Publishing FAQs

We work with all types of authors. If you are writing any of these types of books, we'd love to work with you!

Mystery

Novel

Memoir to leave a legacy

Art or photography book

Business how-to

Spiritual journey to freedom 

Art/craft how-to

Children’s story

Guide to enlightenment

Steamy romance

Novel

Cookbooks

Young adult

Illustrated book

Yes, we evaluate the condition of the manuscript and to see what it would take to make it sellable. Quantum Shift Media do a high-level evaluation and analysis of your manuscript that encompasses the following. It is not a developmental edit. It covers:

Structure | How the story advances; how characters are introduced and developed; pace of the story.

Story | Goal of the story is clear; voice/perspective clear and strong; plot development; elements the book may need such as more sensuality, suspense, or action.

Mechanics | Recurring grammatical issues; effective word choices; good use of adjectives and adverbs.

Mission | Does the book have more to say and if so, determine where. Feedback is sent back in comments in the Word document itself.

Editing | Estimate how much editing the book needs. As we review your work, we make editorial comments throughout the book so you will have practical feedback about areas you could improve. If the author chooses to work with Quantum Shift Media on editing their work, the cost of the book assessment is applied toward editing.

We believe everyone has something to say. We believe that every person has a voice that needs to be heard and that only you can say it in your way. It doesn’t matter what you are writing, your perspective is unique and needs to be heard. You may need some help refining the work, and we can help do that, but only you can express your point of view. So, we’re here to help you and support you in expressing yourself in the most powerful and magnetic way possible.

Our Quantum Shift Media Workshops are a great place to start to get your writing birthed or revised. Regularly scheduled online writing sessions are held on Zoom several times a week. The Workshops are designed to create a dedicated and inspired space for you to write whatever is churning around inside you. It could be your book, memoir, weekly blog, or your months' social media content. Through this group, we tap into the divine source of inspiration and creativity so that content that makes a difference in the world can flow through us.

For more information, check out
Writing Workshop.

Our Author Coaching Sessions are designed to hold your hand through every step including:

Weekly Writing Workshops
Six Author Coaching Sessions
Book Assessment
The Foundation of Your Book Project and Timeline
Setting Up Your Book Business
Target Reader and Market Research (please cap Reader on the main web page)
Book Production
Book Launch, Blogs, and Marketing
Endorsements, Reviews, Press Release, and Media Kit

For more information, check out QSYBOOK

Yes, we offer 3 levels of editing services:

Basic copy editing: Correcting problems of grammar, style, repetition, word usage, and jargon. Copy editing includes one revision at no additional charge. Turnaround time is typically is three business days. Estimated dependent on book length and number of rounds of editing needed to refine the book.

Substantive (line) editing - A professional editor will work on your book refining the writing; organizing the flow of content, creating a table of contents; proofreading for grammar and punctuation while keeping your voice and tone; reference checks, copyright page content, author bio, author offerings in back of book. Estimates are dependent on book length and number of rounds of editing needed to refine the book.

Developmental editing - Intensive, substantive editing that looks at the big picture, organization, and strength of the book. The document is evaluated as a whole, and problems of structure, organization, coherence, and logical consistency are corrected. Sentences may be removed or added. Paragraphs may be rewritten, condensed, or expanded. Blocks of text may be moved from one section to another. We look at pacing, characters, tense, plots, points of view, and dialogues. Developmental editing considers all the aspects of a manuscript that make the book readable and enjoyable. Because of the extensive nature of this form of editing, it is more time intensive and costly. However, it is worth the investment if you are serious about succeeding as an author. Estimates are dependent on book length and number of rounds of editing needed to refine the book.

For more information, check out Book Editing

We love giving things away! Working with Quantum Shift Publishing means receiving a number of free tools that aid you in laying out a detailed, step-by-step plan that gives you a blueprint you can refer to during the writing and book production process and helps you maintain your momentum. These tools can be purchased separately but are included in many of our publishing packages.

• DIY Book Marketing Plan - Launching your book without a marketing plan means far fewer people will read it. We help you complete a business plan for your book; identify business strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats you may not have considered and plan how to take respond to them; analyze the market and competition to strengthen your idea; and help you to plan strategies for dealing with potential challenges so they don’t derail your marketing plans. 
• DIY Financial Calculations - Interrelated XL spreadsheets with formulas to help you calculate when your book will make a profit and how much money you need to reach that point so you can be prepared with adequate startup capital. 
• DIY Target market worksheet and how to reach them; determine your target audience, where to find them, and how to communicate to them. 
• DIY Build a Launch Team - We provide a 12 step instruction manual on how to build your book launch team and coordinate your book launch through a targeted email campaign so that you sell as many books as possible on release day and hit the Amazon Bestseller list. (Quantum Shift Media can write your emails and run this email campaign for you for an additional cost. 
• DIY Book Release Party & Book Signing Step by Step Instructions including Facebook Live Event, questions to ask interviewing guests, how to handle special guests, food to serve, backgrounds to use, how to set up the event for a successful and enjoyable event for you and your guests. (We can completely organize the event for an additional cost.)
  
  For more information, check out QSYBOOK

We will work with you to do a competitive analysis of your book and determine the best selling price for your market.

An average chapter would be between 3,000 and 5,000. Under 1,000 would be short and over 5,000 would be too long.  However, one chapter of Harry Potter or Twilight is about 4500 words. The point is that if your writing is riveting, you can get away with a long chapter.

Children's illustrated books up to age eight should have an average of 1000 words per chapter. They can even be shorter.

Easy reader books for kids ages five to nine range between 1000 and 2500 words

Short novels for young readers ages seven to ten are typically 10,000-12,000 words.

Middle grade novels for kids ages eight to twelve are in the 20,000-25,000 word range.

And young adult ages twelve and up novels are generally around 35,000 to 45,000 words.

New authors should stray too far from these standards if they want the book to be well received.

Most books are between 90,000 and 100,000 words. Teen books are generally around 55,000 words.

According to Amazon's data feeds:
The Hunger Games is 99,750
Sharp Objects is 80,565
and my utility calculates it at 80,137.
Atonement is 123,378

A 200 page novel is about 60,000 words.

There are about 250-300 words per page.

6 TIPS TO GET YOUR BOOK READY FOR INTERIOR DESIGN

Before you begin the layout, here are some tips to make the interior design process smooth:

1. Use some Beta Readers for your book to make sure your message is clear

2. Have an assessment done on your book by a professional editor. When you are writing a book, it is easy to have tunnel vision and see things subjectively. A good objective review of your book can make a big difference.

3. Make sure your book has been through all 3 phases of editing by a professional editor (not a family member unless they are a qualified):
a. Developmental Editing
b. Line Editing
c. Proofing

4. Put your manuscript in the proper order
a. Title page
b. Copyright information in order and verified
i. All Rights Reserved Text
ii. ISBN numbers
iii. Publishing contact info
iv. Library of Congress CIP data
v. Credits
1) Publisher
2) Creative Director
3) Managing Editor
4) Project Editor
5) Art Director
6) Book Design
7) Illustration
vi. Printed in USA (or other country)
vii. Feedback info if errors are found
c. Table of Contents
d. Dedication
e. Introduction
f. Chapters with clear indication of the chapter separations
g. Book Club questions if applicable
h. About the Author

5. Provide a good bio photo of you

6. Provide a well written summary of the book for the back cover

• Increase your credibility and influence
• Attract more clients and boost sales in your business
• Greater opportunities such as speaking gigs and podcasts thus prospecting
• Ability to raise your prices for the things that you're doing as people see you in a whole different light
• Use the book as follow up for prospects/networking – gifts
• Right to put Author in your bio and email signatures

A collaborative book is a compilation of writings from a number of authors. We love collaborative book projects. We get to work with some truly gifted writers and making them a published author is a true joy!

Guidance through the entire publishing process.
Guidance for the lead author and each contributing author on how to write your section of the book
Easy to meet deadlines
Writing workshops to help sculpt your story
Step by step instructions through the entire publishing process
Marketing tools you can use to promote the book on social media
Full marketing of the book by Quantum Shift Media
An Amazon bestseller campaign
5 copies of the book for you to sell or give away
Graphic of the book with Amazon and Barnes & Noble logos for you to put on your website to promote the book
Additional copies of the book (for an additional price)
Option to have a professional editor help you with your story

If you have an idea for a collaborative book and would like to be a lead author, let's talk!
Schedule a call.

How do I know if I can even write?
Almost everyone asks this question; you are not alone! We believe that everyone has a voice that needs to be heard and that some people can only hear your voice. We believe that once the pump is primed, all kinds of creativity comes flowing out of you. This is why we hold writing workshops every single week. The more you write, the better you get at it. Join us for a session and see what wants to come out of you!

No! You can order 1 or 10 or 1000 copies of your book anytime you want and have them shipped to wherever you want. We recommend keeping at least 25 copies of your book in stock to sell and give away as gifts to clients. If you are going to have a speaking gig, you can order the books to be shipped directly there.

First draft:  When you are writing in a flow state, it should take about 40 hours to get the first draft of a 200 page book written.  A 400-page book will take about 80 hours.  Our monthly writing workshops provide 24 hours of time and we hold the energetic space so that you can get the first draft of your book written in two months

.Second draft:  It has been said that great writing is in the rewrite and that is true. The second draft of a book can take anywhere from 3 months to 9 months depending on how many hours you dedicate to it.  Our writing workshops provide the time and energetic space to get the rewrites done faster and with less effort because we intentionally create a quantum space for the information to flow.

Professional editing phase:  Depending on the quality of writing, editing can take 3 months.  Sometimes a book needs to go through 3 rounds of editing.  See types of editing in the FAQs.

The book is already in layout, so the changes you made to the manuscript will not be reflected. You will need to make a note of them and you can request the changes when you get the Round 1 Proof layout in PDF format.

Yes, you will have 2 rounds of changes to the PDF layout. We will give you instructions on how to notate each change.

Your book can include as many images or graphics as you desire, however, there would be an additional cost to the layout. Every image should include a caption so that every reader knows what they are looking at. We provide the worksheets to make this process easy and avoid mistakes.

We provide three or four professionally designed book covers for you to choose from. Your book will include:

• your name, title and subtitle on the front cover
• your title, name and QSMedia Publishing logo on the spine
• summary of the book, your short biography and bio photo along with contact information, business logo, the QSMedia Publishing logo and website along with the ISBN #

You will have two rounds of changes to the pdf of your book cover. Any additional changes on round 3 will incur additional cost. You need to provide us a high-quality bio photo as well as your short bio for the back of the book. You also need to provide the book summary and we will help refine the text if needed.

Yes, you will receive an ISBN # for the print version and that would be reflected in a barcode on the back of your book cover. We also provide an ISBN for the ebook format and the audiobook format if your wish to publish in that format.

Quantum Shift Media will give you a template to follow to make sure your manuscript is in the right order for layout so that nothing is missed in your book. Our worksheet will guide you step by step in what to include and how to state it including the language on your copyright page.

Quantum Shift Media will give you a template to follow to make sure the language on your copyright page includes everything you need. We'll guide you step-by-step along the entire publishing journey.

Publishing a book opens many doors. It can increase your credibility, opening doors to speaking opportunities or presentations. It can increase your sales of not only books but the work that you do, bringing you more clients and selling bigger packages. And it can increase your impact because a book can reach many more people than you can in person. Becoming a published author can take you and your business to new heights.

It can take 3 to 5 years to get a traditional publishing house to accept your book and you will need a literary agent to do so. It is a long and difficult process. However, if you get an offer of an advance of $500k or more, take it! The most common types of people who choose traditional publishing include people who can get these types of deals such as

• celebrities
• famous athletes
• Hollywood actors
• some politicians
• big-name CEOs
• well-known authors who’ve sold thousands of books already

For everyone else, we recommend self-publishing.

The 98% of the rest of the world. These include people just like you and me. A new generation of business owners who want to make a difference in the world. They could be

• consultants
• executives
• lawyers
• financial planners
• doctors
• coaches
• moms and dads
• aunts and uncles
• yoga instructors
• chefs
• artists
• grandparents
• entrepreneurs
• travelers
• adventurers
• dreamers
• romantics
• athletes
• philosophers
• teachers
• leaders
• social justice advocates
• YOU!

The main reason to self-publish is that if you don’t get a big advance, the advantages of self-publishing far outweigh the disadvantages.

People don't buy a book based on the publishing label. You can certainly ...label. We recommend using our Quantum Shift Publishing label because it gives you a lot of credibility.

Authors own the copyright to their work automatically. Additional copyright protection is not essential but you may want to file a formal Copyright for your work. An attorney can answer this question for you from a legal and business perspective.

If you are Stephen King, JK Rowling, or Danielle Steele, yes you can definitely make a good living writing and selling books.

But being a best-selling author is not the only definition of being successful. You can make a great passive income writing books. However, you can make a living without even selling a single copy. If you self-publish, you can earn much more money on each sale. However, the value does not come just from the sales but from the relationships you build with people around your book. Perhaps your book is a lead to get names on your mailing list and sell your packages or programs. Perhaps it gets you in the public eye if you’re goal is a political position. Your book can be a public relations tool that allows others to know, like and trust you. In additional to selling copies, it opens doors.

Quantum Shift Media sets up a print account for you. Once the account is set up for, you have secure login so that you can enter your credit card to pay for book orders and your banking information so that you can enter your financial information to pay for book orders and have profits from book sales be automatically deposited into your account. You have complete control over the printing account and can place orders whenever you want.

No, if you want to use your own publishing company label, we can produce and market your book just as if it were one of our own books.

We have been publishing books since 1984 and we know the industry. We’ve watched to morph from typesetting and blueline proofs to desktop publishing to the world of on-demand printing that we have today.

We've published all kinds of books for authors. The book size really depends on the goal of the book. Here are some common sizes:

Children’s Books: 7” x 10,” “5” x 8,” 11” x 8.5,” or 8.5” x 8.5”.

Novels: 5” x 8.”

Non-Fiction: 5.5” x 8.5,” 6” x 9,” or 7” x 10.”

Fiction: 4 x 7,” 5” x 8,” 5.25” x 8,” 5.5” x 8.5,” or 6” x 9.”

Art Book: Generally 8.5 x 11" or 9 x 12, but you can be as creative as you want here!

We'd love to talk to you about your book project.
Schedule a free call with Keren.

There is a lot that goes into publishing a book. At Quantum Shift Media we help you in every aspect of getting your book published including:

writing
refining/editing the content assessments of manuscripts getting ISBNs
filing copyrights
professional book cover design professional book interior design eBook conversions
print service setup
developing a business plan market research
identifying your target market marketing your book
building your launch team
book release events
getting on the Amazon Best Seller List
setting up Author pages
email campaigns
gathering endorsements and reviews
creating a press release kit creating a web presence and capturing emails
book give away campaigns
blog writing
social media strategy
...and MORE  

We will work with you to do a competitive analysis of your book and determine the best selling price for your market.

There is only ONE major difference between them:

Self-publishing – you own the rights and royalties.

Traditional publishing – the publishing company owns the rights and royalties.

For 98% of authors, self-publishing is the best choice.

With Quantum Shift Media, YOU own the rights and royalties. All profits for all time are yours. All expenses are also yours.

With self-publishing, you have control of everything about your book.

Quantum Shift Publishing handles all aspects of your book process including editing and refining your work, creating the cover and interior, printing the book, book launch and marketing. You retain ALL rights. You retain ALL revenues. The print account set up for you has secure login so that you can enter your credit card to pay for book orders and your banking information so that income from sales can be automatically deposited into your account. You have complete control over the printing account and can place orders whenever you want.

Absolutely. This is one of the benefits of working with Quantum Shift Publishing. We will give you an estimate of the cost to change the interior files and/or the cover, but the benefits almost always outweight the costs of updating your book. There will be a small charge to update the book content and upload new files, but you can update the book’s interior content or cover anytime you need to.

An ISBN is a like product number. A barcode is how the actual number is translated so that it can be read by a scanner so that bookstores can sell it.

You own the Copyright. The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is assigned to you and your book title.

Filing a copyright form is optional. Having the Copyright date and (c) symbol on your book is sufficient. However, if you choose to file a formal copyright, here's the link. The instructions about filling out the form can be found on page 1 of the form.

In terms of fulfillment, there are two ways your customers can purchase a copy of your book:

A. Through your website: If your customers place their orders through your book website, you can place orders for them through your print account we created and have the copies shipped directly to the customers. The benefit of doing this is that you are selling the book at its retail price.
B. Through retailers: Once you approve the final proof of the book and enable the global distribution of your book in your print account, the title will be available to over 40,000 retailers and libraries including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. The book is purchased by these retailers at wholesale prices. You are not involved in any steps of these transactions, they happen automatically.

When Amazon or another book distributor sells your book, they order copies from your print account. They buy the book at a 60% discount so that they can make money. Your print account prints the books and ships them to Amazon. You do not have to do anything; it all happens behind the scenes. The money from the sale between the printer and Amazon is put in your account and the printer will deduct the cost of the book. The remainder of the money is automatically deposited every month into the bank account you set up.

Yes, your book will be on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in every other bookstore catalog.

Yes, it generally takes 9 or 10 days for the Look Inside features to show up on Amazon.

The cost of the book to authors is set by the printer. A paperback with black and white interior is going to be less expensive than a hardback with glossy color paper. Typically a 5.5 x 8.5" paperback with black and white interior is around $6.25 depending on the number of pages in the book.

You will need to log into your account and place an order for books. You will need to verify the credit card you have on file before the order can be placed. Paper costs change on supply and demand. The price of the book may be slightly higher when you order additional copies at a later date.