Frequently Asked Questions

With self-publishing, the author has complete control of the creative, promotional, marketing and the design of the book. You do not have to worry about your manuscript being rejected as often seen in traditional publishing. After spending months or even years writing your story, it is always a joy for the author to finally publish their book! With Pearl Stream Publishing, the author maintains the profits and royalties generated from the book.

Self-publishing can be hard work, but the reward is also promising and fulfilling. Your book becomes your legacy and a steady stream of extra/passive income for you!

The cost of publishing with Pearl Stream Publishing largely depends on: 

• size
• length
• paper color/type
• illustrations included
• complexity of setup
• editing service required
• book cover design requested by the author

Pearl Stream Publishing will provide an estimate of the cost of designing, publishing, and printing the book with the author.

This is an idea of  what we charge for editing your manuscript. These prices are not fixed. It will vary if we are to edit your manuscript more than once, or multiple times.

Substantive editing- 0.035 per word

Line editing – 0.022 per word

Copy editing- 0.022 per word

Proofreading- 0.012 per word

Beta Reader – 10,000 words- $25 

We offer different forms of acceptable payments. We also offer payment plans for clients who are interested in more flexible options. Our goal is to make your publishing experience with us positive and memorable.

When your book is published, you will work with our team to set the retail cost and royalties. If the book is available for online sale, the author receives royalties on each copy sold either through Amazon, Barnes & Noble or other bookstores. If you choose to sell your book directly to the customer, you keep 100 percent of the profits. Pearl Stream Publishing does not take royalties from books sold by the author.

You will need an ISBN to make your book available to online retailers, bookstores, libraries and for expanded distribution. Pearl Stream Publishing will guide you on how to acquire your own ISBN can provide an ISBN for you, or you can use your own.

If the author chooses to purchase their own ISBN, their book will be made available for sale on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and for expanded online distribution.

Some writers may wish to publish their book to give to a loved one or a non-profit organization. These books may not require an ISBN. 

At Pearl Stream Publishing, we offer four levels of professional book editing services for your finished manuscripts.

Our editing types are:

1. Substantive (or structural editing) – examines the big picture, analyzing different story elements such as: structure, tone, character voice, word usage, dialogue, plot development, point of view, foreshadowing etc. Substantive editing improves overall clarity, consistency and eliminates ambiguity. It also improves readability and structural formatting for its genre and intended audience.
2. Line Editing (or line editing) – analyzes the style of the text line-by-line, ensuring flow and grammatical and stylistic precision while maintaining the writer’s voice.
3. Copy-Editing – ensures what the author meant is what the reader will understand. This type of editing will create the most clear and cohesive manuscript for the reader, eliminating wordiness, redundancy, descriptive inconsistencies, grammar, dialogue tags, etc. Cleaning and polishing up the minor details will help readers remain focused on the message of your story. It will Include all that is listed in substantive and paragraph editing.
4. Proofreading – involves scrutinizing all components, included the editing services listed above. This service ensures all manuscript elements are organized, grammatically and structurally polished and ready for publishing. It addresses all typos, punctuation errors, repeated words, spelling, and formatting or book cover issues.
5. Beta-Reading– evaluate, provide insight and feedback on the author’s work. 
6. **** Our  Disclaimer: Because of limited resources or experience on some topics, beliefs, cultures, and social structures, Pearl Stream Publishing may decline writing, editing, or publishing a book***

Absolutely! We respect our clients and your confidentiality is important to us. Your manuscript is safe, including all documents and client communication kept confidential. Your original manuscript and any edited or revised versions are secured in a password-protected digital vault. We will ask permission first before sharing any documents outside our assigned team member’s work on the manuscript only if it is necessary.

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is provided for client protection.

The timeline to get your finished work published may take about 4- 6 months or more. This depends on the amount of work needed to get the book publish ready for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online bookstores. 

While every book is different, the process typically follows this sequence:

• Write manuscript
• Multiple types of editing and revisions
• Develop and include book illustrations if necessary
• Finalize book cover
• Format to platform specifications (i.e. eBook, Amazon, Ingram Spark, etc.)
• Publish!

This process may not apply to all books, depending if book illustrations are needed or there’re specific photos for design. We are happy to assist you with experienced guidance through the process.

Please contact us with any questions!

***Disclaimer: Because of limited resources or experience on some topics, beliefs, cultures, and social structures, Pearl Stream Publishing may decline writing, editing, or publishing a book***