HomeAbout Deep River BooksFrequently Asked Questions Answers to Common Questions 1. How do I submit my proposal/book idea to Deep River Books? 2. What are your royalty rates paid to authors? 3. Why does Deep River Books require the author to purchase books in the initial print run? 4. What is the cost of the books purchased by the author? 5. Do I have to pay sales tax on my books? 6. How many copies does Deep River Books print? 7. How are Deep River Books distributed? 8. Is Deep River Books considered a “Vanity” Publisher? 9. Does Deep River Books accept all manuscripts for publication? 10. How large is a normal manuscript? 11. What categories do Deep River Books publish? 12. How do I know if Deep River Books is right for me? 13. Where is Deep River Books located? 14. Does Deep River Books distribute for self-published authors? 15. What is your Statement of Faith? Answers 1. HOW DO I SUBMIT MY PROPOSAL/BOOK IDEA TO DEEP RIVER BOOKS? When sending your initial query/proposal, you do not need to send us your entire manuscript. Please send us a synopsis (one page or less), an outline (two pages or less), and one or two sample chapters. Send them in a common font (Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana), preferably double-spaced in a Microsoft Word document (a .doc file). Include the total number of words in your manuscript as well as a brief resume about the author. Then email your proposal to: submit@deepriverbooks.com. We do not accept proposals by mail, only by email. [ Top of Page ] 2. WHAT ARE YOUR ROYALTY RATES PAID TO AUTHORS? Deep River Books pays author royalties on all books we sell through the retail trade. The current royalty rates are 12% for the first 5,000 copies sold; 15% for the second 5,000 copies sold; and 18% for all copies sold above 10,000. The author contract will spell this out fully. [ Top of Page ] 3. WHY DOES DEEP RIVER BOOKS REQUIRE THE AUTHOR TO PURCHASE BOOKS IN THE INITIAL PRINT RUN? There is considerable risk in publishing, and that risk increases with new authors. Deep River Books is dedicated to helping new authors get published, but our business plan dictates that we will not do it alone. The money we receive from author purchases helps pay for the professional editing, cover design, typesetting, printing, advertising, sales team costs and other overhead. That is why we tell our authors up-front that this is a “partnership” between publisher and author. Our goal is to make a profit and pay you a royalty when your book sells in retail stores. Also, we know that if you have books to sell, it will certainly help “prime the pump” to get early readers. If they like your writing, they will talk about your book and recommend it to others, driving additional traffic to the stores. If you sell your copies at full retail, you not only recoup your initial investment, but you also make a profit since you purchase your books at discount. [ Top of Page ] 4. WHAT IS THE COST OF THE BOOKS PURCHASED BY THE AUTHOR? The costs to the author for personal copies depend on the quantity ordered. The minimum order is 1,000 (one thousand) copies. Click here for the latest discount schedule. We can schedule payment for your books in a four-payment program. The first payment is due when signing the Author Agreement; second payment due when cover is completed and approved by you; third payment due when editing is finished a signed off by you; and final payment is due when typeset galleys are final, approved by you, and sent to the printer for printing and shipping. [ Top of Page ] 5. DO I HAVE TO PAY SALES TAX ON MY BOOKS? Deep River Books is located in the state of Oregon, which does not have sales tax. Because of this, we do not charge authors sales tax on books ordered from us. However, tax policies vary from state to state. If you have questions about whether you must charge sales tax on books you are selling, you should raise this question with your personal accounting advisor or tax professional. [ Top of Page ] 6. HOW MANY COPIES DOES DEEP RIVER BOOKS PRINT? Normally, we print a minimum of 1,500 copies. Sometimes it is more, depending on the presales figures for the book from our sales team’s efforts. In addition, we use “Just-in-Time” technology. This means we receive a daily report from our distribution system of how many books are ordered and how many we have in stock. When our computer system sees a book moving and our stock reaches a certain level, it triggers additional printing that arrives in our warehouse in a seamless system of providing books on time to retailers. This helps avoid waste. We are not a POD or “Print on Demand” publisher. All of our books are done on state-of-the-art offset presses. [ Top of Page ] 7. HOW ARE DEEP RIVER BOOKS DISTRIBUTED? Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, based in Ohio, handles our distribution. They are one of the largest providers of integrated publisher services in the United States. For more than 40 years, they have offered distribution services to select publishers. [ Top of Page ] 8. IS DEEP RIVER BOOKS A “VANITY” PUBLISHER? Deep River Books is not a vanity publisher. Occasionally, others accuse us of being a “vanity” publisher because, as stated above, we require the author to participate financially in the initial print run by purchasing books at discount. That makes us different from some of the other full-service publishers that may not have this requirement. We do this because we are dedicated to NEW authors, and we require that they share the risk. Read the Seven Distinct Ways Deep River Books is Different from Vanity Publishing. [ Top of Page ] 9. DOES DEEP RIVER BOOKS ACCEPT ALL MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION? Deep River Books does not accept any and all manuscripts; we only take quality works that we feel have a chance to succeed in the Christian retail trade. In fact, we turn down far more manuscripts than we accept. We have an editorial review team that reviews selected proposals, and they are the professionals who make the final decision on what we publish. [ Top of Page ] 10. HOW LARGE IS A NORMAL MANUSCRIPT? An average-size trade paperback book is about 200 pages when complete, which is about 40,000–65,000 words. Obviously, some books are smaller than that, but if they are substantially smaller, they are very thin books even when using larger type. (Exceptions include specialty books with heavy graphics or photographs and children’s books with illustrations.) We like to receive manuscripts that are at least 30,000 words in length and we prefer manuscripts of about 60,000 words. Fiction can be up to 100,000 words or about 300 pages. [ Top of Page ] 11. WHAT CATEGORIES DO DEEP RIVER BOOKS PUBLISH? Deep River Books does not target a single category as much as we target good writing from new authors. Because of this, we publish all kinds of Christian books, which include Christian Living, Bible Study, Fiction, Family & Marriage, Devotionals, Inspirational, Church Leadership, etc. We have recently started a children’s line of books, but we require the author to be working with their own illustrator and furnish samples of the illustrations when submitting their manuscript for review. We also publish books on theology and doctrine, but under a different imprint. [ Top of Page ] 12. HOW DO I KNOW IF DEEP RIVER BOOKS IS RIGHT FOR ME? Deep River Books is not for everyone. If you do not have a way to sell your copies to a constituency, we do not want you to end up with a pallet of books gathering dust in your garage. If, however, you have a way to sell your own copies (churches, church bookstores, seminars, speaking, business colleagues, donors, students, radio, mailing list, website, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, book tables, etc.) and you let us handle the bookstore retail trade, then Deep River Books may be a good fit. The only exclusive rights you grant to Deep River Books are the retail trade rights. You are free to sell your own copies anywhere except to retail bookstores. [ Top of Page ] 13. WHERE IS DEEP RIVER BOOKS LOCATED? We are located in Sisters, Oregon. Sisters is the home of many writers, graphic designers, and other publishing professionals. [ Top of Page ] 14. DOES DEEP RIVER BOOKS DISTRIBUTE FOR SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS? No. We only market and distribute the books we publish. [ Top of Page ] 15. WHAT IS YOUR STATEMENT OF FAITH? The Statement of Faith for us is as follows: I. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God. II. We believe there is only one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. III. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. IV. We believe that for the salvation of the lost and sinful, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. Salvation comes by grace through repentance and faith in Christ apart from works. V. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. VI. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation. VII. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. This Statement of Faith is nearly identical to that of the National Association of Evangelicals. [ Top of Page ]
