Grand PublishersSpeak to a publisher+44 20 4600 5244Speak to a publisher+1 (949) 356-6662

1,600+Authors our editors have worked with

  • BBC
  • The Yorkshire Post
  • Irish Daily Mail

Everyone has been kind about your book.
We will be honest.

Nobody who loves you will tell you the truth about your book. They have to see you at Christmas. So send your opening pages to an editor who has never met you, and get back a written report: where the book actually stands, the one change that would matter most, and whether we would publish it. It costs nothing. It is allowed to say no.

  • A named editor reads it
  • In writing, yours to keep
  • We take no rights in it

Used to write back about your book. Never sold, and no newsletter you did not ask for. Your manuscript stays yours — sending pages grants us no rights in them.

Books we said yes to.
Open one.

Every one of these is in print and every one arrived as somebody's manuscript. Click a cover to read the description from the back of the book.

Cover of Bipolar Sunset by David SummervilleCover of Frank's Guide to Caring for Bonsai by Frank WeaverCover of The Mystery on Greenfarm Road by Gail SimmonsGrand KidzCover of The CPO & The Wren by Geoffrey SpinksCover of The Complete Guide to Barbering by George BembridgeCover of Grandpa Billy's Book of Life by William H WebsterCover of The Adventures of Bert the Worm by Jade EntwistleGrand KidzCover of Honour Amongst Mercenaries by James Vincent O'DonnellCover of Little Hedgehog and the Moon by Cat RushtonGrand KidzCover of The Fathers in my Life by Louise Wynne JonesCover of Reg Dudley's Camping MemoriesCover of William and the Secrets of the Enchanted Forest by Idris JamesGrand KidzCover of Life Is Full of Surprises by Mason ChambersCover of The Silent Return by Franklin Josue RutayungulwaCover of Upon a Quiet Breath by Greg ProwseCover of A Question of Good Health by Andrew VincentCover of The Two Faces of Venus by Al GhalibieCover of Legends of the Cocoa Keepers by Ade AkinsemoluCover of The Rooted Soul by Alan McDonaldCover of Leap of Faith by Amy BartonCover of Roxy and Ted’s Great Garden Escape by Angie GarciaGrand KidzCover of Laid to Rest by Ann D SnelgroveCover of Jen and the Night Market by Anne LinGrand KidzCover of The Believer’s Anthology by Arif ur RehmanCover of Biblical View of Christian Perfection by Augustine IkwumonuCover of The Scar of Time by Booker OdenaCover of Prejudice, Pain & Praise by Errol ArawakCover of Suicide Con by Matt FoxCover of Indian & Divorced… but it’s ok by Bejal ShahCover of Encounters by Patrick B. AppiahCover of At the Time of Writing This by Charlotte TytlerCover of The Pawn Who Learned the Game by Paul OkonwezeCover of Five Centuries of Congolese Rumba by Dieudonné Pengo BonketCover of The Hidden Reality of Mental Pain by Promise OparaoduCover of The Little Lost Mushroom by Ruth LordGrand KidzCover of Max and Lulu Learn to Understand Emotions by Samantha ParrettGrand KidzCover of What a Bogus Life by Santhosh RajendranCover of Mainstream Education by Ibrahim SimehdiCover of Tarot Spreads by Suzanne JodeCover of Timmy and Popcorn Go to the Fair by Sylvia HyamGrand KidzCover of Timmy and Popcorn’s Magical Reunion by Sylvia HyamGrand KidzCover of Timmy and the Magic Cat by Sylvia HyamGrand KidzCover of The Profit Shift by Katie LythCover of The Tale of Alpha Betty by Helen MichaelGrand KidzCover of In My Happy Place by Vernon SmithCover of Chinese New YearGrand KidzCover of Our Racist, Crooked and Mediocre GDC of Our Empire of Stolen Inheritance by Dr Abiodun Olayinka BamgbeluCover of Bloodplay by Era K. Nesta

Bipolar SunsetDavid Summerville

In their own words

Some of our authors,
on camera.

Filmed after their books were out. Nobody here is reading a script, and every one of them started where you are now.

David SummervilleAuthor of Bipolar Sunset

Our authors are seen on

Digital JournalIrish Daily MailThe Yorkshire PostWashington City PaperThe Chronicle Journal

What our authors say

Every one of these sits on a platform we do not own and cannot edit. Most of them started exactly where you are now: a draft nobody outside the family had read.

4.9out of 5Excellent

See all our reviews on Trustpilot

Authors we said yes to

Where their books
ended up.

Before we tell you anything about ourselves, here is what we have actually done. Every one of these opens in a new tab. Read the piece rather than our description of it — that is the whole difference between a success story and a claim.

The press coverage

What arrives

Six sections,
and your name on the front.

Not a score out of ten. Not a form letter with your title pasted into it. This is the note an editor writes before a book is taken on, which is why it is worth reading even if you never speak to us again.

  • The verdict, in the first paragraph

    Where the manuscript stands, said plainly, at the top of page one. Not buried on page three under a paragraph of encouragement. You should know the answer before you have finished your coffee.

  • Your opening, read by somebody who does not love you

    The first pages are where a book is bought or put down, and they are the only pages you can no longer see. We tell you what actually happens to a stranger reading them cold.

  • The one structural thing

    Almost every manuscript has a single structural problem, and fixing it changes everything downstream. Finding which one it is, in your book, is the most valuable paragraph in the report.

  • What must survive the edit

    The parts that are unmistakably yours. This exists because the commonest way to ruin a book is to edit the author out of it, and a written record of what not to touch protects you from us as much as from anybody else.

  • The shelf it belongs on

    The category it should sit in and the titles it would sit beside. The wrong category is the quietest way a good book disappears, and it costs nothing to get right before publication and a fortune afterwards.

  • What it would take, in order

    The specific work, sequenced, with what to do first. Whether you do that with us, with somebody else, or alone at your kitchen table is genuinely up to you.

The obvious question

Why would a publisher
do this for nothing?

Because reading is how we decide. We are selective about what we take on, and there is no way to be selective without reading the book. The cost of the read sits with us whether or not anything comes of it, so charging you for it would be charging you for our own decision.

That is the whole answer, and it is worth stating plainly, because the word free has been ruined in this industry. A great many houses offer a free evaluation and what arrives is a compliment followed by a price list. If that is what you are bracing for, this one will feel strange.

We turn most of them down

Not as a posture. A book we cannot make well is a book that does nothing for either of us — an author who publishes too early does not come back and does not recommend us, and this business runs almost entirely on recommendation. So the report has three possible endings and only one of them is yes.

Proceed. Revise and come back, with what specifically and no time limit on it. Or not a fit: the book is fine and we are the wrong house for it, which happens and is worth being told early by somebody with nothing to gain from saying it.

Which is exactly what makes it worth having

A judgement that can go against you is a judgement. A free evaluation that always comes back glowing is a brochure with your name in it. You are not asking whether we like you. You are asking a working editor what is actually on the page — and that answer is only worth anything if it was allowed to be no.

A hand marking up a printed typescript with a red pen, corrections in the margin.
Who actually reads it

A person,
and you will know their name.

The editorial team here have spent their careers in publishing. What that buys you:

  • Every genreMemoir to picture booksIncluding the ones nobody else wants: poetry, faith writing, illustrated children's books, first memoirs by people with no platform at all.
  • One editorStart to finishA named person reads the pages and writes the report. You can reply to them directly, and it is the same name on the reply.
  • Read, not scoredNo form lettersNothing here is generated and nothing comes back as a number out of ten. It is a note written about your book.
Why send it here

Six reasons,
and you can check five of them now.

The sixth is what the report is for.

  • The books are open

    Forty-seven of them, at the top of this page, and every cover opens to the description from the back of the book. Almost nobody in this industry will show you the actual work, and there is usually a reason.

  • The press links open

    The Irish Daily Mail, Digital Journal, The Chronicle Journal, Washington City Paper. Real pieces about real authors, and every one of them is a click away.

  • The reviews are somewhere else

    On six independent platforms we cannot edit, delete or curate. Read the whole list, including the parts we would not have chosen.

  • The company is on the register

    GRAND GROUP LTD, company number 11956597, registered in England and Wales, with offices in Glasgow and in McKinney, Texas. Ten seconds to look up.

  • You keep your book

    Copyright stays with you and is never assigned to us. Nothing changes without you seeing it first, and nothing goes to print you have not talked through. It is written into the agreement, not said on a call.

  • Somebody will tell you the truth

    Which is the one thing on this list you cannot verify in advance, and the only reason to send us anything.

No surprises

What happens
after you press send.

  1. 01

    You send your opening pages

    As much or as little as you have, plus two lines about what the book is and who it is for. If it is not finished, send what exists — the report adjusts to the stage you are actually at.

  2. 02

    An editor reads it

    A person, properly, start to finish. Not skimmed, not summarised by a machine, and not read by whoever happens to answer the phone.

  3. 03

    The report is written

    The six sections above, in writing, within five working days. If it is going to take longer we will tell you before the five days are up rather than after.

  4. 04

    You decide what to do with it

    Take the call if you want one, or do not. The report is yours, including if you take it to another publisher tomorrow. That is not generosity — it is the only thing that makes it worth reading.

No obligation

Send us
your opening pages.

An editor reads them properly and writes back within one business day with what the manuscript needs. You keep the notes whatever you decide to do next.

We write back within one business day. Your details are used to answer you, never sold, and there is no newsletter.

What you are actually thinking

The questions
worth asking us.

The report arrives in writing whether or not you ever speak to us, and it is written to be useful on its own. If it makes sense to talk afterwards we will offer a call. If the answer was no, we say so in writing and there is no call to have.

Your opening pages. One honest answer.

Every month you spend guessing is a month you could have spent fixing the one thing that matters. Send the pages and a person will read them.

Send my pages Or call+44 20 4600 5244Or call+1 (949) 356-6662