Step 1

Connect with your publishing consultant

The first step is to call S&D's book publishing consultants at: 1-832-699-0264 to create your author account, and discuss your author needs in depth. Our book publishing team will help you choose the right book publishing package to succeed with your book.

Once you've purchased a package by securely faxing your completed Author Agreement and Credit Charge Form to Schiel & Denver's accounts & billing dept, you will be assigned to one of Schiel & Denver's professional book publishing teams, and given a unique Author ID code. We will guide you quickly and easily through the sign-up process.

Hand-holding support to begin your author journey

At Schiel & Denver, we provide all our authors will complete legal, publishing and marketing support. S&D's professional book publishing specialists will assist you to:

1. Prepare and submit your manuscript
2. Begin planning for the marketing/promotion of your book (it's never to early to start the marketing campaign)
3. Introduce you to your desk editor, who will be the main point of contact with your professional publishing design team.

Unless you purchase an expedited service, the book production process for your customized book will take approx 3 months to reach our impeccable standards.

Please refer to the S&D Operating Manual, which you can download here for further information.

Step 2

Sign your Schiel & Denver Author Agreement

The next step is for you to sign your Author agreement, and safely send this to us. To print off a copy of your agreement, you will need to view the document in PDF format, and then press print in Adobe PDF viewer. Please make sure you have also completed the credit card authorization form at the same time.

Download your Author Agreement

Download Credit Card Authorization Form

Choose one of 3 ways to send us your signed agreement:

1. By Fax

Fax returned signed agreement to: 1-888-224-2721
Mark for Attention: EDITORIAL DEPT

2. By E-Mail

You only need to send the last signed page of the agreement. Sign and scan the last page of the agreement, and send the file to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please ensure your signature is legible.

3. By Online FTP Transfer

You only need to send the last signed page of the agreement. Sign and scan the last page of the agreement, then log into the Author Center and click: Upload Documents.

Enter your Author ID, and upload the file. It will be sent directly to your design team. Please ensure your signature is legible.

Step 3

Check your Manuscript

You've spent months, maybe years, perfecting your manuscript. Now it's time to place it into the safe hub of a professional publishing team. Firstly, please ensure that you are satisfied and have proofread your manuscript before you submit it to Schiel & Denver.

Unless you intend to order editorial services, you should submit your manuscript in a complete condition, for smooth entry into the book production process. It should not require any corrections or alterations.

Any author corrections you make after submission will necessarily slow down the book production process and become expensive for us to implement.

• Visit the Author Corrections Service for more information.

Important issues to note:

• Your book ideally should have a word count above 5,000 words. Please inform your publishing consultant if your book is shorter than this.

• Please do not submit handwritten or manually typed manuscripts. All manuscripts should be in a digital word processing file format, either Microsoft Word or Rich text format.

• If you want to engage Schiel & Denver's Professional Copyediting Service, please order this service now, before submission.

For more helpful Information visit Submitting Your Manuscript FAQ

Step 4

Prepare your images (if appropriate)

If you have included photos, maps, tables, drawings or other graphics in your manuscript, these need to be prepared to the following specifications:

Image format guidelines:

1. All images must be in JPEG or TIFF format.

2. Each image should be included in it's own separate file.

3. Indicate where in your manuscript each image should be placed.

4. Images should be a minimum resolution of 300dpi.

If you need help preparing your images, please contact your publishing consultant.

Important issues to note:

• The number of allowed interior images is determined by your publishing package. If you need extra placements inside your book for graphics, either purchase the additional interior graphics service or upgrade your package.

• It's no problem if you want to submit an author photograph to include on your back cover. We can enhance or "touch-up" your photos (like celebrity magazines) if required, with our expert image enhancement service.

Step 5

Submit your materials for book production

The next step will be to safely send your manuscript to your professional design team.

There is no time limit or pressure on you to submit your manuscript immediately. You can pay for your publishing package now, and submit whenever you're ready.

Your manuscript should be in a word processing format such as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format.

There are 4 ways you can send us your manuscript:

• Secure FTP Transmission (most popular method)

• By e-mail to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Special Server Access (by arrangement) - for files greater than 5 megabytes

• Publish by Mail service

Important issues to note:

• Please send your manuscript as one complete file. If you send your manuscript in multiple word documents, you will need the File Merging Service, to combine the files into a single document ready for your book production team.

• Your manuscript does not need to be in double spaced.

Step 6

Complete New Author Questionnaire

Please log into the Author Center, and complete the Author Questionnaire.

You need to complete this, even if you have published a book before with Schiel & Denver.

The Questionnaire will help protect you against any potential legal problems. If you have any questions, please contact your publishing consultant.

Step 7

Participate in toll-free design call

As we begin work on your book, we will schedule an in-depth conference call directly with your expert design and editorial team. You can convey your exact artistic requirements and remain in complete control as our dedicated staff customize the entire process to meet your needs.

We will integrate your choice of publishing package and author services to give you a completely tailored professional publishing experience to meet your exact vision. Everything from the size of your book, to the type of paper, interior layout and ideas for the custom front cover can be specified during this call.

What happens after the toll-free design call?

Your book design team will now schedule a transmittal meeting, and continue work on your manuscript.  They will shephard you quickly and efficiently through the entire process, and can be contacted 7 days a week - through the Whatever/Whenever author support helpdesk in Schiel & Denver's Author Center. At Schiel & Denver, we pride ourselves on our excellent customer care.

• To learn more - visit the Book Production process.

With Schiel & Denver, you will be given weekly progress reports, and will be closely involved in every aspect of your book's design. The entire book production process takes approx 8-12 weeks to complete, depending on the complexity of your book.

Full-color custom book cover

INCLUDED in the cost of each book publishing package, our expert book designers will create a full-color professional book cover, customized to your exact vision. If you wish, you can submit your own front cover image. Schiel & Denver never uses templates.

Step 8

Write your blurb and book summaries

Now it's time to write your book cover summaries, and return them to your design team. These are the blurbs that will be sent to book retailers like Amazon and barnes & Noble, and will appear on your book's backcover, so it's very important you are happy with your descriptions.

With S&D, you will enjoy total control over how your book is introduced to bookstores, and over the description retailers and the book buying public are given about yourself, and your book. You will need to write the following blurb and book summaries:

1. Author Biography - 5,000 words max.

This tells your readers about you, and what inspires you. This will appear on your book's webpage in the S&D online bookstore, and booksellers' websites if desired.

2. Back-cover summary - 150 words max.

The description will appear on your book's back cover.

3. Your Dedication - 200 words max.

This will appear in the inside cover of your book.

4. Book Synopsis -  5,000 words max.

Your book's synopsis is very important and will appear in the main description of your book at bookstores (traditional and online) - and in the official S&D bookstore.

• You can update all of this information at any time through the Post-Publication Revisions Schedule.

Step 9

Pre-publication Marketing and S&D Trade Catalog

Your book will now be prepared for placement into the Schiel & Denver bi-annual trade catalog. This important professional marketing is a unique aspect of publishing with Schiel & Denver, and is INCLUDED in the cost of each publishing package.

We essentially give your book an important 'background marketing' free of charge, to complement our powerful global distribution channels.

Our dedicated bookselling department and professional sales reps will use the catalog, and will also prepare Advance Information Sheets (AIs), to market your book to the retail buyers at bookstores.

Important issues to note:

• Purchasing the bookstore returns program is an essential tool if you want to give stores an incentive to stock your book.

• Schiel & Denver provides a powerful range of marketing and publicity services which are absolutely integral to your book's commercial success.

• Visit Marketing and Publicity Services FAQ

Step 10

Approve your proofs

In the penultimate stage, your book interior and cover proofs or "galleys" will be placed in the Progress Center of your S&D Account, for you to review and approve.

Important issues to note:

• Schiel & Denver allows 14 days for you to check and indicate whether you want to implement any author corrections or additional editorial changes.

• If you wish a professional proofreader to perform a line-by-line analysis of your book's interior proofs to correct any errors, please order this now.

• For your custom book cover, authors are allowed one-pass of professional artwork or you can supply your own book cover.

• The Progress Center only appears in your S&D author account, after your proof galleys or other documents have been placed there for you to download.

Step 11

Global Distribution and Marketing campaign

The last stage is when Schiel & Denver publishes your book, and you enjoy the power of our global distribution channels. Readers around the world will be able to buy your book, and local bookstores across America will sell your book.

Congratulations! This is a wonderful moment, and your book launch should always be celebrated with friends and family. If you are having a book launch party, or book signing, we can arrange for advance copies to be delivered especially for the occasion.

Once your book is published, Schiel & Denver then has a fantastic range of expert marketing and publicity services to promote and maximize the visibility and sales potential of your book, and give you that much needed headstart in an increasingly competitive book retail environment.

Schiel & Denver is particularly sympathetic to writers who just want to get on doing what they do best - writing - and leave all the hard grafting work of marketing and publicity to our in-house experts.

Join many happy Schiel & Denver authors by starting today and choosing the right book publishing package for your book.

Schiel & Denver's friendly book publishing professionals are available to help you choose the right mix of book publishing services and products for your book. Open a ticket with our 24/7 author support department to discuss your book publishing options.