How Do I Get Started?

There are many things to think about if you are considering writing a little book. But obviously, the very first question you need to ask yourself is, what is your idea? Or, what message do you want to convey to you audience?

If you are a business, what kind of business development are you doing? Do you want a book to sell at the back of the room after a presentation?  Do you need something that gives value to your customers or clients while at the same time describing your service or product? Do you want a marketing tool that gives you credibility? Do you need something to set you apart from your competition? We can help you write your little book as a unique marketing tool with step by step attention until it is something you can be proud of.

If you are looking to write a book not directly related to your business, do you have a story line in mind? Do you want to write poetry? What concepts or ideas do you want to get across to an audience. What is your audience? We can help you ask the right questions so that you have a clear understanding of where you are going with your idea and then help to get it on paper.

Do you have enough material to write a book?

As a general rule, most authors writing a little book struggle not with coming up with material but how to make all their material succinct enough to fit in their little book! However, if you are having difficulty coming up with enough material, here are some points to think about:

Think of 9-13 points that you what to get across and write them down. They can now be your chapters in the book. Each chapter or point will be about 1 single page Word document (representing several pages of the little book). If you have ever written an article, your chapter could be the size of one article. In fact, you could essentially put 9-13 articles together to make a little book.

Although everybody has their own way of writing, if you are still struggling, here are some steps to get started on your manuscript.

1. Have you ever written an article or made a power point presentation? Have you ever written down your thoughts in a journal or in a blog? If so, you probable have enough information to write a little book. Our books are generally around 6500 words, which comes out to be around 15 typed pages. That equates to a two hour presentation, or 10 articles you may have already written. Just think! You may already have a little book and just need to get it in order. Let us help you. Still think you can’t write a book? Let our ghostwriter interview you and put your words into print.
2. Outline your Table of Contents. A Table of Contents is a good starting point for a book outline. You can see your book at a glance and in logical order.
3. Write the chapter name followed by 2 or 3 words that describe the content of that chapter.
4. Outline your introduction in point form on a new page. Include your subject.
5. Include the purpose of your book. Everything you write should come back to this statement.
6. Write a short outline for each chapter of your book. Include a main statement from the chapter, followed by points covering major events or areas of the chapter. End the chapter outline with a concluding sentence.
7. Include a conclusion at the end of your book outline. 

Once you have done these steps, filling in the info will be easy!

Still having trouble or no time to sit and write a book?

Let one of our ghostwriters assist you. The ghostwriter will contact you and interview you. The writer will take the information you provide and compile a document for you to review, revise and approve. It will be your ideas and work just written in professional format by someone else.

My manuscript is done. Now what?

Editing is probably one of the most important parts of your book. Afterall, what you say is a direct reflection on you as an author.  Your manuscript will be submitted to our expert editors to edit for both grammar and spelling along with general content/flow. You will get the manuscript back to review and make changes. You get to approve or disapprove all changes so you are happy with the way the manuscript reads.

What about the cover?

As a general rule, you have about 10 seconds for someone to decide to pick up your book to see if they want to buy it. Your cover provides the first impression so it is really important to have a cover that stands out. We have many templates where you can pick one of the template designs for your book cover while still being in charge of colors and the way it looks. The design will include a picture of your choice and information about you on the back. You will review the cover several times with the designer before it is sent to print to make sure it is exactly what you want.

If you would like a special custom design cover you can work with one of our graphic designers to come up with a unique design that reflects your message. You communicate directly with the designer, describing what you envision for your cover. The designer will take all your ideas and come up with several different options for you to pick and choose and further edit. This fine-tuning will result in a cover that anyone would want to pick up!

How long will it take to get my books?

Unfortunately, there are no firm timelines for getting a book published. However, here are some general guidelines to think about when you are going through your process:

Once you get us the manuscript and we get it to one of our editors, it will take approximately 10 days to get the manuscript back for review. You will have time to revise and accept/decline the changes before we send it back to the editor for final changes.

The cover design usually takes 3-4 weeks depending on the cover you choose. It will possibly be longer if you choose to have a custom design.

The whole manuscript with the cover then goes to the layout copy editor which is about a 10 day process.

Printers are either booked up with work or have nothing. If the manuscript is sent at a time they are not busy, they can get it to us in approximately 3-4 weeks. If they are busy it can take up to 6 weeks. We have very little control over their schedule.  

The total process from the time it is submitted to book in hand will be 8-16 weeks. If you are in a rush we will do everything we can do to speed along the process.

 How much help will I get?

You will have a project manager assisting you every step of the way. The project manager will be contacting you periodically to make sure you are on track to meeting your deadlines. The manager will facilitate the communication between you and the editor, designer and ghostwriter.