Frequently Asked Questions About CinnamonTeal
Is CinnamonTeal A Vanity Press?
CinnamonTeal is a provider of services for individuals and institutions that wish to self-publish or require pre-publishing services, not a vanity press.
Vanity presses typically offer many services, all of which are bundled together and must be paid for in advance. Most vanity presses also insist that a certain number of copies must be necessarily purchased by the author. The author is then responsible for the sale of these copies.
CinnamonTeal offers POD (print-on-demand) services, other, allied, pre-publishing services and also a channel to help you to sell your books yourself. In addition to pre-packaged services, we also provide a menu of services and you can pay only for the services you have availed of. In both cases, all costs are communicated to you, and there are absolutely no other charges. And you are definitely not required to purchase any minimum number of copies.
Do I Have To Be Represented By An Agent To Work With CinnamonTeal?
No, you do not. You can approach us directly. Simply email us at contactus@ cinnamonteal.in or editorialservices@ dogearsetc.com to initiate a conversation.
Do I Lose My Rights If You Issue An ISBN For My Book?
The ISBN saga not withstanding, there is still some confusion over ISBN and its relation to copyright.
The ISBN is a set of numbers that contains certain information, among them a publisher identifier. When a publisher or author is allotted an ISBN, that ISBN can be traced back to that author or publisher. Hence, we, at CinnamonTeal Publishing, make it clear, that as far as a book for which we have issued an ISBN is concerned, we have to be recognized as publishers of that book.
Consequently, we also demand that the book be edited and presented properly i.e. we insist on certain guidelines for book and cover design. We also do not allow the book to be printed elsewhere, only so we can control the quality of the printed book.
That has nothing to do with copyright over the content of the book. Our publishing practice is to ALWAYS vest copyright of the content with the author in the case of self-published books. That means the author can move to another publisher, approve or reject use of his/her content in other places, and negotiate other subsidiary rights.
To reiterate, this is how it is done at CinnamonTeal Publishing. It could be done differently elsewhere, so it is better to ask the publisher before proceeding with the book. And, more importantly, this is the case only with self-published books. In the traditional mode of publishing, copyright could vest with the publisher, albeit for a finite period of time.
Why Do Customers Shop At CinnamonTeal? (Why Should I Purchase Your Services?)
This question is best answered by those who have shopped at CinnamonTeal and returned satisfied. However, based on their testimonials, we have gathered some insights into their reasons for doing business with us.
- Your book is important to us. It is not another statistic we can trumpet out loud. We have never approached two books in the same way – you would be hard pressed to find two identical book designs. And the more you tell us about your vision for your book, the more we strive to fulfill your vision.
- We think we are transparent in our dealings. At least we strive hard to be. As a result, you know what you are paying for and there are no hidden costs. And you get what you pay for.
- We will not force you to do things you do not wish to do. You will know what is needed and be given the freedom to choose your course of action. This is why we have chosen not to offer packages, because we believe that there are many components in the packages our competitors offer that are of no use to the author or should simply not be charged.
- We strive hard to manage expectations. We are clear that books will not sell unless the author is involved in promoting them. If you ask us, we will also tell you not to depend too much on just a store presence simply because there are too many books out there and books that are not promoted will not sell.
- We are die-hard traditionalists who are not willing to tamper with the idea of the book. We believe that a customer buying your book should get value for her money and therefore a book should be well edited and properly presented. We are in the business since 2007, having introduced self-publishing in India, and we know what aspects of the book need attention.
- We are constantly looking for ways to improve our services, both in range and in depth. This is because we would like to be a one-stop shop for our customers, many of whom have unique needs. For the same reason, we do not have constraints on the dimensions of the book, or on the number of images you can insert into your book.
- We are easily accessible. While we prefer that you first email us, we are open to talking to you after that email so we know what you wish to discuss. In addition, many of our authors have come and met us at our office in Goa, simply because it assures them to know that there are people at the end of the line.
How Does CinnamonTeal Ensure The Quality Of Its Publications?
While deciding to publish a book, CinnamonTeal does not consider the “market worthiness” of the book i.e. whether or not the book will sell well in the market. This is, in fact, a major differentiating factor when compared to most other publishers. CinnamonTeal does, however, insist that a certain quality of writing be maintained. We recommend, at a minimum, a round of copy editing prior to typesetting. Further, we also insist that certain standards of typesetting and cover design should be applied to the book.
Note that while CinnamonTeal provides copy editing and typesetting services, the author is not bound to avail of them and may choose to have the book edited and type set elsewhere. In such a case, we will provide you with guidelines so that the edited/typeset book conforms to our requirements. In many cases, the author has insisted on certain design elements in the book (that do not match the aesthetic tastes of CinnamonTeal)and sometimes has even refused to have the book edited. In such cases, CinnamonTeal has only provided the requested publishing services but has not published the book itself i.e. it has not issued a CinnamonTeal ISBN, and has advised the author on how to apply for an ISBN herself/himself.
Is There Any Age Limit For Using Your Services?
If you decide to self-publish with CinnamonTeal Publishing, the first step in the process is to sign an agreement. This agreement is usually signed by the author. However, if the author is a minor (less than 18 years of age), a parent or guardian can sign it on the author’s behalf. Both names (that of the author and that of the guardian) will appear in the agreement.
Do I Retain The Rights To My Work?
Yes, you do. You remain in complete ownership of all your work. If you own an ISBN, it will be published by you. However, if you choose to avail of an ISBN owned by CinnamonTeal, it will be published by CinnamonTeal. In both cases, you continue to own the rights in your name and CinnamonTeal does not make any claim or restriction on the ownership of your work.
However, please do note that if you wish to be published by some other publisher, after already being published by us you need to inform us a month in advance so that we can remove your book from our listings. In case your book is published by another entity, we will insist that the new entity issue you another ISBN.
If I Decide To Publish With CinnamonTeal Does That Mean I Cannot Self-Publish With Any Other Publishing House (Like Amazon) In The Future?
CinnamonTeal enters into a non-exclusive agreement with every author and that means you can terminate the services of CinnamonTeal and engage with another publisher at any time. However, you need to give an advance notice of at least a month so that the book is not listed for sale on dogearsetc.com, or on any other platform through CinnamonTeal. This de-listing is done to avoid any confusion and legal issues that may arise out of the same book being available for sale, but with different ISBNs and from different publishers.
If CinnamonTeal has issued the ISBN for your book, this ISBN ‘belongs’ to CinnamonTeal and cannot be used on a book published by another publisher. We will therefore insist that the new publisher issue you another ISBN. Most publishers are aware of this requirement and will themselves ensure that the book has a new ISBN.
Consequent to termination of service, CinnamonTeal is under no obligation to retain the manuscript files.
It is not advisable to have the book published by two publishers at the same time. It is also generally not advisable to have different formats of the same book published by two different publishers e.g. the paperback by one publisher and the ebook by another.
I Retain The Full Rights To My Book. Does That Mean I Can Publish It Again On My Own?
Yes, you can. If your book is published by CinnamonTeal and you wish to publish it again with some other publisher, you need to inform us. We ask that you inform us even if a traditional publisher has accepted your book for publishing. View this answer for more details.
Other Self-Publishing Companies Offer 70% Royalty. How Much Do You Offer?
You get paid what you want. Period.
While deciding the price of the book, we ask you how much you’d like to earn per sale (in other words, what royalty you’d like to earn). If you decide you’d like to earn Rs. 10/- per sale, that is exactly what you will earn after each sale.
There are no complicated formulae, no percentages, no revenue sharing, nothing.
You get paid what you want.
Period.
Here is a blog post on the topic.
We have several extensive FAQ pages covering a variety of subjects and answering questions you may have about us and our services.