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Let’s Get Acquainted
Thank you for visiting our website. This page offers you a brief introduction to the Authors’ Publishing House (APH) and Original Writers Limited (OWL) writers’ options. APH has been in business for over five years. OWL has been in the works for a couple of years, but only recently announced. As published authors ourselves, we feel that most authors and writers have not received the best efforts of some smaller publishers and many large publishing houses for quite some time. We intend to change that, to the extent we can. We believe we know where the gaps are between publishing good, clean books, and getting them published and distributed to successful (i.e., paying) end markets. We continually work to plug those gaps on your behalf.
We (APH/OWL) are not:
- a vanity press
- self-publisher
- Print-On-Demand (POD), or
- Print-On-Order (POO)
We offer more services to our clients than other above-mentioned businesses.
What follows in the next few pages is a step-by-step process we use, not only to get your book published, but to deliver it to points-of-sale where potential readers may buy your book as well. Whether published by APH or OWL, we believe our authors are people whose efforts should be acknowledged, publicized, purchased and recognized.
Before getting into our description of how we will publish your book, we need to know more about you as an author. Briefly, tell us about you and your book.
- What is the story line?
- Why did you write it?
- Did you use a co-author? Will his/her name be listed with yours as the author(s)?
- Who do you think will be interested in reading and/or buying this book?
- Briefly describe your main character(s).
- Why are you the best person to write this story? Were you present to observe the events you are writing about? What conditions did you encounter? Do you have reliable sources to substantiate your story? Can they be contacted? If so, how? How credible will your words be to readers?
- Are you a first-time author, or do you have other published writing credits? If so, please provide us with a list of those published credits, as well as clips, if requested.
- If needed, can you provide hardcopy legal rights to quote someone or describe one or more events previously reported in other publications? In short, how well are you protected from future legal actions against you or us as your potential publisher? If you do not already have such items in place, then get them, before you intend to publish your manuscript.
- Beyond this writing exercise, what is your formal background? What experiences do you have that qualifies you to write on this subject?
- Additionally, we would like to know what you want to do with this particular manuscript or book. Do you intend to publish it as a:
- personal history book for members of your family
- historical novel based on facts about your family
- non-fiction reference book
- course or seminar textbook
- travel guide
- romance novel
- mystery, suspense or who-done-it book
- inspirational book
- science fiction book
- some other genre - - please explain, in detail
 There may be several ways to present your story to readers. First of all, it could be in a printed version, i.e., a published book. It might also be offered in an audio book version, perhaps a video, or even a film version of your story. For our purposes, please tell us where your see you manuscript fitting into the world of the printed word.
We need to have some idea of how well-versed you are in the use of the English language. The following questions are not specifically directed to any aspect of the English language, but the answers will give us an idea of what, if any, skills you may need to address in your future writing efforts.
On a rough scale of Excellent – Good – Fair – Poor (E/G/F/P), how would you rate your abilities in using the English language to:
create interesting dialogue between characters?
establish settings for scenes or chapters?
use minor characters to support your main story theme?
properly use Active vs. Passive sentence construction?
establish moods, colors, and actions in a reader’s mind?
To get started on your manuscript or book, we suggest that you review each step of the process described in the following pages. Keep a note pad close by to make notes or record questions you may have.
Next, review the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Several of your concerns may be addressed in those FAQs. If you have questions that are not covered, let us know what they are. Other authors and writers may have the same concerns.
Then, contact us for a sit-down or telephone interview. At that time, we’ll go through a detailed discussion about publishing your manuscript or book, according to the process described in this website. We’ll also be able to provide you with more details regarding how much money you will need to invest in your future publishing activities for this particular book.
To help determine what your financial obligations might be to publish your book, bring with you to that meeting (or mail to us) a 3-1/2” floppy diskette, or e-mail to us a file containing the ENTIRE manuscript of your book. The manuscript should be in a single Microsoft Word.doc file, single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font. We need the requested information in this format to estimate your initial costs and to determine the book’s initial appeal. Additionally, we use this format to e-mail copies of your manuscript for our Reading/Marketing Committee members. This reading activity can only begin once we receive your check for $300, made payable to APH.
Our newest business alternative for authors is the Original Writers Limited option. We present this choice to first-time writers, as well as previously published writers who may not want to produce manuscripts according to APH standards, or who may need to “test the market” before advertising their books to the full-blown retail market.
Please contact us directly to find out where your manuscript may be better placed.
We appreciate your interest in our services and look forward to speaking with you.
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