We offer authors a variety of services under our range of imprints.

In the UK alone, there are hundreds and thousands of potentially published authors of great books out there that deserve to be in print. The vast majority never get picked up by an agent, let alone the ‘bigwigs’ of the publishing industry, due to the commercial and thematic restrictions large mainstream houses tend to impose on their authors. With your help we want to change this for the better. Your small contribution towards our expenditure on editorial, design and marketing for your book allows Discovered Authors to take the risk out of publishing new authors and to give fresh talent like you the deserved chance.

We already support a diverse group of writers and organisations with an assortment of individual and collective goals, and we believe the publishing imprints we offer reflect this diversity. We don't limit your options, you can fully self-publish your book if you wish by becoming your own publisher, buying your own ISBNs and merely commissioning our printing and distribution services or why not join our team and publish under one of our professional publishing imprints? Let us handle it all for you. You are in control.

Just like a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so your submission to Discovered Authors is only the first milestone in your adventure to become a published author. These are the key stages every potential Four O’Clock  – and indeed DA Diamonds – title will go through:

1. Submission and critique

Once you have submitted the first two or three chapters and a synopsis of your book, one of our in-house readers will critique your manuscript to give you some initial feedback on style, content and theme. We will also rate your book according to our house rules, showing you which division of our Four O’Clock imprint your book would match as it stands.

2. Consultation

You will then be put in touch with your personal publishing consultant, who will guide you through the process of choosing the best package for your book – tailored to your abilities as a writer and your objectives as an author. You have spent a lot of time alone with your book – our aim is to help you make the most of your creation.

3. Contract and Pre-Press

Having chosen your publishing package and signed your contract, we will get straight to work on your book. While you are preparing your manuscript for us by tidying it up and applying our house style rules to make life easier for our typesetters, we work on a publication schedule so you know exactly what will happen when, and what is expected from you at every stage of the process. We will then put you in touch with your editor and designer, devise a marketing plan and set you up for distribution – and all those small extras you picked from our wide range of add-ons. All our publication packages include a free proof copy of your finished book, and one round of corrections to make sure we don’t send your books out into the world riddled with those annoying little mistakes you so often find in even the best mainstream publications.

4. Publication Day

While in traditional mainstream, everything is geared towards the big day when a book is first made available for sale, Discovered Authors is taking on a different stance: rather than focusing all our energies on launch-day publicity, we advocate a more long-term perspective. Therefore, we do not limit your chances to a press release for the launch, but offer ongoing marketing support through our online campaigns, publication catalogue, and bookshop promotions, depending on your deal. Rather than aiming to sell some thousand copies in the first two months and then remaindering, i.e. withdrawing, the title, our philosophy is to count on a continuous ‘long tail’ stream of sales over a number of years.

>>Sales and Distribution