The publishing package

You think the hard part is knowing how to publish your book.

What if the hardest part is finding someone you trust with your life story? Someone who won't change your voice, won't take your royalties, and knows how to hold the hardest chapters alongside the beautiful ones.

Tell me about your book →

You're a writer,
not a publisher

You've spent years, maybe decades, turning your life into words. You've sat with the deepest memories and finally got them down. The writing is done. But you don't know the technical steps, what order they go in, or how a document on a screen becomes a book someone can hold.

So you look it up. You type some version of "how to publish a memoir" into a search bar and read what comes back. You read about literary agents who demand a massive social media following before they'll even look at your query. You look at traditional publishers who want tidy, marketable endings and established platforms. You read the fine print of hybrid publishers who ask you to surrender a portion of your rights and royalties in exchange for their help. Or you look at self-publishing platforms that expect you to spend weeks learning their complex systems and managing every technical detail alone.

It doesn't take long to see the truth. The industry wasn't built for the book you've written. It was built for commercial titles and platform-first authors, not for someone who spent years writing the truth of their life and simply needs someone they trusts to help bring it to print, without surrendering any part of it.

So you close the tab. And the manuscript stays in the folder.

What the world
loses when you wait

We live in a world full of magnificent memoirs that will never be published. Not because the stories didn't matter, but because no one made it safe enough for the person holding them to finally let them go.

A person who survived something and found the courage to write it down should never have to choose between keeping it safe and sharing it. But that is the choice the publishing world hands them. Protect the story by hiding it, or hand it to a system that was never built to care. The cost is too high, and it was never the only choice available.

And that's why I created Ameline Books.

Ameline is an old word for care-ful work: the kind of effort made with your whole self, poured into something worth building. It's how you've written your book, often alone, and for years. Ameline Books exists to be your companion in the final part of that work. A small studio where your manuscript is taken the rest of the way, without you ever surrendering a single inch of control.

Ameline Books is grounded in a single, unshakeable belief: a person's life's work belongs to them. Fully.

From manuscript to book

i.

It starts with a conversation

Not a contract, a conversation. You tell me about your book and what it's been to write it; I tell you honestly how this works, and whether we're a good fit. If your draft is ready, we begin. If it needs more work first, I'll tell you, and we'll map the way there together.

ii.

Your manuscript becomes a book

I edit and proofread with reverence for your voice, making it the strongest version of your book, never a different one. Together we shape a cover that belongs to your story, and I handle everything you've been dreading: formatting, ISBN, barcode, the lot. Step by step, you watch it become a real book.

iii.

Your book comes home to you

When it's done, I hand everything back, whole. Your book goes live on a home of your own, your name on the cover, your rights, your royalties, your readers. You're an author now, holding a book someone else can order, read, and keep.

The packages

Essentials
$4,900 AUD

Your book, made beautifully and handed to you with every file, ready for you to carry into the world.

  • A careful copyedit + proofread
  • Custom cover design
  • Interior design + typesetting
  • Copyright + publishing page setup
  • Print ISBN + barcode, in your name
  • Printed proof + first print order management
  • Legal deposit lodgement
  • All files + handover
Signature
$8,500 AUD

Everything in Essentials, plus your book set up, distributed, and given a home online, handed back to you already live. This is the one that sends the book out into the world.

  • Everything in Essentials, and —
  • eBook conversion + eBook ISBN, in your name
  • Book discoverability: categories, keywords + metadata
  • IngramSpark setup for global distribution
  • A print-on-demand author website of your own
  • Full publishing handover session

Payment plans are available.

⁂
Add-ons
Audiobook · Signature onlyfrom $4,500
Developmental editingfrom $3,200
Notebooks to manuscript · transcription + structuringfrom $1,500
Launch kit$1,250

The part we
don't say out loud

Underneath the confusion of formatting and distribution, there's a quieter hurdle. One that's much harder to say out loud.

Finishing is scarier than writing ever was.

While your manuscript is still just a file, it's safe. You can tell yourself it isn't ready, keep tweaking commas, wait for a better time. But the day it's printed is the day people read it, and being read means being seen, completely, in the most tender chapters of your life.

And then comes the question that does the real damage. It starts practical, publishing is too confusing, and quietly turns inward. You stop asking how do I do this? and start asking who am I to think anyone would care? You worry your story is too much. Too heavy, too dark, too honest for anyone to want to hold. So you keep it safe, small, and entirely yours. And it stays a weight you carry, instead of the gift you wrote it to be.

Two paths
from this page

Every book has its own timing, but some stories are working against the clock. From here, you have two choices.

Path one — keep carrying it alone

Nothing changes. The manuscript stays in the folder you open and close. Another year passes, and it stays a weight you carry alone, finished and unread. Somewhere, a person in the dark place you once survived stays a little more alone tonight, because they couldn't find your words.

Path two — set the story down

Or you let go of the guard you've kept over these pages, and let your story do the work it was always meant to do, on your terms. A box arrives at your door. You hold your book for the first time, and trace your name on the cover. Your family has it now. A stranger writes to say she felt less alone. The story you carried for years is finally something you can set down.

The question was never whether you had the courage to write it. You already did. The question is whether you'll let someone help you carry it the last mile.

It starts with a conversation. There's no commitment in it.

Questions

I've finished my manuscript. What happens next?
The first step is simple: fill in the contact form, and tell me a little about your book and what it's been to write. From there we'll arrange a time to talk it through properly, no contract, just a conversation. If it's a good fit for both of us, we map out your publishing timeline together, and begin.
What if my manuscript isn't quite ready?
That's completely okay, and more common than you'd think. I'll take the time to understand where your manuscript is at and what it needs. If it's ready, we begin. If it needs more work first, I'll tell you honestly and we'll map the way there together, whether that's a round of developmental editing or simply a little more time. There is no bar you have to clear before you're allowed to reach out.
Do I need to know anything about publishing before we start?
Not a thing. Most of the authors I work with have never published a book before, and the technical side is exactly the part I take off your hands. My job is to make the whole process feel clear and unintimidating, so you never have to become a publishing expert to hold your finished book.
Will I still own my book?
Completely. Your book is yours from the first page to the last. You hold the rights, the ISBN is registered in your name, and nothing about your ownership is ever signed away. I help you make the book. It always belongs to you.
Do you take any of my royalties?
No, never. You keep one hundred per cent of your royalties. I'm paid for the publishing work I do, and not a cent more. What your book earns is entirely yours.
Will Ameline be listed as my publisher?
No. This is at the heart of how Ameline works, and it's why I call it a studio rather than a publisher. Your ISBN is registered in your name, your rights stay with you, and you remain in control of your book and its future. You are the publisher of your book, not Ameline. Ameline is here to help you make and publish it, without standing between you and the work you've created.
Will you change my voice?
Never. This is the thing I'm most careful about. I edit to make your book the strongest version of itself, not a different one. Your voice is the reason the book matters, and my job is to sharpen and protect it, never to smooth it into someone else's. It will still sound like you, because it will still be you.
What's the difference between editing, proofreading and developmental editing?
They happen at different depths. Developmental editing is the big-picture work: structure, pacing, what to keep and what to cut. A copyedit works at the sentence level, on clarity, consistency and flow. Proofreading is the final polish, catching the small errors before print. Every package includes a careful copyedit and proofread. Developmental editing is deeper work, so it's available as an add-on if your manuscript would benefit from it, and I'll always tell you honestly whether it's needed.
What's the difference between Essentials and Signature?
Essentials makes your book beautifully and hands it back to you with every file, ready for you to take into the world yourself. Signature does all of that, then takes care of publishing it too: your eBook, discoverability strategy, global distribution through IngramSpark, and an author website of your own. When we're finished, your book isn't simply ready to publish, it's already out in the world, with a home of its own.
Why do I need my own author website?
So your readers come to you directly, with no one in between. A print-on-demand author website means people can buy your book straight from you, rather than through a platform that owns the relationship and takes a share. It's the difference between renting a spot on someone else's shelf and having a home of your own. It's a central part of keeping your book, and your readers, truly yours.
Where will my book be available?
That depends on your package. With Signature, your book is set up for global distribution through IngramSpark, which makes it available for bookshops and online retailers around the world to order, and on a print-on-demand website of your own. With Essentials, you're handed everything you need to take your book to market yourself, whenever and however you choose.
How long does the publishing process take?
Most Ameline books take around 3–5 months from the time we begin working together to publication. Every book is different, and the timeline will depend on your manuscript, the package you choose and the time needed for your review and approvals along the way. We'll map out your publishing timeline together before we begin, so you'll always know what stage your book is at and what comes next.
How does payment work?
A minimum 50% deposit is due when you sign your agreement, securing your place in the Ameline publishing calendar. You're very welcome to pay in full at this stage, or the remaining balance can be divided into manageable monthly payments throughout your publishing journey. Your payment schedule will be agreed before we begin and set out clearly in your agreement, so you'll always know what is due and when.
Are there any other costs I need to budget for?
Your package covers the publishing services outlined above, so there shouldn't be any surprises along the way. There are a small number of third-party costs that remain yours, such as printing and freight, and domain or hosting costs for Signature authors. If your book requires anything outside the agreed scope, we'll talk about it together and agree on the cost before any additional work begins.