About

Caliber Press is an independent publishing company based out of Tacoma, Washington that began in April 2019.

Our Mission

Our mission is to bring to life the power of words, to share stories, preserve memories, re-experience history, and to convey ideas that should transcend generations. We collaborate with authors at every stage of the publishing process to create the best possible form of their work with maximum visibility. We currently publish print on demand with the capability to do short run and other types of printing and bookmaking as the need arises.

Our Vision

Caliber aims to be a leader in contemporary independent publishing. We believe in the transmedia movement – that books are more than just their paper form, and stories go beyond the page. The world is consuming content more and more digitally, and audiobooks, as well as other content platforms, are on the rise. New forms of storytelling are ever-evolving. Caliber will work with its authors to help them stand out in this ever-changing publishing landscape.

Work we publish includes: short story and poetry anthologies, poetry and short story collections as well as chapbooks, historical non-fiction, scientific non-fiction, autobiographies, biographies, self-help, memoir, fiction (and all sub-genres), graphic novels, cookbooks, arts & crafts, hobbies, nature/environment, archeology, Young Adult, Novellas (20,000-50,000 words), fashion, film, philosophy, pop culture, paranormal, travel, photography, how-to guides, business, and technology.

We also specialize in: historic reprints, collaborative works, and other interpretations of storytelling, both creative and digital.

Our Process

Caliber is like a traditional press in the sense that we accept manuscripts based on proposals and work within a contract that is specific to each author’s project, but we also seek to form meaningful partnerships with our authors and build a sense of community. We offer a 50% royalty share on published works after the basic in-house expenses of putting the work out for publication, which can vary from project to project, but we will be clear about these expenses when we take on a manuscript. Generally, they are:

ISBN: $29.50 per format (e-book, paperback, hardcover, audiobook) // whether or not an ISBN will be applied also depends on the type of project and where it will be distributed. Not all books will be made available in every format because not all content is conducive to that.

Copyright: $65 // Authors can also obtain their own copyright for the book based on the publishing information we supply them with once the book is to that stage of the publishing process. Either way they will be the copyright holder and will be mailed the certificate of copyright. We have no interest in stealing your copyright.

Distribution: $49 // This fee applies to books that we make available to libraries and bookstores to purchase. Some books may not need this type of distribution, and so this fee will be non-applicable in those cases.

Book Cover Design & Other Artwork (if not produced in-house) // On some books we may produce a cover or artwork in-house and it will cost nothing, and on others we may choose to hire a designer and it will be anywhere from $50-$1000+ depending on how profitable we think the book will be and if it necessitates that sort of cost.

All of this gets discussed with you as the author based on the needs of your project before we even put it into a contract, so you have a chance to think things over. We don’t charge for editing/polishing the manuscript and we don’t bill for our time otherwise. We also cover the cost of our own marketing materials on our end. Additionally, none of these in-house expenses would be upfront costs. They go against royalties after the book is published. They are the same fees as what you would expect to pay if you self-published the book.

Included in our end of the 50% is:

-All of our time spent on publishing the work from start through post-publication and beyond.

-All of the stages of editing & formatting for publication.

-Any design work we do in-house.

-Any e-book or audiobook production that has to be done.

-Setting up the book for publication and distribution.

-Sending galleys/ARCs to reviewers.

-Setting up the book launch.

-Our ongoing marketing efforts as the publisher (we also expect authors to do some of their own marketing and will help authors so that their work has the best chance to be successful). We’re in this together.

-Collecting payments and issuing royalties.*

*Our authors receive monthly full-disclosure on sales data. We will never hide anything from you or issue a different amount other than what you’re legally entitled to in the contract. All royalties are paid within 14 days of receiving payments from distributors and sellers.

// On manuscripts that are extremely well-polished and projects that include necessary artwork that is print ready (or nearly so) we would consider a higher royalty rate for the author or creator.

// Additionally, assuming you grant us the right to publish your book into audiobook format, you can be the voice of your audiobook if you have the equipment to record yourself. You can also edit it or have us edit it. Either way, it will cut down our end of the royalties on the audiobook. This would be once the manuscript passes through final edits, and we’d need to hear a small sample of what the recording quality would be like to give it the go ahead. If you do not have the equipment or do not wish to narrate then we can handle production for you.