How it works

How to get your book published under a real publisher's imprint

You bring the finished book. We bring the publisher, the ISBN, the catalogs and the paperwork. Four steps, all of them inside one portal.

In short: after an invitation you buy one publishing slot per book, upload a print-ready interior and cover, and pass a review by a person. Orbita Media then publishes the paperback with its own ISBN and lists it in the wholesale catalogs that more than 50,000 bookstores order from. You earn 30% of the net revenue of every copy.
Request access See the prices
Invitation only · Every request is read by a person
Paperbacks being packed in a print-on-demand facility under cool blue light
Step by step

From manuscript to orderable book

  1. Request access

    Tell us about you and your book in a short access request. A person reads it and, if the book fits, sends you a personal invitation.

  2. Buy a slot

    One slot publishes one book. From €35 for one title down to €20 per book in larger packages. Valid for 36 months.

  3. Upload your files

    Interior PDF and cover in the trim size and paper you choose. The portal checks page size, fonts, bleed, spine and barcode on upload.

  4. We publish

    After the review you get an ISBN from our block. We file the metadata and set the title up with the distribution channels.

What we do

The publisher's part of the work

Publishing a book through the trade is mostly invisible work: identifiers, metadata, catalogs, printers and statements. That is the part we take over, for every title, under our own name.

  • ISBN from the block of Orbita Media, at no extra cost
  • Metadata registered in the bibliographic directories of your market
  • Wholesale listing in the catalogs bookstores, libraries and online shops order from, Amazon included
  • Print on demand, ordered and monitored by us, so there is no stock to finance
  • Statements every quarter and payouts from your wallet
Long aisles of a book wholesale warehouse lit in cobalt blue
Who does what

Your part and ours

TaskYouShelfPublisher
Writing, editing, proofreadingYesNo
Cover design and interior layoutYesAutomatic check on upload
ISBN and publisher of recordNoOrbita Media GmbH
Metadata and catalog listingNoYes
Printing and delivery to the tradeNoPrint on demand, monitored by us
Marketing, reviews, readersYesNo
Collecting revenue and statementsNoEvery quarter

What we owe and what we do not is set out in clause 4 of our terms.

After publication

How you get paid

30% of the net revenue

Net revenue is what the trade actually pays us for a copy, after the retailer's discount, printing and returns, without VAT.

Quarterly statements

About six weeks after a quarter ends you see every title, the copies sold and your share. The credit follows when the trade has paid, usually around 45 days after the quarter.

Payout on request

From a balance of €200 you request a payout to your bank account. We pay within 10 working days after the check.

Questions

What authors ask about the process

How does publishing work, step by step?
  1. Request access. Once invited, you set up your account.
  2. Buy a slot. One slot publishes one book.
  3. Upload your files. Interior PDF and cover, with the trim size and paper you choose. An automated pre-check runs at once, then a person reviews the book.
  4. We publish it. You get an ISBN, we file the metadata and the title enters the wholesale catalogs.
  5. You get paid. Statements every quarter, 30% of the net revenue, payout from €200.

The page How it works shows each step in detail.

What do I need to upload?

A print-ready interior PDF and a cover file in the trim size and paper you chose. The portal checks both automatically on upload, for example the page size and page count, embedded fonts, the bleed and spine width of the cover and the ISBN in the barcode, and tells you what to fix before a person reviews the book.

Can my manuscript be rejected?

Yes, but only for the reasons listed in clause 12.3 of our terms: a breach of rights or law, files that still do not meet the technical specifications after we asked for a correction, a quality below what the book trade expects, text or images predominantly generated by AI without substantial human work, duplicates and template-based mass titles, content that would seriously damage the publisher's reputation, or the rules of a distribution channel.

Before we reject anything we tell you the reason and give you the chance to respond or correct it. If a book is rejected without a breach on your side, the slot goes back to your account.

When do I see my sales, and when do I get paid?

Sales are reported per quarter. The statement for a quarter appears in your account about six weeks after the quarter ends; the credit follows once the money from the trade has reached us, usually around 45 days after the quarter ends. Individual international sales can take longer.

You can request a payout from a balance of €200. We pay to the bank account in your profile within 10 working days after the request has been checked.

My book is already on Amazon KDP. Can I publish it with you too?

Tell us in your access request where the book is published already. We check every case individually: our terms name a title that is identical to one already published elsewhere as a possible reason for rejection, so we do not promise anything before we have seen your book and its current editions.

All questions and answers

Read more

Guides on getting published

Ready when your book is.

ShelfPublisher is invitation only. Tell us about your book and we will get back to you.

Request access