Serving House Books (SHB) is a not-for-profit literary publishing house with a staff of professional editors who are all dedicated volunteers. The staff includes members with many years of experience in publishing and magazine editing, as well as a record of publication of their own prose and poetry, including prize-winning books.
SHB publishes recognized authors as well as promising newcomers, but all manuscripts are vetted for literary excellence. Our projects are by invitation. The editors, who often make recommendations for revisions, carefully screen all work. Authors are closely involved in all stages of formatting and publication.
We provide page and cover design and formatting, copy editing, proofreading, and preparation for sales on Amazon and through major distributors. Those services are provided routinely and free of charge.
However, we do ask for $200.00 when a manuscript is published, to cover the initial costs of obtaining ISBN numbers, UPC barcodes, proof copies, and other basic needs. We then forward to the author all earnings from online sales. Our authors also have the privilege of buying their own books from SHB at the publisher’s price so they keep all profits from books they sell personally. None of the income goes to SHB. We cannot specify a fixed percentage for the royalties because the amounts vary with the wholesale cost of the book and the cover price, which we let authors designate, often in consultation. However, the royalty rate is far higher than the rate offered by for-profit publishing houses.
Serving House Books takes pride in the books we publish and satisfaction in the positive reviews they have received.
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Serving House Books has filled its publishing schedule for the
foreseeable future and will not be considering queries or proposals
until further notice. We have many excellent books being readied for
release this year, and their preparation will be our primary activity.
Each work will be announced when publication is pending.
