Indie publishing, professionally packaged
PageUp Books is with you every step of the way, providing professional polish while you keep control.
Times are changing.
Traditional publishers are having trouble keeping relevant. For many authors, indie publishing is a better fit:
What We Offer
Jay Bailey is an experienced self-published author, designer and typographer who enjoyed producing his own novel and has since continued to produce books for others. He will walk you through each step, treating your book as carefully as if it were another of his own.
As little or as much as you need: early developmental feedback, final proofreading, and close attention to technical punctuation and grammar consistency so the manuscript feels clean, confident, and professionally handled without losing your voice.
Clean, readable layouts for paperback, hardcover, and ebook, with careful margins, chapter openings, headers, spacing, hyphenation, and upload-ready files for KDP, IngramSpark, and EPUB distribution.
Front, back, and spine design that looks right for your genre, works at thumbnail size, and is prepared correctly for Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, ebook stores, and print production.
Compelling promotional visuals for social media, author pages, ads, launch emails, or Kickstarter campaigns, shaped to make your book feel polished, intriguing, and easy to share.
Not just “done in Word”
Yes, technically you can lay out a book yourself in Microsoft Word. But without a practiced eye for typography, page balance, margins, hyphenation, widows and orphans, chapter openings, and the small production choices readers never consciously notice, the finished book can quietly announce “self-published” before anyone has read a sentence.
Self-publishing does not mean being completely on your own. It means managing your own process wisely and bringing in professionals where the book needs professional hands.
“No royalty splits. No rights claims. You publish on your terms.”
Why PageUp Books?
PageUp Books offers flat-fee services* tailored to what you have and what you need to self-publish your book. No royalty splits. No rights claims. You publish on your terms, through the platforms you choose. Jay will patiently guide you through those choices and processes.
Before you ask about pricing:
First, how long is the text? What's its current maturity? The subject matter? Is it essentially plain text, or are there extensive style elements (email exchanges, offset quotes, images, foreign language elements, complex non-fiction outline/subtitle structures, or footnotes?) Then: what are we producing a print book? ebook? Do you need cover design and initial social media artwork/videos?
Once we've discussed all these factors – what you have and what you need – you'll get a logical, easy-to-understand price quote. Get started by sending a message using the form below, with an overview of your self-published book project, and Jay will be in touch!
About Jay
Jay Bailey is an American-born marketer/strategist, writer, designer, and typographer.
He brings decades of hands-on production and storytelling to PageUp Books – from leading digitization, design, marketing, and communications teams (including nearly a decade at a publicly traded hi-tech company) to founding RapidFire Consulting in 2009 after growing tired of slow, pricey, “we know better than you” vendor workflows.
In the early days of desktop publishing, he also introduced digital production, imagery, editorial, and design services to three newspapers.
As a self-published author who produced his own novel end-to-end (interior formatting, cover, and promos), Jay helps indie authors get professional polish without giving up control, rights, or royalties.
Every author and every book is unique ...
Send an overview of your self-published book project, where the manuscript stands, and what kind of help you think you need.