Author guide
There is no single right way to publish a book — only the route that fits your book, your budget and how much of the work you want to do yourself. This is the honest, genre-agnostic overview: your real options whatever you write, what each one costs, the basics of ISBNs and formats, and what actually happens after your book goes on sale.
There are four main routes to publish a book in the UK — traditional publishing, do-it-yourself self-publishing, paid hybrid or assisted publishing, and the newer £0-upfront launchpad model. They differ mainly in upfront cost and who does the work.
They differ most in two things: what you pay up front, and who does the work of getting the book made and read.
Self-publishing a book in the UK can cost from close to £0, doing everything yourself on a free platform, to several thousand pounds with professional editing, cover design and marketing. Illustration adds more for illustrated and children's books.
The main costs are editing, cover design, formatting, ISBNs and marketing — the same whatever your genre, though illustration adds to the total for illustrated and children's books. The figures are indicative and change over time, so treat any range as a starting point for your own quotes, not a price list. For a full breakdown by route, see what it costs to publish a book.
You do not always need to buy an ISBN — platforms such as Amazon KDP give you a free one, but it ties the book to that platform. Each format needs its own ISBN, and you keep your copyright.
Buying your own ISBNs lets the same edition sell across many shops under your own imprint, and each format (paperback, hardback, ebook) needs its own. You keep the copyright to what you write on every self-publishing route. More detail: do you need an ISBN? · do you keep the rights?
If you want a traditional deal and can wait, submit to agents. If you want full control, self-publish on KDP. If you want the launch run for you, the launchpad model fits. There is no wrong answer.
There is no wrong answer — only the one that fits your book. See self-publishing vs traditional, compared. Writing for a specific audience? For children's books there are extra choices — formats, age banding, illustration — covered in how to publish a children's book. Writing a novel? See how to self-publish a novel. Writing non-fiction? See how to self-publish a non-fiction book.
FossPress runs the launchpad model for authors in any genre — fiction, non-fiction, children's and more. You pay £0 up front; we publish and run the whole launch and earn a 15% share of net receipts. You keep your copyright.
We publish and run the whole launch — ads, reviewers, listings, retail and more, fired together and measured in one dashboard — and earn only a 15% share of sales. You keep your copyright and all non-book rights; we hold the exclusive book-publishing rights for the term. It is an open door, not a guarantee: no publisher can promise a book will sell. You can see how our own titles are performing on our performance page, which reports real numbers rather than promises.
Yes. Most UK routes are do-it-yourself platforms like Amazon KDP, free but you do the work, or paid hybrid publishers charging an author fee up front. FossPress is different: no upfront cost, no author fee, and we do the work, earning a share of the revenue your book makes.
There are four main routes: traditional publishing through an agent, do-it-yourself self-publishing on a platform like Amazon KDP, paid hybrid publishing, and the newer £0-upfront launchpad model where a partner runs your launch for a share of sales. Which fits depends on your budget and genre.
From close to £0 doing everything yourself on a free platform, up to several thousand pounds with professional editing, cover and marketing. On the launchpad model, such as FossPress, there is £0 upfront and the publisher earns only a share of sales.
Yes. Self-publishing platforms and the launchpad model both work for fiction, non-fiction and children's books. Some genres carry extra production work, such as illustration for children's books, but the routes themselves are the same.
Yes. On every self-publishing route you keep the copyright to what you write. A publishing agreement licenses specific rights for a time; it does not take your copyright. FossPress licenses the book rights exclusively for the term; copyright stays yours.
This guide is general information about publishing in the UK, not legal or financial advice; figures are indicative and change over time.
Want to see this in practice? Here's a real book we published, and exactly what we did.
