You have written the hard part.
A life does not arrive in chapters. Getting it onto a shelf is a different craft from living it — and that is the part we do.
Four things
a life story asks for.
Memoir is the genre most often turned away by trade publishers, and the one most often published badly without one. These are the four places it usually goes wrong.
- 01
A shape
Chronology is not structure. An editor's first job on a memoir is finding where the book actually begins — which is almost never where the life did.
- 02
A voice left intact
The reason anybody reads a memoir is that a particular person is speaking. Editing that flat is the commonest way to lose the book. Nothing changes in your manuscript without you seeing it and agreeing to it.
- 03
Care with real people
Memoir names people who are still alive. We raise it where a passage warrants a second look, so the question is settled before the book prints rather than after.
- 04
A cover that suits it
Life writing sits beside biography and history on a shelf. It has to look like it belongs there — not like a novel, and not like a family album.
Memoirs we
have published.
Real books, on sale now. Open any one of them and follow it through to its retail listing.
The Fathers in my LifeLouise Wynne Jones
From manuscript
to shelf.
- 01
You send it
A sample chapter and a few lines about the book. Not a pitch — we are reading for the writing.
- 02
We read it
A publisher reads it and calls you. You get a straight answer about whether it is ready and what it would take.
- 03
We agree a plan
Scope, schedule and cost in writing before anything starts. No stage begins without your sign-off.
- 04
It gets made
Editorial, design, typesetting, proofs. You see and approve every stage.
- 05
It goes out
ISBN registered, listed on Amazon, and out to the trade — so it can be ordered in anywhere books are sold.
What our authors say
- Grand Publishers especially David Alonsa were brilliant
Grand Publishers especially David Alonsa extremely helpful and talked me through everything. He was also very patient with me.l would certainly recommend you all and have already done so
Gail Simmons - Book publishing and promotion
Jason and David and the team have worked hard to get my second book into the public eye, and have made some really good social media pictures and promotions. "The CPO & The Wren" is now selling on both sides of the Atlantic. Geoffrey Spinks
Mr Geoff Spinks - I can't tell you how amazing it has…
I can't tell you how amazing it has been working with Grand Publishing. From the very beginning, the experience has been outstanding. When I first reached out, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to publish a project I had been working on for quite some time. Jerry gave me a call and patiently walked me through the entire process. He answered all of my questions and genuinely motivated me to move forward with publishing my book. I was then introduced to David Alonso, who became my project manager. He has been fantastic throughout the journey, keeping me updated every step of the way, answering any questions I had, and making the whole process smooth and stress-free. As a first-time author, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. If you're hesitant about publishing, I'd encourage you to speak with the team. If you don't come away from that conversation feeling confident, then I'll have to call myself a liar! Thank you, Grand Publishing, and especially Jerry and David, for making this such a positive and memorable experience.
Booker Odena - Outstanding Service from Grand Publishers
I had a very positive experience working with Grand Publishers. As a new author, I really needed guidance throughout the process, from editing to preparation for publication. David and Jerry, who were incredibly helpful, professional, and supportive, made a significant difference. They took the time to explain each stage clearly and did an amazing job with the marketing, illustrations, and overall development of my book. Their dedication to making the final result as strong as possible was exceptional. I would highly recommend Grand Publishers, especially David and Jerry, who were fantastic to work with.
Juliet - My book, In my happy place.
Some while ago I submitted a raw manuscript to Grand Publishers. Honestly, at first I was cautious about their enthusiasm, in fact I thought it a sales ploy. How wrong I was! The project has been managed by David Alanza, with input from Arthur J Wayne the marketing director. At every stage I have been afforded full control of the artistic direction and have now got a highly polished book that I could never have produced. I'm now in the launch phase and the marketing so far is beyond my wildest dreams. I know that there's much more to come, but wanted to highly recommend anyone with a book that they believe in to listen to and trust Grand. To verify everything I've said, please search Vernon Smith I my happy place and see for yourself.
Vernon Smith - Helpful and professional
Helpful and professional
Elikem Debrah
Publishing a memoir
in the UK.
Most memoirs are never going to be commissioned by a trade publisher. That is not a judgement on the writing. A large house acquires perhaps a dozen memoirs a year and nearly all of them arrive with an audience already attached — a public life, a broadcast career, a following. A good book by somebody without one has almost nowhere to go.
What that leaves
Three routes, in practice. You can query agents and wait, which costs nothing but time and can take years. You can self-publish, which is fast and cheap up front, and leaves you doing the editing, the design, the typesetting, the metadata and the distribution yourself. Or you can work with a publisher on a partnership basis, where you fund the publication and the house does the work of making the book and getting it out.
Grand is the third of those. We are selective about what we take on, because a book we cannot make good is a book that will do nothing for either of us.
What to ask anyone
Whoever you end up with, the questions are the same. Who owns the copyright when this is finished. Who owns the ISBN. What exactly is included, in writing, before anything is paid. What every commercial term is, in figures. Whether you can leave, and what happens to your files if you do.
Our answers are on the rights page and the longer questions page, in plain terms, whether or not you ever talk to us.
What we will not tell you
How many copies your memoir will sell. Nobody can, and a publisher who gives you a number is telling you something they do not know. What we will tell you is exactly what gets made, what it costs and when it is finished — and then we do that.
Memoir questions
we get most.
No. Memoirs run anywhere from around 40,000 words to well over 100,000, and length matters far less than whether the book earns its ending. Tell us the count and we will tell you honestly whether it reads as finished.
Yes, and it is more common than you would think. A private edition is made to the same standard and can be produced without a general retail listing if you prefer. Say so at the start and we will build it that way.
Yes. Copyright stays with you — it is never assigned to us, and it is written into the agreement that way.
Send it as it is. Part of what the first read tells you is whether the manuscript is at a stage where editorial work will improve it, or whether it wants another pass from you first. If it is the latter we will say so, and that answer costs you nothing.
Yes. Plates change the production spec and the cost, so mention it early and we will price it in rather than around it.
Send us a chapter.
A publisher reads it and calls you. If it is not ready, we will tell you that rather than sell you something.