Publish with Us

Nimble Books is an innovative and, frankly, idiosyncratic independent publisher  that focuses on publishing timely, colorful, thought-provoking and concise books on a variety of topics that are of interest to, well, me, W. Frederick Zimmerman.

(If you really want to get plugged in, follow me on Twitter, which is my main online hang-out).

The business model is nimble, too: no fees to the author (ever), no inventory, no advances, no returns, better royalties. It’s the wave of the future because it fixes a lot of things that are broken with traditional publishing. Want to join the fun? If you are interested in publishing with Nimble Books, read on. If …

• You want to know what kinds of books I publish …
  • See the Nimble books  store;
  • This list of series;
  • The list of forthcoming books;
  • Tips on editing collections for Nimble Books; and
  • This analysis of which books seem to be most profitable for me.
  • Warnings:
    • I have not yet published any fiction, and it is not high on my priority list;
    • I am generally quite skeptical about memoirs, unless you are a notable public figure with a broadcast marketing platform, or your story is truly extraordinary;
    • I only publish religious books with avowedly Christian themes–no “spiritual” or New Age books, please;
    • I am not impressed by claims that tens of millions of Baby Boomers share your interest in a topic; and
    • Nimble Books is not a service provider.
  • But …  don’t limit yourself: if you have a good idea for a book or even a new series, I do want to hear about it
• You want to know what sort of company you’ll be in as a Nimble Books author
• You want to know how long your book can be … (but remember, there is a direct relationship between length and price)
• You want to know about our standard contract …
• You want to know how much money you will make when  you write a book for me …
• You want to know about our approach to marketing …
• You want to know what marketing techniques are most effective …

Once you’ve reviewed all the above, submit  a proposal for a Nimble book.

• I will generally respond quite promptly.  If I like the idea, we’ll discuss and iterate (preferably by e-mail), until we have agreed (or failed to agree) on scope and approach.  At that point, I’ll send you an invitation to assent to a personalized version of the standard contract.

• Get started writing, don’t procrastinate!  Remember, in the Nimble business model, neither of us can make any money whatsoever from a book that is planned, in progress, “working,” or “almost done.”
• Follow the Chicago Manual of Style, volume 15 (BTW–it is available on-line for $30/year!);
• Consult the posts tagged  Nimble Books Style Guide;
• Include a bibliography if it’s appropriate to the material…
• Let me know your thoughts on whether an index is appropriate …
• If you can, find someone well known to write a Foreword …
• Remember that “complete” means complete;
• Deliver the manuscript using one of the recommended file transfer methods in one of the following formats (listed in the order preferred):
  • in Word with consistent paragraph styles;
  • Word (.docx or .doc both ok);
  • RTF;
  • Common wordprocessor formats such as Word Perfect will probably be ok;
  • ASCII text;
  • PDF page images (by prior agreement only, please).
• Deliver images using one of the recommended file transfer methods as follows:
  • separately (not embedded in the manuscript);
  • minimum 72 dpi, 300 preferable;
  • final versions (don’t send me low-res then send high-res along later!)
  • TIF, PNG, JPEG, GIF, PDF ok (if you need to use compression, try to make it lossless);
  • as many pixels as possible;
  • RGB ok;
  • meaningful filenames (e.g. battleship-montana.jpg);
  • figure locations marked in the text with {squiggly brackets on a separate line roughly where the figure should go};
  • captions provided (ideally, in Word’s “Caption” format already).

Once you have turned your manuscript, the following articles provide useful guidance about subsequent milestones:

• What will the trim size be?
• What sort of paper do you use? Is it acid-free?
• Your ISBN number is …
• You have an idea for the cover …
• When will it be published?
• Your proof has been approved …
• You want to understand how we set the price for your book …
• Your book is available for distribution …
• Your new book is only available on booksmoreplusstuff …
• Getting a bookstore to order your book …
• Getting the major chains to pick up your book …
• You want to know whether your book will be published as an e-book, via Kindle, via Google Book Search, and so on …
• Understanding your AdWords advertising campaign …
• Understanding your Amazon sales rank …
• How do you calculate author’s compensation in USD from UK sales that are earned in GBP?

Questions?