I wanted to write an article that walked you through our 2022 milestones, including the various publishing steps we helped our authors through. Yes, I know this is a somewhat belated list but you know, load-shedding 😭
Total Authors Assisted
I counted a total of 60 authors helped during 2022.
- We had an author publish a monumental 4 different books during the year. (Go Michael!)
- We had 3 other authors who published 3 books each during the year.
- 10 of our 60 authors that we helped were from outside the borders of South Africa.
South African ISBN Applications
Looking at the 13-digit ISBNs found, partnered with a barcode, on your book’s back cover.
- We managed to help 491 South African authors apply for and obtain their ISBN numbers.
- We had helped 517 authors in 2021.
These ISBN applications are handled with the gracious assistance of our National Library. We currently offer the ISBN service free of charge, however it is stretching us to the limits of our working day as it gets busier and busier. If you are not from SA, browse this website to find your relevant ISBN authority.
Manuscript Editing
Onto your wording. Every author knows how important the services of a good editor can be when it comes to publishing a book you can be proud of.
- 2022 saw a total 14 edits or proofreads being completed by our editors.
- We also had fun helping 4 different authors pimp out and improve their book descriptions.
A book description or book blurb is the 300-odd words appearing on your book’s back cover or the Amazon sales page if you also plan on selling as an eBook online.
We also introduced a new service for our authors, manuscript assessments. These assessments or evaluations are where our editor examines your writing, providing their thoughts and feedback as an easy-to-understand report. The report does not include actual changes to your text. This new offering was introduced for those authors looking to better understand their book/ story commercial viability before fully investing in the publishing process.
Book Art & Illustrations
Now onto the pretty parts of books, illustrations. These unique illustrations normally form part of your book’s front cover, helping to captivate a curious reader. Alternatively, they can also form part of your book’s interior pages, helping bring your story to life!
- We helped 5 authors with custom illustrated cover designs.
- We helped 3 authors with illustrations within the book interior.
Browse our illustration portfolio over here.
Cover Designs
Onto our cover designs. 2022 saw us help 29 new authors stand out on the shelves with fresh cover designs. Those 29 new covers included eBook, paperback, and hard-cover formats.
For those who did not know, Amazon KDP recently starting allowing authors to publish hardcovers too.
Browse our cover portfolio over here.
Interior Typesetting/ Layout
Our design team typeset 41 book interiors during 2022.
If you were unsure, typesetting is just a fancy word for getting a book’s pages ready to be printed. No, this is not the same as exporting from Word to PDF. If you thought it was the same, read this.
eBook Conversions
A total of 41 eBooks were created or converted by our eBook-elves.
Of the eBooks we created, 4 of them were the more complex or “fixed-layout” eBook technology. Fixed layout eBooks are recommended visually detailed children’s books, cookbooks or books showcasing a visual topic such as art.
The remaining 37 eBooks we created were the standard ePUB2 reflowable eBooks. Reflowable eBooks are ideal for manuscripts that have mostly text with a few images.
Books Published Online
We helped our authors publish 42 unique books on Amazon. This also includes a mixture of eBooks, paperbacks and our first hardcover project too.
Author Websites
We also had fun designing a new author website for debut fiction author Chris Devonport.
We currently also provide a hosted-home for 9 different author websites, charging a small yearly fee for our website hosting services.
Browse our portfolio author website here.
2022 Final Thoughts
2022 followed the trend (felt more keenly since covid) of being a blur. The first years of covid saw many authors make a push to get their books published, whereas 2022 felt like it saw the tightening of author’s collective belts. With worsening power cuts taking a toll both mentally and physically, South African based authors could be forgiven for being distracted from focussing on their written-exploits.
The 2023 year has started with a surprising surge of queries from new authors from within Africa as well as further abroad looking to self-publish a book.
If that sounds like you, drop us an email 👉 The team and I would love to help guide you to the shelves of the world’s biggest bookstores 😊
