Professional services for the publishing industry

Professional services for the Australian publishing industry.

At Green Hill we don’t just deal with authors. Our systems can be successfully used by other publishing companies leaving them to concentrate on other elements of the publishing process. Green Hill offers a suite of whitelabeled professional services for the Australian publishing industry.

1. Author onboarding and project communication

When a new author starts with your publishing company its important that they quickly become cognisant of professional publishing processes. At Green Hill we know how an author who has preconceived ideas about how the publishing process works can quickly derail a potentially straightforward project.

Often self-published authors are starting their very first project. Novice authors might think they know how to publish a book but there are many components that they are unaware of. Staff in corporate marketing departments – especially junior staff – are mostly unaware of professional publishing methodologies.

Outlining a production process and debunking preconceptions (especially those that will increase costs for both the author and your publishing company) is critical.

We’ve all had the author that wants to do it “my way” – stepping out of sequence or skipping vital components (or adding steps which are not needed), These types of  authors often want to reengineer the business process. This type can start  by asking detailed questions about exactly how things are done and then propose it be done another way – often the wrong way! Some authors want to micromanage in fine grain and want to make judgements that will have poor results.

At Green Hill we understand that book production is a little (more than a little) like a car coming down the assembly line. We have a proven system of setting expectations for a book publishing project and encouraging authors to comply with a business process that will be rewarding for them.

Communications management is critical. In the ‘early days’ of Green Hill we had one client who registered over 500 emails/phone calls surrounding a very simple publishing production.

Green Hill has staff who triage author communications and assign tasks to the production team. Our author portals give authors all the information they need to feel empowered, in-control and confident about their publishing project. Author portals can be branded with your publishing company livery e.g. your logo and other graphics.

Publisher portals display multiple projects – aggregating information on multiple author projects they have placed with Green Hill – as a management dashboard.

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2. Publishing strategy and business advice 

Green Hill performs the services akin to that of an acquisition editor. It’s important that at the earliest possible point in the book publishing project, a view is reached about the marketability of the book. While an acquisition editor is responsible for building of a profitable catalogue for a publishing company, simple research can identify if the genre the individual author is planning to publish in is large enough to achieve profit. Trend analysis may also give an insight into how the future looks for a particular book in a particular genre.

Within a well selling genre the author can adopt a ‘me-too’ strategy by positioning his/her book alongside a best seller, or differentiate their book by offering a unique perspective/something new.

An important part of any publishing plan is to determine the book’s production values e.g. hardback or softback, colour or mono print interior. And an increasingly important decision is when and if to launch an ebook and/or audiobook,

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3. Research, writing and editing

Some authors need everything done. And we mean everything. Is it laziness? No. Is is because they are time poor. Are they being strategic? Yes, quite possibly.

Green Hill can provide an end-to-end service for you and your client.

We can handle any research process, ghostwriting and editing needed to produce a winnng book.  Our writers and editors can liaise direct with the author if required.

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4. Document assessment and pre-studio preparation

We are experts in the Microsoft ecosystem of software products. Microsoft enables us to seamlessly, move the project from the author’s keyboard through to the latest print technology. Document assessment is the first step in this workflow.

Our Microsoft Word tools enable us to review the author’s manuscript to identify issues and anomalies likely to effect workflows.

Pre-studio preparation ensures our book designers are able to concentrate on the things that matter – bespoke market impacting cover design and nuanced interior features and typography.

Our ‘early intervention’  strategy – pre-studio preparation – paves the way for an efficient production process in both terms of cost and time to completion.

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5. Template design and construction and XML workflows.

Template design for Word and Adobe, and  XML workflows are at the core of Green Hill’s production process. From Microsoft through XML to Adobe, Green Hill’s tools developed through years of production experience will give your publishing projects cost efficiency, design excellence and timliness not to mention output to quality eBooks and other content formats.

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