Publishing your story, your way
Turn your manuscript into a book you're proud to share.
Nomadic Authors USA works with authors from first draft to finished book — editing, design, illustration, production, distribution and marketing, handled by people who do this every day.
You keep your rights, your royalties and the final word on every decision.
Why authors work with us
Everything a book needs, without stitching six suppliers together.
Author-first
You keep the rights, the credit and the final say. Every decision about your book comes back to you before it is made.
End to end
Editing, design, production, publishing, distribution and marketing under one roof, so nothing falls between suppliers.
Editorial depth
Four distinct editing stages, run in the right order, by people who work in your category.
Design and production
Covers built for the shelf they sit on, interiors typeset for the trim size, files that print correctly.
Reach
Retail, wholesale and library channels configured deliberately, with metadata that holds up over time.
Children's book specialism
Character design, spread planning and print colour handled by people who make picture books regularly.
The publishing journey
A clear route from where your manuscript is to where you want it.
Sixteen defined stages, each with a named owner and a point where you sign off. You always know what is happening now and what comes next.
Stages 01 – 04 · Getting started
Discover
A conversation about the book, the reader you have in mind, and what finished looks like to you.
Consultation
We map which services the manuscript actually needs, and say plainly which ones it does not.
Manuscript review
A read and a written assessment covering structure, voice, readiness and category fit.
Planning
An agreed scope, schedule and sequence, with your sign-off points marked in advance.
Services
Seventeen services. You will not need all of them.
Most authors need a specific subset, and part of our job is telling you which. Here are the six we are asked for most.
Developmental Editing
The structural pass: argument, arc, chapter order, and what the book is actually about.
Learn moreBook Cover Design
Covers built for the shelf they sit on, and tested at thumbnail size first.
Learn moreBook Formatting
Interior typesetting for print and reflowable eBook, from one clean source.
Learn moreChildren's Book Illustration
Character design, spread planning and full illustration for picture books.
Learn moreBook Marketing
A quarter-long plan built around the launch, not a single day of activity.
Learn moreGlobal Distribution
Getting the book into retail, wholesale and library channels, with the records to match.
Learn moreStory & character
Development work on voice, pacing and the characters a child will ask for again.
Illustration
Character sheets first, then a full storyboard, then finished spreads.
Layout & type
Text set to sit with the artwork, at a size a new reader can manage.
Print & colour
Paper, binding and colour specified for books that get handled hard.
Children's book publishing
Picture books are our deepest specialism.
Children's books are the least forgiving format in publishing. Thirty-two pages, a character who has to look like themselves on every spread, text that must be read aloud a hundred times without wearing thin, and colour that has to survive a print run.
We plan in spreads rather than pages, storyboard before any finished artwork begins, and specify print for books that will be chewed, dropped and loved.
How it starts
Four steps before anything is committed.
Talk
Tell us about the book and where it is now. No form-filling marathon.
Review
We read the manuscript and come back with an honest assessment and a plan.
Build
Editing, design, illustration and production run to an agreed schedule.
Publish
Formats produced, channels configured, and the launch quarter planned.
What we will not do
Honest is faster than optimistic.
Publishing attracts a lot of promises. These are the ones we do not make, and we would rather say so before you ask.
- We do not guarantee sales, rankings or bestseller status. No one can, and the ones who do are selling something else.
- We do not publish package prices, because a quote given before reading your manuscript is a guess dressed as a number.
- We do not recommend services a manuscript does not need, even when they are ones we offer.
- We do not take your rights. You remain the author and rights holder throughout.
- We do not commit to a schedule we cannot hold, and we will tell you early if one slips.
Questions
Questions authors ask first
You do. Nomadic Authors USA provides the professional work — editing, design, production, distribution setup and marketing — while you remain the author and rights holder. Where the publisher of record sits depends on the identifiers you use, and we set that out in writing before anything is registered.
Cost depends entirely on the book: length, category, how much editing it needs, whether it is illustrated, and which formats you want. Rather than publishing package prices that would not apply to your project, we quote after reading your manuscript. The manuscript review that precedes the quote is free.
That depends on the state of the manuscript and the services involved. A book needing a full developmental edit and original illustration takes considerably longer than a finished manuscript needing formatting and distribution. We give you a schedule after the review, and we do not commit to a date we cannot hold.
Almost certainly not. Most authors need a specific subset, and part of the review is telling you which. Recommending work a manuscript does not need is the fastest way to lose an author's trust.
It is read by the review team and used only to prepare your review. It is not shared outside that process. Once the file handling policy is finalised with our legal advisers it will be published in full on the privacy policy page.