The General Gist of Things

If you haven’t had a chance to breeze past “Our Story” page yet, we established Heartfire Books as a way to help navigate the industry hoops we needed to jump through to get our stories published independently. It’s been a grand adventure, and we’ve come a long way since our first book.

It needs to be stated at the foremost of this conversation though, that we are not taking any independent submissions. We are, and plan to stay, a small publishing house. Our primary objective is to publish our personal works and the manuscripts of a handful of close friends and family.

We do, however, want to help budding authors produce uplifting material and to help get their messages out into the world. For now, we are able to offer that assistance on a very limited basis, taking on the revision of only a few manuscripts each year.

If you clicked on this page, you probably have at least some interest to see how possible it is to get your own story out of your imagination and into the hands of your readers. Without a helpful guide, the process can feel overwhelming. From taking the spark of an idea to a fully realized manuscript, or registering ISBNs and LCCNs to unlock more conventional markets, there’s plenty of space to along the path to loose momentum. Too many wonderfully fresh ideas are left to fade by the wayside simply from a lack of experience. We want to do what we can to help you in that process of keeping your manuscript moving forward in a positive direction.

Generally we accomplish this by speaking at, and hosting, various author panels, writing circles, and literacy workshops throughout the year. Sign up for our newsletter if you would like to be kept in the loop about our upcoming public events and appearances.

We are also starting to offer personal consultation sessions, either through video conference calls or through emailed conversations. You’ll need to reach out in an email to start, and in that email you will want to give us a business case for why your manuscript is one that aligns with our goal of making the world a more hopeful place. You can look at the pricing model below to get a basic idea of what we are offering, however we ourselves are readers, so if ever you wanted to emulate our experience then we highly recommend reading the whole thing.

If you aren’t in need professional navigation, and have a quick one off-question, then we are happy to share our experience and offer advice on “next steps” in a quick email.

Professional Navigation Offerings

The following are to give you an idea of what professional arrangements can be anticipated if you engage us in your professional writing navigation. A formal contract will be offered (with mutually agreed upon terms) only after the initial interviews have occurred. The prices indicated are in a range as there is a sliding scale of work. A 40 page manuscript will receive the same care and attention as a 400 page manuscript, but admittedly there is a proportional amount of work involved. It is also possible to get a project based pricing rather than hourly, but only for returning customers.

For Those who like things Simple and StraightForward

• Children’s illustrated literature (text/illustration proofreading to revision) $35 – $50 per hour
• Resumes and Short form Business Proposals (proof reading and editing) $25 – $40 per hour
• Brainstorming (sounding board for ideas and writer’s block) $25 – $40 per hour
• Proofreading (spelling, punctuation, typos): $35 – $50 per hour
• Editing (word choice, grammar, pacing) $45 – $60 per hour
• Revision (concept flow, plot device, continuity, focus feedback) – note this is a discussion of ways to strengthen your manuscript not a list of corrections – $45 – $60 per hour
• Page Layout (we work with Affinity) $35 – $50 per hour
• Cover Work (we work with Affinity, ClipStudio, and Procreate) $60 – $90 per hour
• Number navigation and/or filings (ISBN, Bawker, LCCN) $45 – $60 per hour
• Book Trailer Video (we work with FinalCut Pro) $45 – $60 per hour
• Animated Author Readings (we work with FinalCut Pro) $45 – $60 per hour

Project based pricing will be based on page count and the level of revision be sought. Again, this is an option that is only available for returning clients.

For those who prefer a “Chose your Own Adventure” pricing Model

My grandma Betty was known to offer to pay her doctors in vegetables from her garden. She had money to pay the fees, but she knew that there are somethings worth more than cold hard cash. We ourselves have been in a similar situation, helping with someone’s household chore or technical issue in exchange for goods and services our family needed at that moment. Sometimes creativity extends past the time an author invests in creating a written manuscript. Sometimes it takes some creative resourcefulness to make all the ends meet.

We hear you on that count. We are all about the barter system. We have curated a few possibilities to give a general idea of how to make an exchange for our time when every penny matters.

• Patreon: By subscribing to our Patreon by Heartfire and our clients have a win. We have more readers of our content, and you get to job shadow some of the efforts an independent author undergoes when acting as their own publishing agent.
• Charitable 3rd parties: Some of our favorites include: Hidden Harvest (non-profit alleviating hunger and reducing food waste); The Perpetual Education Fund (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints efforts to subsidize scholarship programs for low-income international students – donations can only be made in person not online); The Trevor Project (suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ+ youth); World Central Kitchen (emergency food relief efforts); First Nations Development Institute (empowering native people and their futures ); Furever Tails Animal Rescue (no kill, foster-home based animal rescue non-profit); Ronald McDonald House (provides comfort and support for families with children who are sick around the world).
• Amazon: By selecting items off of our Business Wishlist, you can gift resources to help us with our personal day to day needs. Items would be sent to a local Amazon Locker for privacy purposes.
• For Local Clients: in-person in-kind exchanges can also be discussed as a possibility.

For those who find themselves needing the “Pay it Forward” Approach

Ahha and welcome to you who traversed to the end of the page!

Sometimes we simply do not have the means to gain enough momentum on our own. That can be true in writing as much as it can be in anywhere in life. We definitely understand that sometimes on our journey we find ourselves saying “I have not, but if I did I would give.” If you truly find yourself in this position, of having need of help with a manuscript but have nothing to exchange for that service, and a little help from us can assist in giving you the momentum you need to succeed, then write us an email. We always have time for a good read, and we’re certain your current situation just might be that. We’ll be honest with you, and if we truly can’t help we’ll let you know, but you won’t know if you don’t ask. =]