The Birth of a New Publishing Company 2

I promised to keep you all informed about the stages in setting up a new publishing company, and although things may sound quiet we've been extremely busy behind the scenes. By later this week I'll be able to issue a press release to give details about the company, the co-owners, and some information about the first authors.

The reason it all seems quiet is that so much needs to be done privately to set up a publishing company before the public launch. We've put together a partnership agreement and also an author contract (more about how to do this in future posts in case you're thinking of starting a company yourselves). My business partner has been working hard at designing a logo and building the website offline.

All of this takes time and good collaboration, and I'm pleased to find we work really well together. My partner is in charge of the website, graphics, production and the business side of things. I'll be dealing with the editorial side and promotion, and we'll both be involved in book launches.

So what have I been doing all this time? The first thing I needed to do was approach authors as the first submissions have been by invitation only. The authors have been incredibly discreet, waiting for the public launch so they can tell others that their books have found a home.

I was delighted to find three exceptional books by three strong and original voices which will start our list. As you can imagine I've been reading manuscripts and working with the first authors selected to edit their books where necessary.

This means that when we sign our partnership agreement tomorrow we shall be ready to launch the company with authors already selected. I can't wait to give you all more details and it won't be long now.

In future posts I'll be talking about how I selected the authors, which should be helpful to writers seeking a publisher. Apart from pleasing the editor there are production factors to take into consideration, such as why some publishing houses ask for books of specific lengths.

So watch out for The Birth of a Publishing Company 3 (it's starting to sound like a movie)!