Who We are
Bespoke Books from the Heart of Delmarva
Secant Publishing, LLC is an independent book publishing company located in Salisbury, Maryland. We have been in business for ten years and have published many award-winning books in both fiction and nonfiction.
We are a regional publisher whose primary focus is on Delmarva - the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia, along with a dollop of Delaware. Our greatest interest is in titles and authors with a strong regional identity and association.
Historically, we have commissioned some of our books and accepted others as unsolicited submissions. That will continue to be the case, with one important added wrinkle for prospective authors.
As of January 2025, we will be offering a suite of services in which authors whose manuscripts are accepted for publication will be asked to share the financial risk - as well as the potential reward - of publishing with Secant. This is frequently called a hybrid model of book publishing.
Prospective authors should be advised that the base rate will begin at $2,000 for a standard-length (under 100,000-word) work of fiction. This will include cover design, copyediting, proofreading, ISBN assignment, copyright registration in the name of the author, and Print on Demand setup for worldwide distribution. It does not include pre-printed inventory; that is up to the author to generate, if desired.
Subject to the needs of the book and the goals of the author, the total package may rise in ascending tiers to $10,000 or more (for coffee table books) depending on:
- Length and format
- Type of binding and page stock
- Complexity of design (i.e., premium cover illustration, number of photos or other figures, color vs. black and white, scholarly apparatus such as footnotes or indexing)
- Complexity of editing and manuscript reviewĀ
- Scale and mix of marketing and promotionĀ
Author royalty rates will also rise proportionately higher than traditional publishing models.
The mix of servicesāif anyāabove and beyond the standard $2,000 investment will likely vary with each title published. We do not believe in one-size-fits-all solutions.Ā
Our fundamental questions for each prospective author are, and will be:
"What would success with your book look like to you?" And then, "Can Secant Publishing help you achieve that success?"
This is usually the beginning of a frank and fruitful discussion, whose resolution is sometimes Yes, and sometimes No.
In short, we are not a cookie-cutter press. We are not the right publisher for every book - nor is every book right for us. But we may be the right answer for you and your manuscript.
Please address any queries to:
Ron Sauder
editor@secantpublishing.com
(410) 845-3193
