The Imprint Model Explained

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What "Published by Team Shaw Caribbean" actually means.

An imprint is the brand on the book's spine. We are the imprint. You are the author. You own the rights. When "Team Shaw Caribbean Press" sits on the spine of your book, the contract says you keep copyright, you keep your KDP account, you keep every cent of royalty. The imprint is the wrapper. You are the work.

Self-publishing, our imprint, and traditional publishing. What you own in each.

Self-publishing means you handle everything yourself or assemble a freelance team. You own your ISBN. You own the file. You own every cent of royalty. You also own every mistake and every delay. There is no quality floor and no editorial review beyond what you arrange and pay for separately. Your book lists with no publisher brand on the spine, or with a personal imprint name you registered yourself.

The TSCP imprint model sits between self-publishing and a traditional publisher. You still own copyright. You still receive every cent of royalty. You still control approvals through three signed gates. What changes is whose name appears on the spine, whose editorial standards stand behind the work, and how much production and distribution support arrives without you assembling it yourself. On Digital Debut, Professional Launch, and Authority Standard, your name remains on the ISBN and the imprint is optional branding. On the Shaw Authority Package, our imprint sits on the spine because the book is positioned for an executive audience that reads imprints as quality signals.

A traditional publisher acquires your manuscript and pays you an advance. In return, the publisher owns the copyright for the term of the contract (often life of the author plus seventy years). The publisher controls every editorial and design decision. The publisher keeps the lion's share of royalties and pays you a percentage, typically eight to fifteen percent of net. You see your book on shelves, but the financial upside is structured to favor the publisher, not you. Traditional publishing makes sense for some authors. It is not what TSCP offers, and we do not pretend it is.

ISBN economics, in plain English.

An ISBN is the unique identifier attached to a book at every retailer. It is also the registration that names a publisher of record. ISBNs in Guyana are issued by the Guyana ISBN Agency at the National Library, and through Bowker in the United States. A single ISBN from the US ISBN Agency costs USD 125 retail. A block of ten ISBNs costs USD 295. A block of one hundred costs USD 575. The unit economics get dramatic fast.

Publishers that own bulk ISBN blocks can offer an ISBN as part of a package without charging the full retail rate. That is normal, useful, and a reason imprints exist. It is not a justification for the publisher to claim the imprint as their own asset. At TSCP, when we provide an ISBN from our bulk block, the ISBN is registered to your imprint name, not ours, on Tiers 1 through 3. On the Shaw Authority Package, the ISBN is registered to Team Shaw Caribbean Press as the imprint, while the copyright assignment in the contract reserves all economic rights to you. Two different things, written separately, enforceable independently.

If you would rather buy your own ISBN block, we will help you set it up at the agency in Georgetown or with Bowker, and we will use your ISBN at no extra cost on any package. There is no upcharge for bringing your own.

The right-to-decline clause, explained.

We decline manuscripts that are not ready. The Manuscript Readiness Rubric scores a draft across six dimensions, on a one-to-five scale, with a maximum of thirty. Manuscripts scoring below eighteen are routed to the GYD 25,000-per-month subscription tier first, where coaching brings the work to a publishable floor. Manuscripts scoring eighteen or higher are eligible for a tier engagement. Manuscripts scoring twenty-four or higher are eligible for the Shaw Authority Package directly.

The right to decline is also yours. If you do not want to take a coaching pathway, you walk away with the rubric assessment in hand and you can use it with another publisher or on your own. We do not charge for the readiness assessment. We do not put you on a list. We do not call you back. That is how the right to decline runs in both directions, and it is the floor of the IBPA hybrid-publisher criteria we have publicly adopted.

The IBPA criteria, publicly adopted.

The Independent Book Publishers Association publishes eleven criteria for what makes a legitimate hybrid publisher rather than a vanity press. The criteria cover quality screening, contract transparency, royalty distribution, ISBN ownership, marketing investment, distribution access, editorial standards, design standards, production standards, marketing rights, and reversion clauses.

We have publicly adopted all eleven. The full statement is on our editorial standards page in the legal section, and the IBPA badge appears in the footer of every page on this site. If you can show us a place where our practice falls short of any of the eleven, you write to hello@tscpress.net and we will either fix it or explain in writing why a Caribbean context requires the variation. The criteria are our floor, not our ceiling.

Where the imprint applies on each package.

Digital Debut, GYD 140,000 (USD 700). Your imprint name, your ISBN, your accounts. TSCP brand appears only in production credits and acknowledgements.

Professional Launch, GYD 350,000 (USD 1,750). Your imprint name, your ISBN, your accounts. Imprint optional.

Authority Standard, GYD 700,000 (USD 3,500). Your imprint name, your ISBN, your accounts. Imprint optional.

Shaw Authority Package, GYD 1,500,000 (USD 7,500). Team Shaw Caribbean Press imprint on the spine, copyright fully assigned to you, all royalties to you. The imprint signal serves the executive ghostwriting positioning.

Subscription, GYD 25,000 per month (USD 125 per month). Coaching and rubric-building tier, no imprint, no publication. Authors transition into a paid tier when their manuscript is ready.

Frequently asked questions about the imprint model.

Who owns my ISBN?

You do. On Digital Debut, Professional Launch, and Authority Standard, the ISBN is registered to your name or to your personal imprint. We provide the ISBN from our bulk block at no extra cost, or we use one you already own. On the Shaw Authority Package, the ISBN is registered to Team Shaw Caribbean Press as the imprint of record, while a separate clause in the contract assigns the underlying copyright to you. The ISBN registration and the copyright are two different legal instruments, recorded separately.

Who owns the copyright in my book?

You do, on every tier, including the Shaw Authority Package. Copyright in the manuscript and the published book is assigned to the author in writing at contract signing. We never claim copyright in your work. We never claim derivative rights. We never claim translation rights. The only license we hold is a narrow, time-limited reproduction license that lets us print and distribute the book during the active engagement period. That license terminates with the engagement.

For full pricing across all five tiers, see the packages page. Every number is published, with no hidden fees and no discovery call required.

Is TSCP a real publisher or a self-publishing service?

Both, depending on the tier. The Shaw Authority Package operates as a true hybrid publisher: we acquire the project through a manuscript readiness assessment, we underwrite editorial and design, we put our imprint on the spine, and we share the publishing risk through marketing investment. Digital Debut, Professional Launch, and Authority Standard operate as professional production-and-distribution services with the imprint optional, closer to assisted self-publishing. We name what each tier is on its package page so authors can match what they need to what they buy.

How is TSCP different from local or international publishers with negative press or other Caribbean publishers?

We answer this by pointing to our contract, not by comparing ourselves to anyone by name. Author owns the ISBN on every standard package. Author owns the KDP and IngramSpark accounts. One hundred percent of royalties flow to the author, not the publisher. Three signed approval gates protect the author through editing, design, and final proof. An exit clause returns the manuscript and the rights if the relationship ends. The IBPA eleven-point hybrid criteria are publicly adopted, and the criteria badge appears in our footer. If you are considering another publisher, ask them about these five protections in writing before you sign.

What is TSCP's relationship with La Caribeña News and EICCIO Advisors?

EICCIO Advisors is the parent consultancy founded by Theon Alleyne in 2016, focused on Caribbean financial regulation and compliance. La Caribeña News is EICCIO's Caribbean business journalism outlet, launched in 2026. Team Shaw Caribbean Press is the publishing imprint within the same group, launched in 2026. The three sit under the same ownership and share infrastructure, but each operates as its own business with its own editorial and commercial decisions. Authors who publish with TSCP gain access to LCN media coverage as a built-in amplifier on Tiers 2 and above.

Who is behind Team Shaw Caribbean Press?

Theon Alleyne, CRCP, CCEP, is the founder. He is a Caribbean compliance practitioner based in Georgetown, Guyana, author of "Letters to a Compliance Officer", and the founder of EICCIO Advisors and La Caribeña News. The full founder story is on the About page. The editorial team is built from named freelance editors, designers, and proofreaders across the Caribbean and the diaspora, listed publicly on the About page as the roster grows.

Ready to see the packages?

The imprint model is the wrapper. The packages are how it gets built. See which tier fits your book and your budget.

See our packages

For the executive ghostwriting tier specifically, read the Shaw Authority Package detail or write to hello@tscpress.net for a confidential discussion.

Team Shaw Caribbean Press is a registered Guyana publishing house. An imprint within the La Caribeña News and EICCIO Advisors group. Adopter of the Independent Book Publishers Association's eleven-point hybrid publisher criteria.