 page book (assuming 0% VAT)...

  • cover: glossy colour.

  • interior: matte white pages and black ink - no colour.

  • Prices are per book.

​

Here is how the money is divided up (per book)

​​

Breakdown of book costs and royalties

You can see from these three examples, the size of your royalty depends on

the 'Net Sales Price' and how the book is printed / distributed.

1st

eBooks

are the most profitable because there are no printing costs and distribution costs are negligible. You make almost the same royalty but for a much lower price to the customer.

2nd

Print-on-Demand

books come second because you don't have to pay for the high-street retailer's costs and profit margin.​

3rd

High Street Bookshops

are the least profitable, due to the high street retailer's costs and printing costs taking 80-90% of the list price.

​​Note about income tax

 

For UK-taxpayers, all royalities received are subject to HMRC Income Tax.

It is YOUR responsibility to report the income we send to you with HMRC and pay the tax due.

MKK Lion will not collect or pay any tax on your behalf.

​

For author's located outside the United Kingdom, please seek advice in your country about your tax liability.

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