You’re ready to publish your book. Now you have a choice. To either use whatever built-in document converter that turns your Word document into something that looks like a book like that offered by the most popular self-publishing platform–Amazon Kindle for paperbacks, formerly Createspace–or ​to produce a professional-looking interior layout.

The basic issues are programs such as MS Word are for word processing and programs like InDesign are for text and graphic layout. A book with a MS Word document fit into a template will not have the polish of a layout produced by a program that follows all the traditions and technical points of a professional book interior. InDesign also allows all the elements to layout exactly the way you want them, which is very difficult to achieve with a MS Word derived typeset.

Print Books

• $35 for MS Word file preparation for typesetting
• $1.25 per typeset page in InDesign
• $1.15 each for up to 10 photos and/or illustrations. We can negotiate a price for books with over 10 images.

A typeset page is not the same as a manuscript page. Several factors determine the number of typeset pages for a book–type of book, trim size, number of words, font size, number of images, even the number of chapters and parts. So there isn’t a magic formula to determine the exact number of typeset pages. But we can make a close estimate so you’ll have a good idea of how much it’ll cost.

Just download and fill out the form below and we’ll send you our Typesetting Services Book Information Form to get an estimate. 

The reason why we charge a small fee for each image–photos, artwork, illustrations–is because they have to be formatted according to printer specifications. This requires preparation of each image file before it is dropped into the typeset.

Ebooks

Ebooks begin with a MS Word masterfile created either from the InDesign typeset file that we (or someone else) produced for the print book or from a text document (MS Word, Google doc, Pages, etc.) that you provide.

If we’re creating the ebooks from an Indesign typeset file:

• $45 for MS Word formatted file we create from your typeset, produce mobi and epub files, plus a pdf derived from the typeset file plus the cover.
• $0.60 per photo and illustration (includes preparing for ebook file) for up to 10 photos and/or illustrations. We can negotiate a price for books with over 10 images.

If we’re creating the ebooks from a text file you provide:

• $75 an hour for creating the master MS Word file directly from your MS Word, Google doc, Pages, etc.),  producing mobi and epub files, plus deriving a pdf the master MS Word file.
• $0.60 per photo and illustration (includes preparing for ebook file) for up to 10 photos and/or illustrations. We can negotiate a price for books with over 10 images.

If you just want to produce an ebook: If your text file (whatever program your manuscript is in) is free of extra formatting, the creation of the master MS Word file, etc. might be comparable to the same price as an ebook created from a typeset file. We’ll be glad to evaluate your text file and make a cost estimate before you decide to use our service. Just drop a query to astorytotelldesigns@gmail.com with the subject line: Ebook Only Estimate.  

Like with print books, we charge a fee for each image because they have to be formatted for ebook.

For more information on Typesetting  and our Typesetting Services Book Information Form fill out the form below.