Your Book Opens the Door to Opportunities
More and more people are using eBooks or full-length books to establish their credibility in their business or area of expertise. These are considered entrepreneurial books, where the objective is to introduce the reader to the author as a teacher, guide, coach, or leader.
The best of these books actually teach you something. Others tease the reader with repetitive promises and hype for the author's products or services.
The current trend it to tell the story of your triumph over steep odds, to tout some solution that worked for the author with the promise that "You Can Too!" The best of these stories are inspiring, helpful, even transformative. The worst of them are manipulative and self-serving.
When these objectives are done well, they combine to build your brand.
Your book becomes your calling card.
The book itself is less important that the work it does to build your business.But building the book correctly is of the utmost importance.
START NOW! CLICK HERE to download your Preliminary Project Query.
The best of these books actually teach you something. Others tease the reader with repetitive promises and hype for the author's products or services.
The current trend it to tell the story of your triumph over steep odds, to tout some solution that worked for the author with the promise that "You Can Too!" The best of these stories are inspiring, helpful, even transformative. The worst of them are manipulative and self-serving.
- So, the first objective of your book is to tell your story in an authentic way that your reader can believe and relate to. If your story is unbelievable, and your solution unrepeatable, then your reader is unconvinced and the rest of your book is wasted effort.
- Your second objective is to deliver value. To convey your solution in a way that benefits your readers immediately.
- The third objective of your book is to entertain. It needs to be a good read with language that engages the reader, keeps them enthusiastic about the next idea, the next chapter, the next step.
When these objectives are done well, they combine to build your brand.
- Your book tells the world what you are known for.
- It builds your reader's trust so that they become customers for your services.
- Book reviews build buzz and expand the reach of the book.
- The book establishes a clear purpose and message that invites opportunities such as speaking engagements, interviews, consultations, and perhaps further publication.
Your book becomes your calling card.
- You might offer it as a gift in return for enrolling in your course.
- It may become a workbook for individual clients.
- I may be a gift you give at a speaking engagement.
- I may be a bonus offered through a marketing joint venture.
The book itself is less important that the work it does to build your business.But building the book correctly is of the utmost importance.
START NOW! CLICK HERE to download your Preliminary Project Query.
Is Your Book a Short eBook or Full-Length?
- What is already in the marketplace? Your business book wants to offer something in a new way, with new applications, with a new perspective, or offer deeper help on a subject.
- Is this a full-length book, or is it an eBook? The depth of your knowledge about the subject will determine this. Also, your time frame may cause you to decide on an eBook first, while working on a full-length manuscript.
- How much of your manuscript already exists in some form? Every thing you've written or created on this subject is considered a resource.
What Kind of Help Do You Need To Make Your Book Real?
The Line Editor prepares the manuscript for publishing.
If your manuscript is done and in pretty good shape, you may just need line editing. This editor provides another set of eyes to check typos, spelling, and punctuation errors. Line editing is the last stage of the manuscript before it is formatted for submission to a publisher, or to a book packager for self-publishing.
The Substantive Editor stays focused on the core purpose of the book.
If much of your message is written, but perhaps disorganized or uneven in the development of your ideas, you will benefit from substantive editing. This editor has the ability to see the big picture and break it into manageable parts. They wrestle your ideas into order, so that each idea supports the next idea.
The Substantive Editor is a book doctor. They see where the book is healthy and where it is sick. They stay focused on the core purpose of the book, and see what is missing, where topics have been developed unevenly, where diverging topics need to be removed, and where interviews, expertise quotes, and examples are needed.
When this process is completed, your manuscript is full post-its. And you have a detailed report of what needs to be done. This report reveals the depth of your actual knowledge of the subject -- as revealed by your current material - and points to where additional material is needed.
If you need help filling in those gaps, a ghostwriter may be in order.
The Ghostwriter gets your book out of your head.
If your material is still "just in your head", yet you are certain you have material for a book, then a ghostwriter might be in order. This is a serious commitment of time and effort for everyone involved. Basically, you are starting from scratch. Your material may exist as scribbling in notebooks, a pile of reports you did for work, recordings or interviews that need transcribing, hand-written journals that need to be typed, or a collection of reports in various stages of completion. You get the idea. Lots of disorganized resources.
The ghostwriter might begin by interviewing you to find out what you want to say, then create the outline to support those ideas, then assess your existing material to see what fits into that focus. They will propose an outline. When that is accepted, they turn into a Substantive Editor to reveal what you already know and have and what needs to be known or found.
The Ghostwriter writes using your voice.
It is not uncommon for an author to write their manuscript over time, and during that time their perspective, intensity, and enthusiasm varies. If you have a nearly complete manuscript that needs a consistent voice or development, you might bring in a ghostwriter to rewrite your copy and imprint it with your verbal style and tone. They give it your voice. They discover your themes and write transitions that use your normal language. When people hear you speak and read your book, they know it is the same person.
My special skill is seeing the big picture, finding your voice and underlying story. I have a knack for understanding complex information and organizing it into a practical form that the reader can understand and use.
If you are ready to move forward on your book, click here to complete your Preliminary Project Query.
Below are some case studies, where I did some or all of those tasks I just described.
If your manuscript is done and in pretty good shape, you may just need line editing. This editor provides another set of eyes to check typos, spelling, and punctuation errors. Line editing is the last stage of the manuscript before it is formatted for submission to a publisher, or to a book packager for self-publishing.
The Substantive Editor stays focused on the core purpose of the book.
If much of your message is written, but perhaps disorganized or uneven in the development of your ideas, you will benefit from substantive editing. This editor has the ability to see the big picture and break it into manageable parts. They wrestle your ideas into order, so that each idea supports the next idea.
The Substantive Editor is a book doctor. They see where the book is healthy and where it is sick. They stay focused on the core purpose of the book, and see what is missing, where topics have been developed unevenly, where diverging topics need to be removed, and where interviews, expertise quotes, and examples are needed.
When this process is completed, your manuscript is full post-its. And you have a detailed report of what needs to be done. This report reveals the depth of your actual knowledge of the subject -- as revealed by your current material - and points to where additional material is needed.
If you need help filling in those gaps, a ghostwriter may be in order.
The Ghostwriter gets your book out of your head.
If your material is still "just in your head", yet you are certain you have material for a book, then a ghostwriter might be in order. This is a serious commitment of time and effort for everyone involved. Basically, you are starting from scratch. Your material may exist as scribbling in notebooks, a pile of reports you did for work, recordings or interviews that need transcribing, hand-written journals that need to be typed, or a collection of reports in various stages of completion. You get the idea. Lots of disorganized resources.
The ghostwriter might begin by interviewing you to find out what you want to say, then create the outline to support those ideas, then assess your existing material to see what fits into that focus. They will propose an outline. When that is accepted, they turn into a Substantive Editor to reveal what you already know and have and what needs to be known or found.
The Ghostwriter writes using your voice.
It is not uncommon for an author to write their manuscript over time, and during that time their perspective, intensity, and enthusiasm varies. If you have a nearly complete manuscript that needs a consistent voice or development, you might bring in a ghostwriter to rewrite your copy and imprint it with your verbal style and tone. They give it your voice. They discover your themes and write transitions that use your normal language. When people hear you speak and read your book, they know it is the same person.
My special skill is seeing the big picture, finding your voice and underlying story. I have a knack for understanding complex information and organizing it into a practical form that the reader can understand and use.
If you are ready to move forward on your book, click here to complete your Preliminary Project Query.
Below are some case studies, where I did some or all of those tasks I just described.
Editing Case Studies
Edited Manuscripts on Stock Market Trading
Below ismarketing copy about two books I edited while Senior Book Editor at Lighthouse Publishing Group. These books below came to me as complete manuscripts from competent writers. My task was to clean up continuity, check cross-references and internal references, proof mathematics and document trading transactions, and ensure that the language met legal constraints. Stock Split Secrets By Darlene Nelson and Miles Nelson Profiting From a Powerful, Predictable, Price-Moving Event! Stock Split Secrets will teach you about the five powerful, predictable, price-moving phases that often occur when a company splits its stock, and how to use these events to make phenomenal money in the stock market! In this book you'll learn:
Beginning Investors Bible By Doug "Safety" Sutton Learn to Play Aggressive Strategies Conservatively and Conservative Strategies Aggressively The roadside to riches in the stock market is littered with the bones of those who started their journey without a map and without protection. In addition to teaching the basics of trading in Beginning Investors Bible, Doug explains some of the most powerful strategies beginners can use, as well as techniques to intrigue intermediate traders. The book includes information on:
A few words of praise...
“Special thanks to the Lighthouse Publishing Group … and my editor Leslie vanWinkle, who helped move my book project from concept to finished book so smoothly and quickly that it is unbelievable.”
~ Doug Sutton, Author/Investor, The Beginning Investors Bible "The Day After the Dollar Crashes" ~ “I especially want to thank my editor, researcher and collaborator Leslie vanWinkle, for pulling this book together from all my ideas and keeping me on track. This book would not exist without her.” ~ Damon Vickers, Author/Investor, Damon Vickers+Co. |
Ghostwriting Case StudiesGhostwrote, Packaged and Marketed 5-Book
Series on Stock Market Trading Situation: Lighthouse Publishing Group specialized in publishing books on stock market trading and investing. I was Senior Book Editor. Our parent company conducted trading seminars around the country as well as maintaining a private membership with special benefits. Our directive was to develop a Special Collector's Edition Series of five books on "Successful Stock Market Trading Strategies for Every Investor." Three of the books existed in reality and two existed in the ether sphere. It was June. We needed to have all five books ready to sell as special Christmas package. That meant we had six months to produce two new books, and launch a pre-sale campaign in Late October so we knew how many books to print to meet the Christmas purchases. We would mail out the purchased books, and then complete the print run for distribution into stores In January! Solution: Given the short timeline for the two new books this was my game plan:
Result: By mid-October we had mock-ups of the cover art for the book series that we could use for the pre-sell marketing campaign. We also had the mailers printed and the email campaign ready to launch. By early December we had the two new manuscripts formatted and at the printer for the initial short-run. |
To come. Case studies for "Day" and FIC