Captive Conscience Press

For Authors

What we do

Editing and source checking

A close copy edit of the whole manuscript, and every quotation checked against its source and cited in one consistent form. Where a source is under copyright, we count the words quoted and tell you what needs permission.

Typesetting

Print and e-book from one master text. A 6 × 9 inch book set in proper book type, with running heads, footnotes, and an index where the book wants one; an EPUB with the same notes and a working index, checked on the devices people read on.

Cover design

Front, spine, and back built to the printer's template, with the barcode and the copy in place, from your art or ours.

Registration and setup

An ISBN for each edition, a Library of Congress Control Number, a correct copyright page, and the listings at Lulu and at Amazon through KDP, so the book is on sale and your own copies cost print price.

A book page on this site

Cover, description, buy links, sample pages, and a press kit with the high-resolution cover, at a permanent address you can print on a card.

Promotion

A sell sheet, a reviewer sampler, a list of the journals, societies, and podcasts that cover your subject, and the launch post.

How it works

1. A read and a report. Send the manuscript. We read all of it and send a first-look report, saying what the book needs, what it will cost, and how long it will take. There is no charge for the report.
2. An agreement. One page each. It names the fee and the schedule, says that the copyright stays with you, and lets either side end it on thirty days' notice.
3. Editing and source work. Every change is proposed where you can read it as a change, and nothing stands without your word. Questions come in batches, not one at a time.
4. Typesetting and cover. You read a PDF proof on screen, and the e-book on your phone, and tell us what to change. We go round until it is right.
5. Registration and a printed proof. ISBN, Library of Congress number, listings, and a proof copy in your hands before anyone else's.
6. On sale. Amazon, Lulu's bookstore, and copies for you to sell yourself. The book page goes live the same day.

For a book of two to three hundred pages, count four to eight weeks from the finished manuscript to a printed proof. Heavy source work, translation, or an index of any size takes longer, and the report says so before you commit.

Packages

Questions authors ask

Who owns the book?

You do. The copyright stays with the author. The agreement grants the press the right to publish the edition and can be ended by either side on thirty days’ notice, after which the files are yours.

Who receives the royalties?

You do. Lulu pays the author directly. Amazon pays the publisher’s account, and the press passes it on each quarter with Amazon’s statement.

Do you use AI tools?

Yes, in production, and we say so. Machine tools help with the first pass of copy editing, with source checking, with index building, and sometimes with cover drafting. A person reads every page and makes every decision, and the copyright page and the retail listings disclose what the tools did.

What kinds of books?

Theology and devotion, church history, family and local history, memoir, and scholarship with notes. For fiction or poetry, ask.

Who prints the books?

Lulu and Amazon’s KDP, on demand. There is no print run to pay for and no stock to store, and the book stays in print as long as you want it to.

What will it cost me beyond the fee?

The ISBN, proof copies, the Library of Congress copy, and your own author copies at print price plus shipping. Everything else is in the fee.