FAQ 

As a hybrid book publisher, Wildebeest Publishing Co. combines the elements of traditional publishing with self-publishing. We offer a range of publishing services, including editing, design, marketing, and coaching.

Hybrid publishing is an alternative to traditional publishing and self-publishing, and it can be a good option for authors who want more support and guidance in the publishing process, but who also want to retain some control over their book and its marketing.

Our area of focus is on workbooks, journals, and books that help others grow. 

Wildebeest has published 6 - 12 books per year since its inception as an LLC in 2021.

We publish a wide range of genres, including fiction (such as romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction), nonfiction (including memoir, self-help, business, health and wellness, cookbooks, and guided journals), poetry, and children’s books (including picture books and middle grade). We also work with young adult authors across genres like fantasy, romance, and contemporary fiction. Other areas we support include LGBTQ+ literature, graphic novels, educational materials, activity books, parenting, environmental topics, and social justice content.

Our screening process is more about your goals and expectations for your book than the specific genre, so if you have a clear vision and a message to share, we want to hear from you.

We utilize a variety of platforms, depending on the author and their goals for the book. Many of our authors are self-publishing for the first time. In that case, we often recommend Amazon because there are no upfront costs, they are a popular search engine, it is easy to make an update if needed, and there are no minimum book orders. All of these things can be issues to an author trying to get published for the first time. 

Be sure to ask about options when we discuss your book. 

You may have heard that real publishers don't charge for publishing.  That may have been true in pre-Amazon days and before self-publishing came to be. However, in today's world with the many options available, paying for help is a perfectly viable service. 

We charge a fee because we are helping you self-publish. This is referred to as hybrid publishing. Many people can and do self-publish without assistance, but they are often hindered by technical ability, design knowledge, and lack of marketing skills. 

We can help with all of those things as well as accountability, credibility, and making sure you are setting yourself up for success.

We specialize in helping authors publish professional-quality books through print-on-demand, which works best for most standard formats. However, we typically don’t publish books that require custom printing features—like comic books, board books, or other baby/toddler formats—because these often require offset printing, large print runs, and specialized materials not available through POD services.

If you're unsure whether your project fits, we're happy to review it during an intro call.

We can work with you in an accountability/consultation phase to bring your idea to life. You pay for coaching calls at your pace, as you build and we help guide you in bringing your idea to life. View the phases of our publishing process here. 

Consultations are $150 per session. We charge this for a few reasons. 

1. You want valuable information and we will be giving you valuable information that you'll be able to use whether you work with us or not.

2. Our time is valuable and so is yours. We do not want to spend time talking to people who are not serious about getting published.

3. If you do choose to work with us, the fee is applied towards the publishing fees, so you will get it back.

Discounts are available for teachers and nonprofits. 

The focus of a book writing consulting call is to provide guidance and support to help the client achieve their writing goals. Some examples of topics, depending on your needs include:

1. Discussing your project: Your idea, audience, goals, and any challenges or obstacles you're facing in the writing process.

2. Providing feedback on a writing sample: We can review a sample of your writing and provide feedback on things like organization, clarity, and overall effectiveness.

3. Offering writing tips and strategies: We can provide guidance on things like how to structure your book, how to develop characters, or how to craft compelling dialogue.

4. Helping you with your goals and create a plan: We can work with you to set specific goals for the writing process and create a plan for achieving those goals.

5. Answering questions and providing support: We can  answer any questions you might have about the writing process and offer support, encouragement, and accountability as you work on your book.

Make sure you know what the genre of your book entails, and what your mission is for the book. Include details like word count, page count, formatting, where you are at in the writing process, what services you’ll need, and how you might envision the marketing and promotion processes after publication. 

Yes, financing and payment plans are available. For coaching and consulting calls we'll work with you on what meets your needs.

For publishing, will give you an up front quote of the costs and then we can work with you on a payment schedule. 

For corporate publications, we will provide you with an estimate and options for payments. 

We offer teacher and nonprofit discounts as well.

Self-publishing costs can vary widely depending on whether you do it all yourself, hire freelancers, or work with a hybrid publisher. Doing it alone and hiring freelancers can add up to several thousand dollars, and you have to manage everything yourself.

At Wildebeest Publishing, our hybrid publishing packages start at $1,750, with options that include editing, design, distribution, marketing tools, and access to our Authorpreneur Community.

For full details and pricing, visit our Services page.

We offer three publishing options with different royalty structures to fit your goals:

• Sherpa Trek: We handle publishing behind the scenes and you keep 100% of your royalties. There is no marketing support offered with this option.

• Herd Trek (our most popular): We’re fully invested in your book’s success. You get a 50/50 royalty split and lifetime access to our Authorpreneur community—packed with marketing resources, guides, weekly group meetings, and guest speakers to help you grow your author business.

• Safari Trek: You keep 100% of your royalties and receive one year of marketing support from us to help boost your book’s visibility.

Pick the path that works best for you and your goals.

For publishing, everything is included in the starting prices to get your 100 page or less workbook or journal concept up for sale on Amazon. Additional fees may be added for over 100 pages, e-books, audio versions, deeper dive editing, additional marketing, and other services. See the detailed publishing package comparison page for what's include and add-on options, here. 

If you are starting in the consultation/coaching phase, you'll be invoiced per session. There may be additional fees if there are assignments given to us, such as: formatting, editing, design, template creation, etc., in association with helping you get your book idea to the ready-to-publish phase.

As the original author of your work, you own the copyright to your work. In working with us, you'll sign a contract that grants us license to publish your work. It is up to you if you wish to register your copyright with the government.

Whether you are publishing a workbook, journal, or hoping for a best-selling novel, your words need to be edited. There are several types of editing for different levels of review. Our services include a light hand edit. This means that we will check your spelling and grammar. We will also make suggestions for deeper content level editing. This type of editing makes sure your messages are clear and concise. Deeper levels of editing are available for additional fees. 

The process of getting a book published can vary depending on many factors, including the type of publisher, the genre of the book, the author's experience and the publisher's workload. The time it takes to publish a book is a balancing act between meeting the author's deadline and ensuring the quality of the book.

While it is difficult to provide a definitive timeline for publishing a book, the general process typically involves several stages. These include manuscript editing and formatting, cover design, typesetting, proofreading, printing and distribution. Each of these stages can take varying amounts of time, depending on the complexity of the book and the publisher's workload.

We take pride in the quality of the books we publish, and we prioritize thorough reading and editing to ensure that the final product meets our high standards. When an author has a deadline they want to meet, we will do our best to meet those dates, however, in general, we cannot make guarantees due to these quality constraints. We work closely with our authors throughout the process to keep them informed of progress and potential delays, and we do our best to keep the process as efficient as possible without sacrificing quality.

Yes, we provide marketing support as part of our hybrid publishing services — especially for authors in our Herd Trek program (our 50/50 royalty split model). Herd Trek authors get lifetime access to our Authorpreneur Community, which offers priceless value through:

• A library of guides and resources

• Guest speaker sessions

• A supportive network of fellow authors and creatives

We also provide a Marketing Kit that includes:

• A customizable press release template

• Sample tip sheet for media outreach

• 30 professional book mockups

• Postcard and bookmark designs for events or giveaways

While we don’t create custom graphics or run campaigns for you, we set you up with a solid foundation and resources designed to help you promote your book effectively. Authors who take an active role tend to get the best results, and we’re here to support that momentum.

Your book will be distributed globally through Amazon and IngramSpark, which means it will be available to over 40,000 retailers, libraries, and bookstores including online platforms like Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and independent bookstore networks.

To be clear: availability doesn't equal shelf placement. While bookstores can order your book through Ingram, they aren’t required to stock it unless you or your audience create demand. We do not guarantee in-store placement, as any other publisher we can't guarantee placement but we’ll provide you with tools and guidance to help you drive sales and generate interest with your target audience.

You can publish a book under either! When you promote your book and use marketing tools, it’s recommended to use this pen name or pseudonym as an author brand for your newsletter, provided content, and bookish merchandise. 

Changes are harder to make if you traditionally publish your book with a publisher because they have a team specifically tailored to your book. Generally, they work through the book thoroughly until it comes time to publish. However, if you publish with us, you can most definitely make changes after it is initially published but there are limitations and potentially additional costs depending on the circumstances.

There is no specific timeline for publishing. However, I would recommend spending at least several months to a year of planning or writing a book, regardless of the genre. This also depends on how often you write and polish edits on a book. If you are going into traditional publishing, this process can definitely take longer. There is no linear timeline for publishing a book.