About | BeSpeak Books

Why BeSpeak Books Exists

We are a small Canadian publishing studio, and we work with people who have a finished draft and no clear path to a printed book. First-time authors, family historians, business owners with a practical guide in a drawer. The work is unglamorous and specific: reading the manuscript properly, asking what the book is actually trying to do, then building the files a printer can use.

Small on purpose

We keep the roster short so each project gets a real read instead of a queue number. That means structural editing, line editing and proofreading are handled by people who have seen the whole manuscript, not just a chapter passed along. It also means we can tell you honestly when a draft needs another pass before typesetting, rather than pushing it forward to hit a schedule.

Built around your genre

Memoir, local history, cookbooks, poetry collections and practical guides each carry their own problems. A family history needs dates and place names checked against the record. A cookbook needs recipe structure that survives layout. Poetry needs the page to breathe. We shape the editing and interior layout around those differences instead of forcing every manuscript into one template.

Rights stay with you

Authors keep full rights and royalties. We handle ISBN registration and print-on-demand setup through Canadian printers, prepare print-ready files for paperback, hardcover and ebook editions, and step back once the book is out. The manuscript is yours, the imprint decisions are yours, and nothing about the process is designed to take either away from you.

How a project usually moves

Most projects open with a manuscript assessment and a chapter-by-chapter outline. From there we go through two revision rounds before typesetting, then cover direction and file preparation. You get a clear quote before any work begins, so the scope is visible from the start rather than assembled in pieces as the project grows.

A small studio for authors who want a finished book, not a folder of files

BeSpeak Books is a Canadian publishing studio built around a narrow kind of work: taking a manuscript that already exists and carrying it through editing, layout and print-ready preparation until it can be held. Most of the people we hear from are first-time authors, family historians assembling a record for relatives, or business owners with a practical guide they have been meaning to finish. They are not looking for a platform or a dashboard. They want someone to read the draft closely, ask hard questions about structure, and then handle the parts of publishing that are genuinely tedious.

Who we work with

First drafts, family archives, working guides

Memoir, local history, cookbooks, poetry collections and practical guides make up most of what comes across the desk. A family history project may arrive as scanned letters and a rough chronology. A cookbook may be a decade of notes with no consistent voice. Both need the same first step: a clear read of what the manuscript is doing and where a reader would lose the thread.

How a project moves

Assessment, outline, two revisions, then typesetting

Work usually opens with a manuscript assessment and a chapter-by-chapter outline. From there the book goes through two revision rounds before it reaches layout, which keeps structural changes from colliding with typesetting decisions. Structural editing, line editing and proofreading happen in that order, so the text is settled before the interior is built.

What we prepare

Interior, cover direction, print-ready files

Once the text holds, we handle interior layout, cover direction and the print-ready files themselves for paperback, hardcover and ebook editions. ISBN registration and print-on-demand setup through Canadian printers are part of the same thread, so the book does not stall between a finished manuscript and an actual printed copy.

What stays yours

Full rights and royalties, in the author's name

Authors keep full rights and royalties. We are not a publisher taking a share of the book; we are the studio doing the editing and production work. That distinction matters when a family wants to reprint a history years later, or when an author decides to move to a different printer for a second edition.

How we talk

Plain notes, no jargon, no pressure

Editorial feedback arrives as written notes you can argue with, not as a verdict on your writing. We would rather explain why a chapter is losing momentum than hand back a marked-up file with no reasoning. If a manuscript is not ready for the next stage, we say so before any work begins.

Before anything starts

A manuscript review and a clear quote

Every project begins the same way: book a manuscript review, and you get a clear quote before any work begins. No estimate is padded with stages you did not ask for, and no commitment is expected until you have read what we propose and decided whether it matches the book you are trying to make.

How a project moves

No fixed calendar, just a sequence that keeps the book steady

We do not publish a dated roadmap, because every manuscript arrives in a different state. What stays the same is the order of work. Each stage has a clear purpose, and nothing moves forward until the previous step has been read, discussed and agreed on. Authors who know what comes next tend to ask better questions along the way.

Manuscript assessment

A full read of the draft as it stands, with notes on structure, voice and where a reader is likely to lose the thread. This is where we decide whether the book needs a new opening, a tighter middle or simply a cleaner line of argument. You get a written response you can disagree with, and that disagreement usually sharpens the project.

Chapter-by-chapter outline

Once the assessment is settled, we map the book section by section. For memoir and local history this often means checking what belongs in the main text and what belongs in an appendix, a family tree or a photo section. For cookbooks and practical guides it means confirming that each chapter carries its own weight and that nothing assumes knowledge the reader does not yet have.

Two revision rounds

Structural editing comes first, then line editing and proofreading. Two rounds is deliberate: the first pass usually changes more than the author expects, and the second pass is where the prose settles. We work in the order the book needs, not the order that looks tidiest on a schedule.

Typesetting and cover direction

Only after the text is stable do we set the interior and settle the cover. Trim size, margins and page count all shift once the format is chosen, so this stage comes late on purpose. Paperback, hardcover and ebook each need their own treatment, and we prepare the files accordingly.

Print-ready files and registration

The final step is the practical one: print-ready files for the printer, ISBN registration, and print-on-demand setup through Canadian printers. Authors keep full rights and royalties throughout. If you want to move to a different printer later, the files are yours and the metadata stays under your name.

A small studio, a short list of principles, and no promises we cannot keep on the page.

Why BeSpeak Books exists at all

Authors keep what is theirs

Rights and royalties stay with the author. The studio edits, lays out and prepares files; it does not take ownership of the work, the imprint or the income that follows. That is the whole reason a first-time author can walk into this with a finished draft and walk out with a book they still control.

Small on purpose

BeSpeak Books is a Canadian publishing studio, not a pipeline. That means a manuscript assessment and a chapter-by-chapter outline before anything else, then two revision rounds, then typesetting. Fewer projects at once, more attention on each one, and a clear quote before any work begins.

The book has to feel like a book

Memoir, local history, cookbooks, poetry collections, practical guides. Different genres, same standard: interior layout, cover direction and print-ready files prepared for paperback, hardcover and ebook editions, with ISBN registration and print-on-demand setup handled through Canadian printers.

Plain language, honest scope

Structural editing, line editing and proofreading are described as they are, not dressed up. If a draft needs a new opening chapter, we say so. If the middle holds, we leave it alone. The point is a real book in your hands, not a longer list of services.