Absolutely. We are happy to give samples of the quality of our work. Just give us a call or send us an e-mail and we'll arrange to have one sent out to you.

You might also consider browsing our on-line bookstore, where you can see hundreds of examples of our high quality covers. We'd also encourage you to support other authors like you by purchasing a book.

Our publishing agreement can be viewed as part of our on-line sign up process, so that it can properly reflect the options you select.

You do not have to sign up to see it. The agreement is displayed before you commit your project to us or submit payment details.

If you can't access the sign-up form on-line, give us a call and we'll be happy to send you a printed sample agreement.

We consider it important to protect the privacy of our authors and so cannot give out contact details. However, many of them have submitted audio or written testimonials for this website. Feel free to visit the What Our Authors Say section on our website and hear from them directly!

WinePress Publishing, our parent company, has been publishing books since 1991 - that's longer than almost any other Christian self-publisher.

Pleasant Word, our print-on-demand division, was founded in September 2001. We studied the new technologies and developing market for a long time to make sure we could offer top quality products through Pleasant Word, as well as give the best discounts and royalties.

Absolutely! We love to meet our authors, and many travel to Washington to meet our staff. If you would like to visit us, please be sure to set up an appointment through one of our Solutions Advisors.

WinePress Publishing provides services for authors who have a market for at least 2,500 copies or more. If you don't feel you can move at least that many books in your first year or two, then Pleasant Word is the best match for you. Keep in mind that WinePress utilizes traditional offset printing techniques, which enables you to get special embellishments on the cover (foil, embossing, matte and spot gloss lamination) as well as hard cover full-color coffee table gift books and case bound children’s books. These specialty kinds of production are not available with print-on-demand technology.

Every year Pleasant Word invites selected Blue Ribbon authors to attend the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS). This event is a closed-floor, private event for Christian booksellers and publishers to attend. Click here to see what authors had to say about ICRS!

Yes. However, creating indexes is time-consuming and complicated work and so requires an additional charge. In order to keep the cost to a minimum, we recommend that you create your own index during the last phase of the publishing process. This has the advantage of greatly reducing the cost, and ensuring that you get exactly the items you want included in your index.

Absolutely. You can always arrange to pay us an informal visit and meet your project manager and our other staff. If you need a formal meeting with your project manager during the production process, there will be an hourly charge due to the high demands on their time (our project managers are very busy).

Yes. You can print your book with other publishers at any time. However, a traditional publisher may ask you to cancel your contract with Pleasant Word after one year and give them exclusive rights to your book.

Distributors require the right to sell your book for 1 year after the publication date. You may take your book out of print anytime after that. Even if you sell the rights to your book to a traditional publisher within the first year, it will take them longer than that to get your book printed, so it shouldn’t be a conflict. There is normally a minimal charge to cover the administrative costs of removing a book from distribution.

Some quality control conditions do apply but, generally, yes. If you opted for the Blue Ribbon package, or if your manuscript has already received copy editing and proof-reading with the Red Ribbon package, your book may be eligible to be reprinted through WinePress at a reduced rate (assuming no changes are made to the text or the cover).

If your book takes off and you suddenly need several thousand copies, this can be a huge benefit - as some of our authors can testify.

Yes. We maintain a high standard in what we publish, even from a Christian perspective. From a theological viewpoint we would be considered "conservative." We publish a wide spectrum of material for Christian authors, but we take our responsibility to uphold the truth of Scripture very seriously. Therefore, while we certainly allow a wide range of viewpoints, we do not accept books that promote blatantly unbiblical theology. For more information, see our standards page.

If your book is family-friendly, but not necessarily Christian, our Annotation Press division may be able to help.

Absolutely. We have authors from many different countries. However, except for those authors residing in the UK, out of the country authors will have to pay a little extra to have their books, or any other printed material, shipped to them.

We have published books in Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Korean and German. Due to the complex issues that arise with foreign language fonts and formatting, however, there is an extra charge for books published in languages other than English or Spanish.

Very similar to, if not better than, what you would expect to find at any bookstore or library. For trim sizes of 6 x 9 and under, the text stock used is 60# crème, and for trim sizes over 6 x 9, the text stock used is 50# white. Your cover is printed on a high quality laminated cover stock and the colors are vivid. Call us if you are interested in receiving a sample.

Once your book has been edited, formatted, approved, and processed by the printer, you are able to order copies through our Author Services section on this website. The books will normally ship approximately 2-3 business days from the time you place your order. Bear in mind that color picture books and hardcovers take a few days longer, and orders over 250 copies will also take additional time to produce.

Unfortunately, this makes the process more difficult - but not impossible! If you do not have access to a computer with the ability to receive e-mails and attachments, a surcharge must be added to the submission fee to cover extra time, expenses, postage, and handling of sending hard copies of cover proofs and text galleys via our selected courier.

Very simply, each book is printed only when an order is placed. This eliminates a large up-front cash requirement for the author and removes the need to warehouse large quantities of books. Digital technology allows us to store and print your book electronically. Click here for more information.

Pleasant Word owns the ISBN numbers. We know how important it is to provide our authors' books with an ISBN number, so we purchase large blocks of numbers in order to make the process as smooth as possible. Why is this a good thing for you? Because anyone looking for your book will be able to order it by ISBN number from us, or from almost any bookstore.

Some people mistakenly suggest that whoever owns the ISBN also owns the rights to your book. This is completely untrue. We own the ISBN purely as a convenience for our authors, and you retain the rights to your book.

You do. The “rights” to a book implies ownership. When printing with Pleasant Word, YOU own all the rights to your book. A contract with a traditional publisher will usually involve you relinquishing rights of your book to the publisher, freeing the publisher to alter your book as he/she sees fit. Some print on demand publishers also retain the rights to your book, restricting you from future opportunities with traditional publishers.

Not only do we want you to keep the rights, we want you to succeed! Many WinePress authors have proven themselves by self-publishing and gone on to publish with traditional publishers. With both WinePress and Pleasant Word you are free to make career choices with your manuscript as you see fit, and if we can help in any way we will. In fact, every year at the International Christian Retail Show we meet international publishers who want the translation and reprint rights for many of our authors' books. This is not only profitable for you as the author but provides wonderful exposure for your message. We are happy to facilitate these kinds of contracts that are in our authors' best interest.

Yes. The copyright will be in your name. The copyright submission is made on the date of publication in order to ensure that your entire, completed project is covered. Due to the changeable nature of the charges involved, you will be billed separately for all associated fees.

Yes. Libraries can order through the major distributors we work with.

You can go to this page for a detailed explanation, and some examples.

That’s entirely up to you. Very seldom does a book sell itself-even the leading publishers in the industry invest large sums of money in marketing, advertising, and promoting. If you published your book just to sell to friends and family, Pleasant Word’s services will easily meet your goal. If you wish to become a best-selling author, that’s definitely possible too - but it will take some marketing, creativity, and work on your part! Of course, we're here to help in any way we can and offer several publicity packages that can really help to jump-start interest in your book.

Royalties are paid quarterly - in January, April, July, and October.  You should be aware, however, that it can be several months before distributors actually pay for an order. Therefore, sales reports and payments from distributors will be delayed.

You can expect to see your first royalty statement 45 days after the first full quarter that your book is published. Your sales report can be viewed online 24/7, and is updated whenever we receive new sales data.

Because of the database systems involved, it takes from 4-6 weeks after your book is published for the information to reach bookstores. We always advise authors to hold off on any promotions until bookstores are able to search for, find, and order your book. All our books are registered with Christian Books & More (the database Christian bookstores use to find product) as well as Books in Print, thereby enabling all bookstores, whether Christian or secular, access to your book.

In the Blue, Red, and Yellow Ribbon contracts, your book is made available through the largest book distributor in the United States. Readers can buy your book online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, or at a local bookstore.

They can also order books through the Pleasant Word website. Red and Blue Ribbon contracts allow readers to order your book through our toll-free fulfillment service, and Blue Ribbon also makes your book available through Christianbook.com.

The White Ribbon package offers books only to authors at a 32% discount, so readers must buy books directly from you.

The retail price is determined by your book’s page count. It is embedded (hidden) in the bar code, so retailers will know how to price your book, but the price is not printed on your book. This way you may offer your book at whatever price you desire when you make direct sales. Note: Retail Prices are subject to change as market conditions and costs warrant. For a list of retail prices, please visit our Retail Prices page.

Maybe. Shelf space in bookstores is very limited and it would be virtually impossible for every bookstore to carry every book. However, because of our distribution agreement with wholesalers like Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Spring Arbor, bookstores can certainly order your book and get it in a short time frame. Most importantly, your book will be listed in every bookstore’s database of titles, making it easy for readers to special order your book from their favorite bookstore.

To better serve our authors in the marketplace, we mark our print-on-demand books as “returnable.” Without this capability, major distributors and bookstores will not even handle a book. However, as books are printed on-demand to fulfill each order, with no provision for warehousing, this requires that the author purchase any returned books from WinePress by paying the author price plus shipping and handling. In addition, any royalty paid for books that are subsequently returned must be deducted from the author’s account. We believe that making our books returnable provides a considerable benefit to our authors. However, an author may request, in writing, to opt out of this advantageous arrangement.