Frequently Asked Questions

Who is URBAN AINT DEAD?
URBAN AINT DEAD is a Publishing Company whose mission is to take the streets off mute by becoming The Publishing Voice of The Trenches”. We serve as an outlet to all authors - free and incarcerated - who pen street drama. Our niche(s) is urban and street fiction literature.
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How much do you charge for publishing services?
Currently, we offer traditional publishing only. This means we cover the cost of typesetting, cover creation, securing your ISBN, and all publishing-related expenses. As part of your contractual agreement, which will include our standard 60/40 royalty split, you would pay $0 to produce your book.
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What will you do to bring me sales?
Keeping in mind that this is a new publishing company, and we are building our catalog, we still provide our authors with a set amount of marketing capital and resources to push sales. We work together as a team to bring in readers, sales, awareness of your work, and emerging brand. After providing a quality manuscript for publishing, you will be actively involved in creating your public image, posting, sharing announcements, and engagement to meet sales goals. It should be noted that it is particularly important that the success of your book starts with the author providing quality material. This is the key ingredient to success.
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Some of our marketing strategies include but are not limited to capitalizing on the benefits that have been created via social media by crafting an entertaining and engaging presence through influencer backing, eye-catching digital content created by our digital team, utilizing the relationships that we have with brick-and-mortar entities to start. We have a fantastic literary community that we have partnered with to place books and advertise with regularly. Your book(s) will be included in our quarterly company catalog and displayed prominently on our website. We also have an aggressive SEO plan and take advantage of marketing strategies and placement made available to online marketplace giants like Amazon/KDP. But again, we expect the author to actively contribute to their success through promotion and engagement on their end.
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 How do I submit my manuscript for review?
 (See "Submission Guidelines" section of the brochure)
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I'm in prison. How would the process of signing a contract go for me?
As with all submissions, you will go through our beta read process. If we decide to move forward, a standard contract will be sent to you for review. Once reviewed, we will discuss with you any questions or concerns that you may have via a phone conference to come to an understanding of the terms of the contract. From there, two signed contracts will be mailed to you. You will sign both, keeping one for your records, and returning the other for our records. Once the contract and manuscript are received, we will begin the publication process.
 
How long does the publication process take?
URBAN AINT DEAD agrees to publish the Work within six (6) months from the date of the signed contract. As with any process, delays may occur, if the delay is caused by the Publisher, the author will be notified and provided with a new publication date and reason for the delay. This also applies should the author not return the proofed manuscript to the publisher within an agreed-upon time, typically 10 days.
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What platforms will my book be available on?
URBAN AINT DEAD has access to one of the publishing industry’s largest global print and eBook distribution networks which allows for opportunities to sell your books that much greater. As our partnership is confidential, we are not at liberty to disclose the specific entity currently.
 
However, we can say, the platform is a major distributor domestically and internationally with a distributing reach of up to 40,000+ retailers including participating local independent bookstores, libraries, schools, and universities in the United States alone. This includes Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all other PARENT/SISTER affiliated companies.
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We are working with a few select authors currently. This would be the perfect time to submit your work as we can focus even more on your individual projects and grow together. We look forward to receiving your submission.