How to Republish Out-of-Print & Reverted Rights Books

There are five reasons for republishing a book:

The rights to publish have reverted to the author (or the author’s estate).
The publisher has gone out of business.
The author and the publisher wish to part ways.
The author wants to release a new edition or change the cover.
The author wishes to establish their own publishing imprint and republish their book(s) under this new imprint.

How much does it cost to republish a book?

The costs to republish a book fall within ranges, depending on the copyrights you have secured (e.g., the cover, the book itself, any images).

This is because some publishers will give or sell you the files they used for publishing, which makes our job much easier. Or you may already be in possession of the files (Word, InDesign, a PDF).

If you don’t have the necessary files, we need to buy and scan a copy of your printed book to create a Word file. This file is then updated—corrections made, material added/deleted—and proofed before we begin the standard book layout and design process.

Reuse or create a new book cover: $0 to $900
Update an existing file used for printing the book, or create a new file: $300 to $2500
Update an existing eBook file or create new files: $200 to $750
Setup and manage online retail store distribution including SEO for your book on Amazon: $200 to $1050
Work with you to establish a new imprint and complete a book’s registration: $300

See the end of this page for links to our other articles on this topic.

We work to retain your book’s Amazon customer reviews

Whenever possible, we manage the process of republishing your book to retain your book’s highly valuable Amazon customer book reviews. There is no official Amazon policy in this regard, but the steps we follow to unpublish and republish have been successful for many other books.

Four republishing-client profiles

These four client profiles are representative of the type and scope of our republishing projects. Each is a little different, so complete the contact form below with the requested information for a quote or feedback about your project.

1. Leslie Lehr, two eBooks: Leslie's publisher granted her a rights reversion for 66 Laps and Wife Goes On. We established Leslie’s self-publishing imprint, created the necessary files, and managed online retail store distribution. We also manage periodic online sales.

2. Michael Gavin, paperback and eBook: Michael secured the rights to republish Able & Equal from one of the two authors (the other author was deceased). The original publishing files were lost, so we acquired a copy of the printed book and scanned it into a Word file for Michael to update as a third edition. To assist with Amazon search engine optimization, we also had Michael write a foreword so that his name would be associated with the book both visually and within the metadata itself. Finally, we established the new publishing imprint, created the necessary publishing files, and managed online retail store distribution.

3. Megan Skinner, three books in paperback and eBook: Megan got back the rights to her three books so she could republish under her own imprint, which gave her more control over marketing and 100 percent of royalties. The files for Essence of the Tarot, Compass and Essence of Tarot Journal and Coloring Book needed just a few pages updated (title, copyright, about the author). Once updated, we established her imprint and managed online retail store distribution.

4. Mark Feldmeir, two eBooks: Mark's publisher granted him a rights reversion for Stirred, Not Shaken and Testimony to the Exiles. We created the necessary files and managed online store distribution.

Would you like a quote?

The costs to republish depend on what files you have (or don't have), what changes you want or need to make, and where you want to sell your book(s) after they are republished (obviously Amazon is on that list).