How long does it take to publish a book?
How long does it take to publish a book? Traditional: 2–4 years. Self-publishing: weeks once your files are ready. ISBN and print on demand explained.
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Glossary
Publishing glossary: the terms of the book trade, explained
What an imprint is, who keeps the trade discount, why bookstores can return books and what “net revenue” means in a royalty clause: the words you meet when you publish a book, each in a few sentences.
Most asked: An ISBN identifies one edition of a book and its publisher. An imprint is the publisher name printed on the book. Print on demand prints a copy when it is ordered. The royalty is the author's share, at ShelfPublisher 30% of the net revenue per copy.
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Publisher, imprint and ISBN
Publisher
The company that decides to publish a book, gives it its ISBN and imprint, has it produced and offers it to the trade. A traditional publisher pays the costs and carries the risk. At ShelfPublisher the publisher is Orbita Media GmbH, an international publishing house with more than 1,000 titles. More: About the publisher.
Self-publishing
Publishing a book without a publisher: the author is the publisher, decides everything and pays for any services. Platforms such as Amazon KDP make it free to publish; the book then usually carries the author's name or the platform's imprint. Comparison: Self-publishing platforms compared.
Imprint
The publisher name under which a book appears, printed on the spine and the copyright page and listed in the metadata. A publishing house can run several imprints. With a free KDP ISBN the imprint reads “Independently published”.
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number, 13 digits, identifies one edition of a book and its publisher. Paperback, hardcover and e-book each need their own ISBN. An ISBN is not a copyright and does not move with the book to another publisher. At ShelfPublisher the ISBN is included. More: ISBN for self-published books.
Barcode (EAN-13)
The barcode on the back cover encodes the ISBN so that tills and warehouses can scan the book. Books for the US market often carry a second, five-digit add-on with the price.
Hybrid publisher
A publisher that charges the author for part of the publication and in return pays a higher royalty than a traditional publisher. Before signing, check what exactly you pay for, who owns the ISBN and how the rights come back to you.
Vanity press
A company that earns mainly from authors rather than from book sales: high fees, often the obligation to buy copies or to finance a print run, little or no presence in the trade. ShelfPublisher charges no printing costs, no print run and no copies to buy.
Printing and formats
Print on demand
A printing method: each copy is printed only after it has been ordered. There is no print run, no stock and nothing left over. Print on demand says nothing about who publishes the book. More: Print on demand vs. a publisher.
Print run
The number of copies printed at once in offset printing. A print run lowers the cost per copy, but the copies have to be paid for in advance, stored and sold.
Trim size
The final format of the book after cutting, for example 6 x 9 inches or A5. The trim size decides the page count, the spine width and the printing cost.
Bleed
Extra space around the page, usually 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) per side, for images and backgrounds that should run to the edge. The printer trims it off; without bleed a thin white line can remain.
Paperback
A book with a flexible card cover and a glued binding. Most print-on-demand books are paperbacks; ShelfPublisher publishes paperbacks with a black and white interior and a matte or gloss cover.
Bookstores and distribution
Wholesaler
A company that keeps books from many publishers available for bookstores, libraries and online shops, takes their orders and ships them. Bookstores order most books through wholesalers rather than from each publisher. More: Book distribution.
Distributor
A company that represents publishers to the trade: it takes orders, ships, invoices and handles returns. Unlike a publisher it does not decide what is published.
Trade discount
The share of the list price that the bookstore and the wholesaler keep. The publisher receives the list price minus the trade discount, and pays the printing from it.
Returns
Bookstores can usually send unsold copies back for a credit. Returns reduce the publisher's revenue, so contracts that pay a share of net revenue take them into account.
Metadata
Everything the trade knows about a book besides its text: title, author, ISBN, price, format, page count, description, subject categories and the publisher. Bookstores find and order books by their metadata.
Expanded Distribution
An option of Amazon KDP that offers a KDP paperback to distributors outside Amazon, at a lower royalty than on Amazon itself. KDP states that it does not guarantee that a bookstore or library orders the book. More: KDP alternative.
Books in Print
The US database of available books, run by Bowker, the US ISBN agency. Bookstores and libraries look up titles there. The German counterpart is the VLB.
Legal deposit
The duty of a publisher to send copies of a new book to a national library. In the United States, copyright law generally requires two copies for the Library of Congress within three months of publication; in Germany the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek receives two copies.
Money and contracts
List price
The retail price of the book that the publisher sets, also called cover price. In Germany and Austria a fixed book price applies: every shop sells a new book at the publisher's price.
Net revenue
What the publisher actually receives for a sold copy: the list price minus the trade discount, minus printing, returns and VAT. Royalty clauses based on net revenue pay a larger percentage of a smaller amount than clauses based on the list price.
Royalty
The author's share of each sale. Traditional publishers typically pay 5% to 7% of the cover price for a paperback; ShelfPublisher pays 30% of the net revenue per copy. More: Pricing.
Advance
Money a traditional publisher pays the author before publication. It is set off against future royalties: the author receives further royalties only once the advance has been earned back.
Rights reversion
The return of the publishing rights to the author when the contract ends. At ShelfPublisher the copyright stays with the author, and all rights revert automatically when the contract ends.
Questions
ISBN, imprint and publisher
Who owns the ISBN?
The ISBN comes from the block registered to Orbita Media as publisher, and it stays with Orbita Media. Under the ISBN standard an ISBN identifies the publisher of an edition, so it cannot move with the book.
It costs you nothing. If you publish the book elsewhere after the contract ends, the new edition needs a new ISBN. The article ISBN for self-published books explains why.
Do I need an imprint to self-publish?
No. If you use a free platform ISBN, the platform's imprint appears as publisher, for example "Independently published" at KDP. If you buy your own ISBNs, you register yourself or your own imprint name as publisher. With ShelfPublisher the imprint is Orbita Media's. The article What is a publishing imprint? explains the difference.
Is a publisher the same as a distributor?
No. The publisher decides to publish the book, gives it its ISBN and imprint, pays for production and carries the risk. A distributor or wholesaler makes the finished book available to retailers and libraries and ships it when they order. At ShelfPublisher, Orbita Media is the publisher; the distribution runs through the wholesale channels. More in Amazon KDP vs a traditional publisher.
Does an ISBN copyright my book?
No. An ISBN identifies one edition of a book and its publisher, for ordering and cataloging. Copyright is a separate matter: in the US and in the EU, protection exists from the moment the work is created. In the US you can additionally register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office, which is optional. With ShelfPublisher your copyright stays with you; you grant Orbita a right of use for the duration of the contract, and all rights come back to you when it ends.
Read on
Guides on self-publishing
What is print on demand and how does it work for books?
Print on demand prints a book only when someone orders it, so there is no stock to buy. Here is how it works for books, what it earns and how to start.
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How to get a book published in 2026: every realistic path
How to get a book published in 2026: literary agents and traditional houses, small presses, hybrid, KDP and Draft2Digital, or a publishing imprint.
Read the articlePublish your paperback with a publisher.
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