Farris Yawn, co-owner of Yawn’s Books in Canton, Ga., created Yawn’s Publishing out of necessity to better serve the store’s customers. “We saw too many people come in with their self-published books that were poorly formatted and overpriced and thought ‘We can help these people.’ We work very hard to produce a top quality product at a very competitive retail price,” says Yawn.

Offering print on demand,traditional offset printing and e-books, Yawn’s Publishing looks to expand into doing enhanced e-books in the near future. Publishing packages are tailored to the author and project. The basic package runs $799, and the e-book standard format is $200. Authors receive 50% royalties on e-books with standard formatting. The basic package includes: cover design, formatting and layout, ISBN, Library of Congress number, up to 15 interior images, 10 copies of the book, and an electronic press release. All rights to the book remain with the author. Books published by Yawn's Publishing are available in-store and online at Yawn’s Books, as well as online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Copies are supplied to other bookstores through Baker & Taylor and Ingram.

Since its launch in 2008, Yawn’s Publishing has produced 92 titles in print and 13 e-books, with 5 in progress. Farris explains, “Our criteria is simple, it must be well-written, original work and cannot be pornographic in nature. We evaluate each manuscript on an individual basis.” Recently publishing works include: history books, pottery books, novels, religious works, and children’s books.