ABOUT US
Forest City Publications was founded by Lara Helmling in 2019 after she realized that even the best publishing options lacked the 1-1 mentoring that the vast majority of authors need to be successful. In her view, simply getting a book in print isn’t enough: the message of that book needs to reach the people who need it most. That takes consistent, informed strategies and direction before, during, and after publishing. She wanted to create a publishing company that was FOR authors BY authors. From this vision, Forest City Publications was born.
In 2020 Lara teamed up with her son, IT expert Lliam Leosh, as production manager, and together they have published a dozen or more books. More importantly, they have cultivated authors and delivered their authors’ affirming messages and stories to readers around the world that desperately need them. They have since expanded the team to include additional team members, all dedicated to help our authors succeed.
Lara Helmling
Publisher
Lliam Leosh
Production Manager
OUR PROCESS
SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript, along with a 2-3 paragraph synopsis and chapter-by-chapter summaries. Chapter summaries should be just a few sentences each. If you don’t have formal chapters, please do your best to approximate these summaries. Before you receive the link to submit your manuscript, you will be asked to fill out a form with general information about you and your manuscript.
PRODUCTION
The production phase of publication includes the custom design of your book cover, the custom interior design and preparation, ebook file preparation, copyright and ISBN filing, distribution preparation, and meta-tagging. You will work closely with our team as the creative head of your project.
MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION
After you have submitted your form and manuscript, we will take it into consideration for publication readiness. At that time, we will determine which track is appropriate: editing, publishing, or marketing. We typically respond in 3-4 weeks.
DISTRIBUTION
This is the exciting time when you wait for your publication date! Your book will be available in all major book retailers around the world as well as Amazon. It will be available in both paperback and ebook form. Hardcover is discouraged by booksellers so we don’t typically publish in hardcover. If you need hardcover, please let us know that in your submission and we can discuss options.
PROOFREADING
Once your manuscript is ready for publication, we will conduct a final proofread. This proofread typically takes 6-8 weeks.
PR & MARKETING
We guide you through the process of planning a pre-launch sales campaign and jumpstarting your marketing as part of our publishing track. If you need more marketing support, our third track PR & Marketing gives you the full studio of services.