SamiaBooks
Three picture books in print

Books worth
keeping.

Samia Books is the imprint of Samia Studios. We print the best essays and reporting from Samia Magazine, picture books for children, and short field guides from Samia Learn. Every book is written by a person, edited by a person, and lists its sources at the back.

See the books ↓For authors ↗
A drawn shelf of bright books on a plank, under a paper sun, with the Samia star beside them.
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picture books in print
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lines: essays, picture books, field guides
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steps from commission to shelf
0
sentences written by a machine

Three lines

What we
publish.

A small list, made properly. Each line starts with work that already exists at another division of the house and ends as a book you can hold.

Essays and reporting

The best of Samia Magazine and commissioned long works, printed properly. Geopolitics, culture, history and science, with every claim sourced.

Format set per book. Proposals welcome: 30,000 to 90,000 words.

Children's picture books

Stories that teach honesty, patience, courage and the joy of making things. Illustrated flat, inked and bright, alongside the Samia Kids films.

Three in print now, for ages 1 to 5. Proposals welcome for ages 3 to 8.

Field guides

Short, practical, illustrated books from Samia Learn. How a river treaty works. The numbers that run the world. One subject, explained once, clearly.

Format set per book. Proposals welcome: 12,000 to 25,000 words.

In print now

The Allah Book
series.

Three picture books by Samia Jahangiri about the creatures Allah made. Short books for little ones, and the first books of Samia Kids.

The cover of Goat: a brown goat with small horns stands among yellow flowers and green grass under an orange sun, on cream paper.
Picture book

Goat

A goat on the hillside, and the One who made it. For ages 1 to 5.

How to buy ↓
The cover of Honey Bee: three smiling yellow and black bees fly among pink flowers and dotted flight lines, on cream paper.
Picture book

Honey Bee

A bee in the flowers, and the One who made it. For ages 1 to 5.

How to buy ↓
The cover of Cow: a brown cow with a pink nose stands among small clouds, leaves and yellow dots, on cream paper.
Picture book

Cow

A cow in the pasture, and the One who made it. For ages 1 to 5.

How to buy ↓
The series page ↗Samia Kids, where the stories live ↗

How to buy

What is true
today.

We would rather tell you plainly than make a shop look open before it is. This is where the three books stand, in one list.

Join the reading list
In print
Printed and in hand: Goat, Honey Bee and Cow, the three books of the Allah Book series.
Page count and price
To be confirmed. Both will be on this page before the shop opens.
Online ordering
Coming. Join the reading list below and we will write when the shop opens.
Bookshops
Will be sold direct from this site when the shop opens, and through bookshops that ask. No exclusive deals with any retailer.
Next titles
Will be sold direct from this site when they print, and through bookshops. We will not take money for a book that does not exist yet.

Next on the shelf

Three sample
covers.

The next titles will come one from each line. These covers show the house style, not announced books. Titles, text and art may change before print.

Sample cover: The River. A blue river winding between green banks under a yellow sun. THE RIVER Essays on water and power SAMIA BOOKS
Sample

The River

Twelve essays on who owns water and who decides, from the Nile to the Colorado.

Planned
Sample cover: The Star Who Could Not Sit Still. A smiling yellow star bouncing over pink and blue hills. THE STAR WHO COULD NOT SIT STILL A picture book about patience SAMIA BOOKS
Sample

The Star Who Could Not Sit Still

A small star learns that some things, like a sunrise, are worth waiting for. Ages 3 to 6.

Planned
Sample cover: Numbers That Run the World. A blue globe with grid lines and three number tiles. 8bn 2% 1.5° NUMBERS THAT RUN THE WORLD A field guide from Samia Learn SAMIA BOOKS
Sample

Numbers That Run the World

Twenty numbers, from interest rates to carbon budgets, each explained on a single spread.

Planned

The next titles will be sold direct from this site when they print, and through bookshops. Online payment is coming; we will not take money for a book that does not exist yet.

How we publish

Seven steps,
no shortcuts.

The same process for a picture book and a four-hundred-page collection. It is slower than most. That is the point.

  1. 1
    Commission or accept. Most books begin as a commission from one of the house's divisions. Some arrive as proposals from authors. Either way, one editor says yes and owns the book from then on.
  2. 2
    Edit with care. A structural edit first, then a line edit, then a copy edit. Each pass is a conversation with the author, not a set of silent changes.
  3. 3
    Fact-check, with sources at the back. Every number, name, date and quote in a non-fiction book is checked against its source. The sources are printed as endnotes so a reader can follow them.
  4. 4
    Design in the house style, by a person. Cover and interior are set by a designer in the studio: paper, ink lines, flat colour, Archivo and Figtree. The author approves the cover before it is final.
  5. 5
    Print on demand, plus a first run. Every title will be available print-on-demand so it never goes out of stock, and we print a small first run for bookshops and for the shelf.
  6. 6
    Sold direct and in shops. Every title will be sold direct from this site once the shop opens, and through bookshops that ask. No exclusive deals with any retailer.
  7. 7
    Authors paid quarterly, with a plain statement. Royalties are paid every three months with a one-page statement: copies sold, where, at what price, and what the author is owed.
The terms, in plain English ↗Send a proposal ↗

Written by people

No book here
is generated.

No book, essay or children's story from Samia Books is written by a machine. Tools help in the workshop: they gather sources, check a date, suggest a cut. A person writes every sentence, checks every claim, and signs the work.

The same rule covers the pictures. Illustrations are drawn by an illustrator. Nothing is published as the first output of any tool.

The author's name on the cover means what it has always meant.

  • Every book has a named author and a named editor.
  • Non-fiction lists its sources at the back.
  • Corrections to later printings are listed on the series page.
  • Illustrations are drawn, credited and paid for.
  • If a book cannot meet this standard, it waits.

The reading list

Hear when the
shop opens.

One letter when the Allah Book series goes on sale, and one when a new title is announced. Nothing else. Unsubscribe in one click.