You are a writer, we are your publisher
You do not have to fit into a certain mould with your book in order to come to us. Maybe you are writing your very first work. Maybe you have already published several books and would like to take a different path with your next one. For us, both are a starting point, not a judgement of you or your text.
We are a creative workshop. An idea should be allowed to find the form that suits both itself and you. That is why we do not ask whether your book matches our personal taste. We want to know what you want to publish and how you imagine it. We advise you, contribute our publishing expertise and work with you to find a path that you can understand and feel comfortable with.
That also means speaking openly about possibilities, the work involved and the costs. A book should be produced with care. But it should not fail because the road to publication becomes unreasonably expensive for you. Together, we look for a way of producing your book that does justice to your work while remaining affordable for you.
We do not want to decide what should become of your idea. We want to stand by your side and help turn it into a publication.
With decency, integrity and the respect your work deserves.
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Your work is not just a number to us.
When you come to us with your book, you are not sitting in front of an anonymous selection panel. You speak directly with the people who will accompany your work and work on it. Whether it is a children’s book, a novel, a thriller, a science-fiction work, a cookbook, a drawing book, a colouring book, a game book or a craft book: it does not matter which category your idea might fit into. We want to publish the work that you want to create from it. And with us, you do not have to submit a manuscript for assessment either.
Together, we have more than 40 years of experience with texts, design and book production. We know the craft behind a publication: from working on language and pages to the cover and the finished book. This experience does not give us the right to decide what should become of your idea. It helps us to recognise possibilities, explain decisions and turn your work into a properly produced book.
We do not expect your book to fit into a fixed pattern first. We do not prescribe a particular format or a print run that you do not want. We speak openly about the individual steps involved and the costs before you make your decision. Your work and your copyright remain yours. Production is based on what we have agreed with you and what you have approved.
Our job is to produce your work, publish it and make it known. We accompany you and your work towards the goal you have set for yourself and support you in helping it find its readers and giving it the best possible chance of success. You are the author. We are the publisher by your side.
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We work on your work.
When we sit down together, we talk about what you have written and where you would like our support. Maybe your work is already finished. Maybe you would like to continue working on individual passages, add a translation or turn your text into a book first. Together, we decide which parts of the work you entrust to us.
During editing, we read carefully and point out mistakes, unclear passages and places where a sentence does not express what you wanted to say. We can also suggest a different wording. Whether you use it is entirely up to you. Your choice of words and your tone belong to your work. We do not replace them with our own language, and we do not turn an individual, distinctive text into one that simply conforms to a standard.
The same applies to deliberate choices in spelling and writing style. If you prefer traditional spelling, want to use the German ß or would rather write ss, we talk about it and follow the form you choose for your work. We do not simply change unusual punctuation because it seems unfamiliar to us either. We ask when we cannot tell whether something is intentional or whether a mistake has slipped in. We will find and correct a transposed “adn” instead of “and”. We give you grammatical suggestions where they may be helpful. You do not have to accept them if you deliberately want to express yourself differently.
If you need support while writing, we work with you on the passages where you are stuck. During proofreading, we look for overlooked spelling mistakes, transposed letters and other slips that should not remain in the finished text. If you want your work to appear in another language as well, we discuss a*translation that takes its own voice and tone seriously.
After that, we give your work its visible form. During typesetting, we design the pages so that text and images are presented to their best advantage. For the cover and the llustrations, you can show us your ideas, sketches, images and examples. You can tell us what you have in mind, or you can ask us to develop the design for you. We show you the drafts and continue working with your feedback.
Your work remains your work.
We help you with writing, reviewing, translating and designing. That does not turn it into one of our works. Your thoughts, your voice and your decisions remain clearly recognisable within it.
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Your book gets everything it needs.
Once the text and design are finalised, we prepare your work for publication. This includes the information required for your legal notice, where your private address remains protected by our **real Luxembourg business address**, for 33 euros per year for as long as you use the service. It also includes the finished files for the edition you want and the ISBN, for print and, if desired, for the e-book. As a Luxembourg publisher, the allocation of the ISBN itself is free of charge with us. We only charge a one-off administration fee of 10 euros per ISBN, so for print and e-book together that is a one-off fee of 20 euros, instead of the roughly 150 to 200 euros that two ISBNs alone would cost in Germany. If you would also like to publish your book digitally, we additionally create an e-book in various formats.
We decide together with you how your book should be published. It can be a paperback or a hardback, a handy book to take with you or a larger format that gives plenty of space to images and illustrations. Special formats are also possible. We talk to you about the options and what they cost before anything is commissioned. Your book does not have to fit into a predetermined size.
For us, publication also includes the question of how many copies make sense to begin with. Not every author wants to or can pay for a large print run straight away. That is why, if necessary, we can have a book produced in small quantities or only once an order has been placed, similar to print on demand. If a larger print run makes sense, we are also prepared to pre-finance it and agree the conditions openly with you.
We want your book to be able to appear without putting you into a debt trap. You should not find yourself 20,000 euros in debt years later simply because your book did not become a billion-euro success. We discuss with you a path that fits your work, your goals and your financial possibilities. Before you make a decision, you know what costs will arise and who will cover them.
Your work remains your work. We take care of what it needs for publication and, together with you, find an edition that you can also stand behind financially.
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This is how your book reaches its readers.
Before we print, we decide together with you how your book should look and feel. You can choose the paper, size, cover and binding you want. Maybe it should be a hardback, maybe a paperback, a brochure or a newspaper. We show you what is possible, recommend suitable materials and explain what the different choices will cost.
We do not look only at what looks good. We also advise you on whether your book can be produced at a price that still allows it to be sold sensibly. A special paper or an elaborate binding may be exactly right for your work. But before you make that decision, you should know what it means for production and for the later selling price. We plan it with you in such a way that you do not unknowingly end up in a cost trap.
Once you have approved the edition, we print your book in the agreed form in our partner printing companies, which are part of our business. After that, we offer it in our web shop and present it to libraries and bookshops. We take it with us to our sales stands, trade fairs and events in which we take part. So your book does not simply sit there as a finished printed product: we work to make sure people see it and get to know it.
If you want, you can be there as the author. You can join us at trade fairs and events, talk to readers and present your work yourself. If you wish, we also speak to libraries about organising readings. We can also design and produce bookmarks, business cards and flyers for your book, so that you have something to hand to people when you meet them.
From the paper to the sales stand, you get all of this work from a single source. We produce your book, offer it for sale and accompany you in making it known. We discuss with you which possibilities we use for your work. Your book remains your book, even when we work together to make sure it finds its way to its readers.