Journal

The Aster House Journal

Notes on writing, editing, publishing and making books.

Writing
Editing
Publishing
Book Design
Ghostwriting
Authors
Industry

An open book being read outdoors, with the headline “Does my book need an ISBN? What’s an ISBN anyway?”

Publishing5 min read

Do I Need an ISBN? What Authors Need to Know

Do you actually need an ISBN for your book? Here’s what authors need to know about ISBNs, editions, formats, distribution and publishing in India.

16 August 2026

A quiet desk with a vase, a mug and a framed photograph of a woman reading, beside the line "Some books are worth making simply because they matter to you."

Publishing2 min read

Why publish your book yourself?

Traditional publishing has its place. It is not the only route to a book, and for a great many books it is not the right one.

15 August 2026

An editorial desk with a manuscript, book jacket and production notes in ivory, charcoal and burgundy.

Publishing3 min read

The book is not finished when the manuscript is

A manuscript can be finished and the book can still be wrong. Good publishing connects the words, the object and the reader.

15 August 2026

An abstract composition of overlapping manuscript pages with a burgundy rule.

Editing2 min read

What a book editor actually does

Most authors meet the word 'editing' and picture someone fixing commas. That is the last ten per cent of the job, and the least important.

18 June 2026

A stepped abstract diagram in ivory and charcoal suggesting stacked production costs.

Publishing3 min read

What it costs to publish a book in India, and why

Publishing quotes vary by a factor of ten for what looks like the same service. Here is what is actually inside the number.

27 May 2026

An abstract arc composition in burgundy suggesting a horizon or a road.

Ghostwriting3 min read

Where to begin a memoir when you don't know where to begin

Nobody starts at the beginning. The people who finish memoirs start at a specific afternoon and work outward.

30 April 2026

A grid of abstract book cover compositions in ivory, charcoal and burgundy.

Book Design2 min read

The cover is not decoration

A book cover has one job at 40mm wide on a phone screen, another at arm's length on a table, and a third in the hand. Most covers are designed for only one of them.

14 March 2026

Journal

Reading is not the same as starting.

If something here answered a question you had, the next step is telling us about the book itself.

Start your book

Small Hours

Poems

Aster House Books