Additional Services
Prices for additional services dependent on book length, technical and creative requirements.
Proofs
We recommend ordering a proof copy of your book. That way you can look it over and let us know any changes you’d like to make before we print your whole order. If the changes you want are minimal, we’ll make them for free. Otherwise, we’ll negotiate a price with you. Proofs cost $20, including shipping and handling.
Graphics services
Formatting from $100
Your manuscript needs to be formatted for the InstaBook machine. You are welcome to do the formatting yourself. You can download CutePDF Writer, a freeware program, from www.cutepdf.com to convert your manuscript to a PDF. Follow our specs, under How to Submit Your Book. Or, we can take your disk and charge you according to the length of the manuscript.
Cover design from $50
If you provide an adequate digital image for a cover, or we design a type-only cover, there is no charge for cover design. If we have to scan in photos or other art or follow your instructions to create a custom cover, charges begin at $50, depending on the amount of work involved. We can also provide a photo for your cover or improve the look or condition of one you provide. One of our owners, Bob, is a professional, award-winning photographer. You can confer with him to buy one of his photographs or have him provide an original image for your cover. Please feel free to go to 2modes.com for freelance words and photography.
Editorial services
Copy editing from $150
Another of our owners, Ellen, is a professional editor who can fix the nagging little mistakes in your manuscript—spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, style, continuity. Your writing won't be changed, but there won’t be embarrassing little mistakes.
Administrative services
Copyright registration from $100
Your book is automatically copyrighted when you write it, but registration with the federal government provides additional protection and greater monetary damages if your work is misappropriated and you sue the infringer. You can register your copyright yourself (information is at www.copyright.gov), or we can do it for you.
ISBN Numbers from $100
You may want an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), the 10-digit identification, including bar code, that booksellers and libraries use to order, stock and sell books and other media. You can do this yourself (information is available at www.bowker.com) or we can do this for you. We can print the ISBN bar code on the back cover of your book. This service includes application for an Advance Book Information (ABI) form, which allows your book to be included in Books in Print, the industry directory used by distributors, wholesalers, and enables bookstores to order copies of books.
If you won’t be selling your books in a store, you may not want to bother with an ISBN.
Selling Your Books
Books By Mode is not a sales or marketing or distribution business. However, we're happy to receive e-mail or telephone orders from individual readers for books we've made. We fill those orders at retail prices—each author sets the price for his or her book—and then we pay our authors a 25% royalty.
If you have an ISBN and bar code on your book (which we can provide for you; see our Additional Services), you can list your book for sale yourself on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online bookstores. Check those sites for the various options on how to sell your book online.