Book Publishing Services
You have a finished manuscript. I format it, set up distribution on three platforms, optimize your metadata, and get your book live and available for purchase. One service. One price. You own everything.
Book publishing services with The Writing King take a finished manuscript and get it live and sellable: formatting for print and ebook, cover, metadata, and distribution across the major platforms. You keep the rights and the royalties, and the book publishes under your name.
What You Get
Your manuscript goes from Word document to professionally published book available on every major platform. I handle the formatting, the platform setup, the metadata optimization, and the quality assurance. You keep all rights, all royalties, and complete control of your publishing record.
Pricing
$2,500
4–6 weeks
Due upon signing
100% yours
Covers standard ebook and print formatting, distribution setup on all three platforms, metadata optimization, and quality assurance. Complex or design-heavy formatting is quoted separately. Hardcover edition available as a $500 add-on. No hidden fees.
Three Platforms, Maximum Reach
Your book goes live on three distribution platforms. Each serves a different part of the market. Together, they cover virtually every channel where books are sold.
Amazon KDP
The dominant share of US ebook sales. Direct access to Kindle Unlimited if desired. Amazon’s recommendation algorithm favors KDP-published titles. Prime shipping for paperbacks.
Draft2Digital
Widest distribution reach. Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, libraries (OverDrive, Hoopla), and 40+ additional retailers worldwide. No exclusivity requirements. Universal purchase links for marketing.
IngramSpark
Industry-standard distribution to bookstores, libraries, and academic markets. Required for serious bookstore placement. Returns program option makes retailers more willing to stock your title.
The Process
You Provide the Materials
Final edited manuscript in Word format. ISBNs (block of 10 from Bowker recommended, with separate ISBNs needed for ebook, paperback, and hardcover). Cover designs (front cover for ebook, full wrap for print). Your manuscript should be professionally edited before submission.
Formatting
I handle standard manuscript formatting for ebook and print: clean, professional layout and industry-standard typography for text-based books, with files optimized for both digital and physical distribution. Complex or design-heavy formatting — full-color interiors, image-heavy layouts, workbooks, or custom typesetting — is quoted separately or handled by a specialist third party.
Platform Setup and Metadata
Your book gets uploaded and configured on all three platforms with optimized metadata: categories, keywords, description, and pricing designed for discoverability.
Quality Assurance
Full review before publication. I verify formatting across devices, check platform configurations, and confirm everything is correct before your book goes live.
Live and Delivered
Your book is live and available for purchase on all platforms. You receive purchase links and dashboard access information. All rights, royalties, and control remain yours.
What You’re Responsible For
A handful of things are yours to provide and yours to own. I work within them; you keep control of everything.
ISBNs
Purchase a block of 10 from your country’s ISBN agency. In the US, that is Bowker (myidentifiers.com). Other countries have different agencies. You need separate ISBNs for each format: ebook (except Kindle), paperback, and hardcover. Owning your ISBNs means you maintain permanent control of your publishing record.
Cover Designs
You provide the covers. Front cover for ebook (RGB, high resolution, typically 2560 x 1600 pixels). Full wrap cover for print covering front, spine, and back, with specifications provided after trim size is finalized. Separate full wrap for hardcover if applicable.
Manuscript
Final, edited manuscript in Microsoft Word format (.docx). Your manuscript should be professionally edited before submission for publishing. This service covers formatting and distribution, not editing.
Platform Accounts
The accounts on Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, and IngramSpark are set up in your name and owned entirely by you. You share the login credentials with me so I can set up and configure your books, and I recommend you change the passwords once the project is complete. The accounts, and everything in them, stay yours.
What Is Not Included
This service does not include manuscript editing, cover design, or ISBN purchases. These are your responsibility. If you need a manuscript written for you, see full ghostwriting or the lower-cost AI-Assisted Books service. If you need help finishing your own manuscript before publishing, see book coaching.
More information:
Full Professional Background · Testimonials · Code of Ethics · Case Studies
Why These Three Platforms
Amazon KDP dominates direct consumer sales. Draft2Digital handles the widest retailer spread including libraries. IngramSpark opens doors to physical bookstores and institutional buyers. Together they cover virtually every channel where books are sold without duplication.
Most authors either publish only on Amazon (leaving distribution money on the table) or try to manage multiple platforms themselves (spending hours on configuration they do once in their life). I set up all three correctly because I do this regularly and know the platform-specific requirements.
Case Studies
Real client projects — the goals, the work we did together, and the results that followed. Each one documented in detail.
Client Testimonials for Richard Lowe
Straight Answers to Real Hesitations
Publishing services attract the most industry distrust of all, for good reason. Straight answers:
“Aren’t publishing services where authors get fleeced?”
Frequently, yes. Vanity presses charging five figures for template covers and imaginary distribution are the industry’s oldest con. This service is the opposite structure: defined deliverables, three named platforms, your accounts, your control, itemized scope. You own everything and can verify every piece. Read more: the red flags »
“Can’t I just upload it to Amazon myself?”
You can, and thousands do it badly: wrong categories, weak metadata, formatting that screams amateur, and one platform instead of three. The mechanics are learnable; the judgment about categories, pricing, and positioning is where DIY launches quietly die. I publish my own 113-plus books through these exact platforms. Read more: what publishing actually involves »
“Will my book actually sell?”
Publishing puts the book on sale; it does not make the book sell, and no honest service claims otherwise. Sales come from the book’s positioning, your platform, and marketing, which is separate work. What this service guarantees is that the product itself is professional and available everywhere it should be. Read more: what books actually earn »
“That’s a lot of money for a book.”
It is, and I will not pretend otherwise. Professional ghostwriting runs $15,000 to $60,000 here, with budget options starting at $7,597. The honest frame: the 2024 Business Book ROI study found most business books return the investment through clients, speaking, and authority pricing, and my clients have used books to raise capital and land TEDx stages. If the book is a business asset, price it like one. And if you want certainty first, the Book Discovery Intensive is $4,000 for the strategy, the plan, and a sample chapter, credited toward the engagement within sixty days. Read more: What Ghostwriting Costs and Why »
“What happens after the manuscript is done?”
A manuscript is not a book; editing, cover, formatting, publishing path, and launch remain. The publishing conversation happens during strategy, before a chapter exists, and production support is an available continuation with scope defined in writing. Nobody hands you a Word document and waves. Read the full answer: You Have a Manuscript. Now What? »
“How do I know you’re not one of the scams?”
You should not take my word for it; verify what cannot be faked. I have 113-plus books under my own name you can read tonight, a hundred-plus podcast appearances you can listen to, named case studies including a book adopted at Purdue, and reviews attached to a checkable identity. The mills cannot produce any of that. Read the full answer: How to Vet a Ghostwriter »
Go Deeper on Any of These
You Have a Manuscript. Now What?
A manuscript is not a book; between the two sit editing, cover design, formatting, the publishing path, and launch, and a contract that ends at delivery ends at the moment you need the next map. The full article lays out the honest anatomy of what comes after the writing, how my engagements handle the handoff, why the publishing conversation happens during strategy rather than at the end, and the one question that instantly separates working writers from mills. Read the full answer »
The Business Book ROI Study
The 2024 research measured what business books actually return, and the numbers justify the investment for most professional authors: client acquisition, speaking fees, consulting engagements, and authority pricing that compounds for years. The full article breaks down the findings, who captures the returns and who does not, and what separates books that pay for themselves from shelf decoration. Read the full answer »
How to Vet a Ghostwriter
The better a ghostwriter is at the job, the less evidence they can show you, and the scam operations exploit that gap deliberately, with fake writer profiles claiming the same unverifiable bestsellers real writers cannot prove. So you vet around the NDA wall instead of through it. The full article walks through what cannot be faked, the writer’s own published books, years of public history, named case studies, the questions only working writers can answer, and the red flags that should end a conversation on the spot. Read the full answer »
Direct From Author Book Sales
Selling direct puts the full margin and the customer relationship in your hands instead of a platform’s. The full article covers the mechanics: the storefront options, fulfillment, pricing against retail, and when direct sales genuinely beat the marketplaces for an authority author. Read the full answer »
Apple Books for Authority Authors
Apple Books is the most underused platform in professional publishing, and the article explains the opportunity: less competition for visibility, a premium audience, and distribution mechanics that favor well-produced books from serious authors. Read the full answer »
What If My Thinking Changes After Print?
The smartest prospects raise this one: publish now and the book freezes this year’s ideas in print while your thinking keeps moving. The full article takes it apart honestly, why the settling point you are waiting for never arrives, why a visible trajectory of evolving thought is the proof of expertise rather than a liability, and the modern mechanics the fear does not know about, from afternoon-upload second editions to the three-page preface that reframes an entire book. Read the full answer »
Frequently Asked Questions
Self-Publishing Library
Publishing mechanics, platforms, and what happens after upload:
Ready to Publish
If you have a finished, edited manuscript and covers ready, we can start. If you are not sure what you need, schedule a conversation and I will walk you through it.