Questions authors ask us.

No. Submission and assessment are free, and accepted manuscripts are published without a publishing fee. Optional paid services exist, but they are never required for acceptance or publication.

Yes. You retain your copyright. Sankofa receives an exclusive worldwide publishing license for print, ebook and audiobook for an initial 5-year term. Renewal requires mutual agreement, and any rights not expressly granted in the agreement stay with you.

You receive 60% of net receipts. Net receipts are the money Sankofa actually receives after direct, sale-specific costs such as printing, retailer or distributor share, payment processing, returns, refunds and applicable transaction taxes. General company overhead is never deducted.

No. Sankofa does not pay an advance, which also means there is nothing to earn out. You participate in qualifying earnings from the first sale.

No. You can submit directly.

Yes. You may hire any qualified editor. Sankofa's editorial service is optional and never required for acceptance.

If we want a manuscript that needs substantial editing, we offer conditional acceptance with a written report. You can revise it yourself, hire an editor of your choice, or use our optional service. We reassess the revised manuscript the same way whoever edited it.

You are consulted, with 2 rounds of feedback on both cover and interior. Sankofa keeps final authority over cover, typography, interior, metadata, pricing and formats so every book meets professional standards and reads consistently in the market.

Yes. Our approach is available to bookstores, not dependent on bookstores. Books are made available through wholesale channels so stores can order them, while print-on-demand and direct sales reduce speculative inventory. We cannot promise shelf placement.

Yes. Every accepted title receives either a Sankofa-built author or book website or a direct-sales connection to your existing website where that suits. Exact features can vary by book.

For a standard text-based book, roughly 8 to 10 weeks from a production-ready manuscript. That is an estimate, not a guarantee, and complex books take longer. We aim to respond to submissions within 7 calendar days.

You can propose one. Sankofa sets the final date so there is enough runway to do the launch properly, and if a date is too early we explain why and offer the earliest safe date. Please don't book venues or announce a date until we confirm it.

Statements are issued every quarter, even when there are no sales. Once your balance reaches US$50 it is paid electronically, no later than 45 days after quarter end, subject to cleared receipts and your agreement. Smaller balances roll forward. Tax information may be required.

AI-assisted work is not automatically excluded. Any material use of AI must be disclosed when you submit, and you remain responsible for originality, accuracy, permissions and legal compliance.

We do not publish purely doctrinal religious instruction or proselytizing. Works that engage religion through history, culture, scholarship or critical thought may fit our list.

If we decline a manuscript as revisable, you are welcome to resubmit after addressing the issues in your report, and you never need to buy a Sankofa service to do so. A decline for a work outside our program is final.

Yes, as an option. You can supply files that meet our quality requirements or purchase production from us. Audiobook sales flow into the same royalty statements as your other formats.

Never. Optional services are never required for acceptance or publication, and buying them does not influence our decision.