Publishing & Submissions

We often receive emails from people inquiring how much we would charge to publish their books. At Manning the Gate Publishing, we see each individual's work as a whole body—story, edits needed, cover design, etc. And no two books are alike. Some authors come to us with books that are for children and need illustrations. Others come with books ranging from a 30,000-word count to a 90,000-word count, and this year, we received a book with over 1,000 pages. Not only do these factors come into play, but some manuscripts need minimal editing while others require extensive editing as well as a line edit. 

At Manning the Gate Publishing, we don't sugarcoat things. It has been our own lengthy journey of making mistakes that have taught us so much about what makes a great book compared to a mediocre book, and often, the truth hurts.

In 2013, my English professor read my first novel, Polishing Jade, and expressed that the story ended abruptly and that two chapters needed to be fleshed out and worked on. Whenever someone tells you your work could be much better, you have two choices: listen and weigh their thoughts or take offense and run. We listened, and Polishing Jade won two awards and was accepted to the Kentucky Book Fair. I was honored to sign books with Wendel Berry and other famous authors. 

Last year, we hired an expert to look over our book covers. Several of the covers were designed by us. We spent hours looking for the right photos, but we did not have the tools we needed in our box. One of the things we learned from the kind gentleman's critique was that while scrolling on the phone via Amazon Books, you could not even read the titles due to the font and colors we had chosen. Thankfully, we later found a great designer who works with us named Lynette Smith.

At Manning the Gate Publishing, we will never try to up-sale you, but we will try to help you have a book that will be successful if you market it correctly. Sometimes, a body of work needs to be revised, portions may need to be removed, and covers may need to be updated if the author us looking for a 2nd edition. Each person's work needs different ingredients, so we cannot offer a price like many vanity presses do that shove your work through an AI program and over-promise and under-deliver.

We invest time in people and their work. It's important to us. And if we do not think we are a good fit, we will tell you. We are not about how many books we can publish and profit from. We are about helping someone publish a book they can be proud of and watching those people become joyful and excited about the work they've accomplished. 

Blessings,
Jeffrey & Bonnie Manning