ALE Publishing Overview
Updated 14th January 2026
Able Limited Editions create books from solicited fiction and non-fiction manuscripts written in GB English submitted by authors under a strict non-disclosure clause, then publish those books in one or more of several I.S.B.N. Imprint Formats, subject to a strict Bespoke Publishing Agreement between Able Limited Editions and individual authors. That is, Able Limited Editions will NOT accept and will immediately destroy any unsolicited manuscripts on receipt without any further notice.
For any submitted manuscript to be solicited, authors must strictly adhere to the Initial Manuscript Submission Rules. Those Rules will be contained in a confidential email from Able Limited Editions. A word of warning here though, Able Limited Editions will NOT publish any work from any author which may be deemed by any UK Court to be illegal and or unlawful in any way whatsoever. In addition to that, Able Limited Editions will also not publish any type of fairy tale and or erotica and or pornography.
Creating books for publication from solicited manuscripts involves undertaking many procedures. It's not necessary to give any details or outline of those procedures here; but they will be reflected in quite some detail within the relevant Bespoke Publishing Agreement. But overall, it takes a minimum of 9 (nine) months from the date the full manuscript is submitted to create a book ready for subsequent publication, only if the author adheres to all the Able Limited Editions Full Manuscript Submission Rules. It may in fact take up to 18 (eighteen) months, depending on the complexities of issues raised in the manuscript. What Able Limited Editions NOT do however, is enter any form of Vanity Publishing Agreement.
Vanity Publishing :-
Vanity Publishing must not be confused with lawful Self Publishing in these modern digital times. Vanity Publishing is when any person, company or individual offers to publish work on the basis that the writer or author of the submitted work must pay them upfront production costs to create any subsequent book or magazine etc. That is, the company or individual appears to promise the writer or author from the outset that they will publish the writer's or author's work; if the writer or author pays them upfront for some set number of copies of the said produced/created book or magazine etc. But the said book or magazine etc is more than often not produced/created at all as far as the writer or author is aware.
There are many reasons why vanity publishers don't actually produce and or publish the said promised books or magazines etc. Most reasons are directly linked to the complexities of copyright and intellectual property laws, and all laws relating to the publication including issuing an I.S.B.N. But to put them collectively quite bluntly, it's usually because that after paying the upfront production costs the writer or author finds the company or individual then demands there are any additional costs, such as quite extortionate Editorial Fees the writer or author must also pay; but cannot or will not pay, for whatever reason. As you can imagine, that is one of the situations where the said books or magazines etc will not be produced/created at all by the company or individual. But the major problems don't end there for the naive writer or author.
The writer or author will also more than likely find they have lost their copyright, not merely their ideas, to the vanity publisher. That is usually because they will find in some hindsight they actually assigned (not licensed) their copyright over to the vanity publisher when entering the vanity publishing contract.
It's because of such above noted reasons, for example, Able Limited Editions stress here openly that writers and authors should be very vigilant in seeking reliable advice from a solicitor before entering any publishing contract. That is particularly if the said publisher demands the writer or author must pay them any amount of money for whatever reason on entering any book publishing contract. The actual financial risk of creating/producing and publishing books in any legal format and in any quantity, allotting an ISBN, then lodging copies of the produced book into the relevant Legal Deposit Library are the responsibilities of the publisher, not the writer or author.