The aim of Leaf by Leaf is to support our publishing programme with a small number of select books that allow authors to pay a contribution for services such as editing, design and distribution. It’s a model that several indie presses are doing well, providing value for fair investment and enabling more authors to find a platform without resorting to low quality services.
We want to ensure we can go on publishing our core list whatever the future brings and we can help to do that by also helping more authors into print.
The imprint is a collaborative venture with Rowan Tree Editing, run by Rowan Fortune, who also mentors students for us and worked as a Cinnamon editor for many years.
Leaf by Leaf has helped thirty-five authors see their dream projects into print, with more currently in production—from poetry collections to memoir and novels.
We are currently reading manuscripts to select those that will be published late in 2023 and are now closed to submissions. Thank you to everyone who has submitted and we we be contacting successful authors no later than mid December 2022 to early January 2023.
The next submissions period will open in early summer 2023.
You’ll find lots of information below and there will be a form for submitting your manuscript once the submissions window opens, but if you have any questions, email Rowan and we’ll get back to you.
Leaf by Leaf is for authors thinking of self-publishing and who want support with:
- quality copy and proof editing, layout, design and distribution
- options for marketing guides, ebooks and full creative editing
- a transparent contract
- a clear and fair fee structure
Your book can by a poetry collection, a collection of short stories, a novella, novel or nonfiction work such as memoir, essays, philosophy etc. (Please note books over 95,000 words will incur a small extra cost.)
We will only be selecting books with black and white interiors (not illustrated books). And we don't take books that require script or film layout.
You must hold the copyright for the material none of which should be quoted from copyright sources without written permissions (this means that if the author and/or translator was alive in the last 70 years you will need a permission to quote)
We will be reading submissions from March 14 to September 5 2022 for the next round of books and you can send manuscripts (prose or poetry but not drama or scripts) any time before the end of the submission window. There is no reading fee.
Sadly, we only have capacity for a small number of projects. We will have future reading periods in 2023, so there are opportunities to submit again.
We will email back to all who send submissions during mid-December, 2022 to mid-January 2023. If you do not hear back from us by the end of January please check your spam filter and if you don't find an email get in touch to check that an email hasn't gone astray.
Our Leaf by Leaf books will go into the distribution chain so they will be available on Amazon and other major websites and in any shop to order. You benefit from the already set up distribution channels of a 15+ year old press. But you should also remember that this is a hybrid model so the other main seller will be you. To be honest, authors are increasingly the main sellers even with many larger presses but think about ways you can promote your book and also make direct sales to get maximum returns on your investment. You might want to set up a simple author website through Wordpress or another platform as well as organising readings, for instance.
This is a collaborative work so unlike the traditional figure of 10% royalty, our Leaf by Leaf books will accrue a 50% royalty rate.
We will keep a full record of your sales through our distributors and update you each March before the end of the tax year when there are funds owing. To make the payments as simple as possible we offer a £500 advance on royalties applied against the costs of the service. This cuts down admin costs and time for us and reduces upfront costs for you.
The books from this Leaf by Leaf round will be out during the late autumn to early winter of 2023 and we will begin working together from late January to early February of 2023. We generally plan for eight-ten months to ensure everything is done to a high standard.
You can find a full table of costs here.
We're not able to offer this facility as we pay professionals up front for their work. This means that payment is due on signature of contract. However, we don't ask for payment for the actual print run until we're ready to put in the order with the printer so you'll have a bit more time to budget for that.
Yes. You will have a contract detailing all the work to be undertaken, your contribution and how royalties work.
Simply use the application form, which is online only during submission periods, to send us the complete manuscript of the book you would like to work with us on and a synopsis of the book (including the word count of the full manuscript/number of poems).
Please note, the documents must be PDFs -- for the security of the website no other file types can be accepted.