Editing

Every writer is too close to their creation to see it as readers will see it. There is no substitute for the fresh perspective, experience, and insight a professional editor adds to an author’s work.

Our editorial team works with major Christian publishers on best-selling titles. These same editors will leverage their expertise and experience to ensure that your book achieves its potential.

Copy Edit 

Manuscript prep:

We perform global search and replace for: extra spaces, tabs, incorrect format apostrophes and quotation marks. Apply style formats to subhead levels.

Tracked changes in manuscript include:

Correction of:

• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammatical, typographical, and Chicago Manual of Style errors

We also check for:

• Awkward or unclear sentences
• Problematic sentence fragments
• Table of contents for consistency with chapter titles
• List items that may require permission or credit (quotes, poems, song lyrics)
• List queries concerning errors/inconsistencies for author to address
• Minor proofread to check editing

Developmental Edit

Developmental editing is a critical stage in the book creation process, particularly for non-fiction authors. It involves analyzing and refining the book’s structure, content, and overall narrative flow.

Unlike copy editing, which focuses on grammar and punctuation, developmental editing examines the core framework of the book to ensure that it communicates ideas clearly, logically, and compellingly.

Our Developmental (DEV) editing process always takes place using an MS Word document and includes (1) a full read-through of the manuscript, (2) ample COMMENTS in the margins, and (3) a 7-10 page document full of observations, suggestions, content analysis, and more.

Benefits of BBS’s Developmental Editing Process

1. Clarity and Coherence:
   Non-fiction books are often information-heavy, requiring a clear structure to guide readers through complex ideas. BBS’s Dev editing helps organize content logically, ensuring that concepts build naturally and seamlessly from one chapter to the next, staying focused on WHAT you are writing about and WHY it matters to the reader. We will read the entire manuscript to understand its purpose, target audience, and core message. We will identify strengths and weaknesses, including gaps in content, structural issues, and areas that require clarification.
2. Big-Picture Analysis:
   We will evaluate the book’s structure, pacing, and logical flow and assess whether the chapters are organized effectively and whether the content transitions smoothly between sections. We will look for thoughts and stories that are incomplete, content that is redundant, and more. We will also point out errors you are currently making in your writing so you can review your technique during a re-write phase, correcting those errors before hiring a copy editor. We will offer numerous COMMENTS in the MS Word document and, when appropriate, demonstrate how to improve your writing by editing your work and showing our efforts using TRACK CHANGES.
3. Audience Engagement:
   A well-developed non-fiction book keeps readers engaged by presenting information in an accessible and compelling way. We ask the question, Why? a lot as we review, always wanting the answer to be in the interest of your target audience.
4. Enhanced Credibility:
   A polished, well-structured book enhances the author’s credibility and authority on the subject matter. We’ll examine your writing cleanliness, the structure of your book, your use of story, citations, illustrations, and more, and offer guidance on how to ensure that facts are well-supported, arguments are cohesive, and the content aligns with the book’s premise and promise.
5. Goal Alignment:
   We know you have a reason for writing your book; our editors ensure that the book aligns with your goals, whether it’s educating readers, providing actionable advice, or sharing personal experiences.

Cover Design

Readers really do judge books by their covers, and if you want readers to pick yours up, you need to consider a professional book design. This feature is part art and part science, and professional designers understand what readers look for when making a buying decision.

Your book cover is your billboard. You have just seconds to convince a reader to pick up your book in an eStore or bookstore. We work creatively to design and produce best-in-industry book covers, web images, and collateral materials that give your message a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Custom Cover Design

After filling out a comprehensive cover design questionnaire, our professional designers will produce two (2) initial cover concepts, up to three rounds of revisions.

Includes:

• Two (2) initial cover concepts showing front cover and spine, delivered via PDF or JPG
• With your feedback we refine selected concepts
• Upon approval, we provide complete cover layout—front, spine, back cover with barcode in position
• Press-ready PDF to the standards of BelieversPress or any other book printer uploaded to their site and/or yours
• A 3D JPEG image of your paperback book suitable for use in promotion in publications or online

Recent Publishing Projects

Interior Design

Quality interior design ensures that the book interior gives readers what they expect; a seamless and ordered reading experience. The result is a book that is appealing, readable, and ready to publish.

Our team delivers the sharp design that readers expect, along with the professional production experience that you expect.

Layout and Typesetting   (15 Business Day Turn-Time)

Our process starts with an extensive questionnaire designed to give our typesetters/interior layout teams the best starting point for your project. We layout the first chapter for you in five business days, after which you have the opportunity to make up to 25 layout corrections.

When the corrections are submitted, our team will finish typesetting the remainder of the book and deliver that in ten business days. Our pricing includes placement of up to 10 digital images and delivery of the publishing-ready PDF to you. Suitable for a fiction or non-fiction book (primarily text).

eBook Conversion

Working from your digital files, we create your eBook in a variety of formats including the industry standard EPUB and popular Kindle (MOBI) format.

When requesting a quote, we need the number of pages and words in your book, along with a few other details in order to give you a conversion price. With BelieversBookServices, you own the converted files and can sell them wherever you wish (including on your own website).

What sets our service apart?

1. We give you options—upload your book in either Word or PDF.
2. We have real people doing the work for you—there’s no need to pre-format files.
3. We format for virtually every eBook reader, including the Kindle, Nook, and iPad.
4. Our technology gives you the opportunity to control your content and the layout of your eBook.
5. Because we format by hand, your book doesn’t get mangled in an automated process, like it would with so many other ePublishers.

eBook Conversion

We will convert your finished manuscript into ePub (Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and others) and MobiPocket (Kindle native). Suitable for fiction and non-fiction books that are primarily text with some photos & illustrations.

Provide us the details of the book you need to have converted. We’ll issue you an invoice for the cost and get started!

eBook Document Setup

Included in the pricing package:

• 10 footnotes (+$1 for each additional note)
• Word documents (a PDF document is +$30 for conversion)
• Up to 75,000 words (+$0.0018 for each additional word)
• Up to 10 images (+$3 for each additional image)

Editing services are not included in the pricing but is highly recommended.

Printing

BelieversBookServices specializes in printing services for most book projects. The difference is that we give authors the best possible prices, direct from the printing companies we partner with.

Our low print prices set authors up for the best retail prices, and optimum sales.

PRINTING FOR INDEPENDENT AUTHORS

Like many industries, the print world is filled with terminology that can be difficult to understand. To compound the issue, some of the same terms are used to define different things.

• Print-on-Demand (POD): a book is printed as needed for any purpose
• Print-to-Order (PTO): a book is printed to fill a specific order, whether for retail sales, or direct-to-consumer fulfillment
• Short run printing (digital printing): a few books up to a few hundred books are printed to supply a small inventory or orders
• Long run printing (offset printing): larger print runts (generally longer than 750 units) which fill a larger inventory or orders

Important! BelieversBookServices provides authors with some of the best print prices in the industry so that you can sell your books with competitive retail prices, rather than using high print costs and complicated formulas to determine what your readers will pay.

Print-on-Demand & Print-to-Order

With this service, a book is printed to fill a specific order, whether for retail sales through a bookseller like Barnes & Noble, or direct-to-consumer fulfillment from an order placed on your website.

Short Run Printing

A few books up to a few hundred books are printed to supply a small inventory or orders of multiple copies.

Long Run Printing

Printing has evolved from traditional printing (offset presses) for all book printing, to shorter and short runs (digital presses), to a true print-on-demand printing. Long run print runs today, generally happen with orders of 750 books or more.

WE GO DIRECT TO THE PRINTING SOURCE

BelieversBookServices maintains strategic alliances with a group of professional book printers to secure the best possible print prices for you.