1. Varghese Kattooparambil:- MPAB has done an excellent job in metamorphosing my manuscript into books on time and at a very competitive price. I am very much satisfied in my dealings with the proprietor. When I think of MPAB, three Ps come to mind: prompt, punctual and professional.

2. David Beattie:- I would like to thank you for your invaluable assistance with the format, and guidance through the intricacies of registration and sales for the book 'Interesting Maybe'.

3. George Morley:- I am delighted with the excellent publishing of 'Escape From Stalag 18a'. The book was produced speedily with much appreciated advice and patience; Many thanks.

4. Kathy Noice:- Meni Publishing And Binding has exceeded my expectations and I am more than happy with the resulting book 'Harley and Me'.

5. Ted Lamb:- I can recommend any aspiring author to Meni Publishing if they want a first class job done with a minimum of problems.

Why self-publish?

Most of us will never see a large publishing house, so it's up to us, as individuals, to get our work from the laptop, to the shelf of the corner shop.

Self-publishing in General

The difference between Vanity Publishing and Self-Publishing: It is said; for a book to be self-published, a name designated by the author as the publishing house must appear on the imprint page of the book as 'publisher', the book's ISBN number must also be registered by the ISBN Agency to that author as publisher. If any name other than that of the author's, appears in the book as the publisher, the author cannot claim to have self-published his/her work. True self-publishing gives authors much greater control over the production and dissemination of their books, as well as complete ownership of their work. All the copies of a self-published book are the property of the author to dispose of as he/she wishes.

On the imprint page of a majority of books is the following information: All rights are reserved. No part of this book can be stored on a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by whatever means without the prior permission in writing from the publisher... or words to that effect.

At Meni Publishing And Binding we word the paragraph differently, so that you, the self-publisher, maintain all rights to the work, and where the need arises, you can offer your work to mainstream publishers: in essence, MPAB receives nothing; we have no rights other than those associated with the offer that we have provided you, as requested by you.

Meni Publishing And Binding have no rights over your work; we simply act on your wishes, a mechanism employed by you, helping you to manufacture your book.

An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is not mandatory, but is the principal worldwide ordering device for the international book trade and library market, required where a book is to be sold directly or indirectly to the public and/or issued to distribution companies. CiP (Cataloguing-in-Publication) registration and a barcode are essential if you wish to market your book.

For family and friends

If you simply wish to have a dozen or two books manufactured for family and friends, we can help you out. If the book you wish to have printed is NOT for sale to the public domain, an ISBN will not be required: the choice is yours.

What we do and do not provide

We provide a service that will see your work published. The following is a brief list of what you can expect from us (we do NOT provide a service for editing or proofreading):

• Page Layout and Design: this incorporates preparing your work in word format and assistance with regards to cover design. We retain copies of your book in order to 'Print on Demand', as requested by you.
• Printing: we print the entire book and covers, prices as provided/discussed.
• Perfect Binding: yes; we provide the best, not the rest.
• Guillotine: cut to size your books... the finished product.
• ISBN, CiP and Barcode: where requested; or simply provide your own.
• Invoicing: provide professional-looking invoices to your clients when selling to websites.
• Statement by a Supplier: sell your book without an ABN, no GST involved.

We agree to publish a fixed number of copies for you at a fixed price; you can always have more copies made, as we will Print on Demand, any number of books, up to 1,000 at a time, and if necessary, after that, a further 10-1,000 as required by you.

Important

We reserve the right to decline assistance where we believe (overwhelmingly) that the book you wish to publish is blatantly racial and/or contains pornographic material.

Step-by-step process

Ensure you are happy that no further editing and proofreading is required before submitting your work for printing.

Deliver the manuscript to us in word format on CD. Once the manuscript is in our hands we can give you a final 'confirmatory' price on its manufacture by calculating 'precisely' how many pages it will be.

Apply for your ISBN by going to http://www.thorpe.com.au, or if you wish us to provide one for you simply let us know.

You pay an up-front fee of $100.00 (which covers ALL set-up costs and is not refundable if you decide to cancel) and if requesting an ISBN please submit the information required, as laid down by the ISBN application form - we can discuss this with you later.

Create a cover design for the book. Simply provide the artwork/photo and we apply this to your cover - there are no additional, or hidden costs, for this service. You would also be advised to provide a blurb for the back cover: we discuss everything with you and understand fully that the selling point for any book is its cover.

Any other illustrations for your book also need to be considered; such as maps and other diagrams. We work best with .jpeg format. We will also scan photos for you and there are no additional costs for this service, so long as the total amount of scanning work required is kept to a minimum.

We will then provide you with a finished copy of your book... the only difference between THIS book and the final one is that the ISBN and barcode have not been applied to the cover, and ISBN and CiP information have not been included on the imprint page. If there are any changes that need to be applied then you indicate such changes - please note: this is your LAST opportunity to make final changes to your work. If you are happy with the final look of your book then final payment will be required, and the job of manufacture will commence.

Once the work has been completed you can either pick up your books or have them delivered - costs for delivery will be applied.

Legal deposit will need to be made: one of your books will need to be provided to the State/Territory and National library... legal deposit requirements may vary from state to state.

About The Owner

I joined the Australian Army in 1980 at age 17yrs and 2 months, and after completing training at kapooka was whisked away to the School Of Infantry at Singleton, NSW.

I served in the Infantry until injury forced a medical discharge upon me in 1996, after having served in Malaysia, 1982; PNG (with the AATPT) in 1990: during the Bougainville Crisis; and in Rwanda, 1995, where, on 22nd April, the massacre of over 4,000 IDP's took place: the memories of Kibeho and other atrocities still very clear in my mind.

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SELF-PUBLISHING COSTS