132 - Our Online Book Publishing Program

Today’s Topic: Our Online Book Publishing Program - A Step-By-Step Process for Getting Your Manuscript Done

I’ve often talked about our online book publishing program but I haven’t actually done a podcast to speak on it specifically. I’ve also decided that it was time to drop the pricing and I’ve dropped it quite significantly to make it more affordable in these unique times. I felt like it was perfect timing to do this as so many people make writing a manuscript a goal for a New Years resolution and we all are beginning to come through the clouds and into the light of a new era that offers us a time to fully expose our truth.

We’ve all been through some tough times in 2021 and 2022 and we all have a story to be told about loss. And some of us have a story of transformation, forgiveness, or new found faith. We have all had to pivot into new ways of living and being during these unique times. I have a goal of being a guide for the voice of the people. I want to give you the tools for making your story heard.

We all need the inspiration of others to know what the human experience has conquered and overcome. We all need new hope and new ways of being and thinking. I want to partner with inspired thinkers to share their wealth of information gathered, their perspective, their observations, and opinions about what is in front of us as we work together to move forward creating new systems, new approaches, new ways to school our children, new ways of governing societies, new ways of managing finances, new ways of planning and prepping for the unknown, new ways of growing food, new healthcare approaches, etc.

The world is our oyster with new awareness of those things and people that have failed us and the people have gained so many gifts about what matters most as everything is not what it used to be. We’ve hopefully gained a new compassion for all of our brothers and sisters and all sentient beings on this planet. We’ve seen so much suffering but here we are on the verge of building something new. I want to know how you dream the world into being and what your growing, building, transforming, and creating. I also want to help guide you on the entire book publishing process in a way that allows you to seamlessly transition your thoughts and ideas into the world.

So, how can we work together to guide you on the proper steps to take to get your manuscript done and your book published? It all starts with you partnering with me. I’ve been in the book business for awhile now and I’ve seen many things over the years and I’ve watched all the censorship of the last few years and all the changes in the publishing industry. I can tell you that my process hasn’t changed but some of the sources for getting things done have. I’ve had to work with new printers due to closings and I’ve had to work my way around increasing costs and challenging vendors and related environments. I’ve also watched other book coaching systems fail or sell out and some retire and other coaches that have changed careers during these unique times. I’m still here and I still love what I do!

I used to charge $2,495 for access to my coaching system and online program but I realized that I don’t have to charge you that much to show you how the process works. I created a self-paced program that gives you all the basics and partners with my Let’s Get Your Book Published book so that you don’t need to pay me for my time but you can navigate on your own through the core elements of the process. I make myself available for an hourly fee if there is a place where you get stuck. You can just pick up the phone and call me and we can talk and work through these stuck places then you can continue through the program at your own pace. You see, the process is really the same no matter the book. But, what generally differs is what each author expects as an outcome or how they prefer to present themselves publicly. Sure, we all have a unique story to tell but you shouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for the basics.

My online program gives you the basics and, when partnered with my book (also available as a free download when you sign up), you get an expanded model to walk you through all the phases of your book project. I’ve designed the online training program to match up with the book so that module 1 is chapter 1 and module 2 is chapter 2. Now, I don’t give you everything in the book because it would simply be far to big, but the online training program gives you multiple ways to reach your goal beyond what the book offers.

All in all, I have given you a nearly 300-page book you can begin with, then I’ve supplemented the book with an additional 350 pages of online materials that can be found as supplemental materials in the online program. There are videos, downloads, and project plans that will guide you through every phase from writing your manuscript to sales and marketing. Let me give you the core modules to give you an idea of how this looks:

Introduction: What Drives Us to Create?
The introduction sets the stage for what I’m about to teach you and why I take the approach that I do.

1    Learn the Publishing Industry
The first chapter helps you understand a bit about the publishing industry and the pros and cons of self publishing in comparison to the coveted New York model. I want to help you understand the reasons to self-publish and what to expect from the process.

2    What is a Book—Really?
The second chapter was designed to give you an understanding of how to write your book in a way that gives you realistic results and expectations. I don’t like to sell the idea of becoming a best-seller and I want to help you understand why this isn’t important. I feel like this is where new authors have such a misunderstanding and end up hiring a coach that markets this as the “end all/be all” goal for a book without any real concern for whether or not it’s meaningful to achieve this lofty goal.

3    Defining Your Purpose
As I often say on my podcasts, I want to get you clear on your why - why you wrote the book in the first place. Now that you understand a bit more about the publishing industry (from the previous module) and how a book can best work for you, I want to help guide you on the real reason you wrote the book in the first place. Generally, most authors want to maximize profits and that’s their goal (along side exposure). But, pairing content with desired outcome can prove to be a long-lasting solution as you navigate outside of the book going forward.

4    Organizing the Structure of the Book
OK, so now that we’ve set the stage for how a book can best work for you, we start getting into the structure of the book and how to begin drawing up the content and manuscript.

5    The Publishing Process
In all reality the 4th module is where you spend most of your time - generating content. But, the remainder of the modules further define the other things many authors just never think about when they produce a book. Ideally, a book sets the tone for your brand or image and it’s really one of the more critical parts because if your book doesn’t look like something someone would want to read - guess what? They won’t ever even pick it up. And even if they never pick it up, you are speaking to everyone that you are a master of something and how you execute the image of you, your brand, and your subject matter is how people relate to you. So, the next four sections of the program will help you better understand why this is all important and how you achieve consistency in the message and image you wish to convey.

6    Defining Title, Subtitle, Tagline
There are so many tricks and methods for achieving a meaningful title, subtitle and tagline for your book. We talk here about some methods for defining these and how this affects how you are found in search engines and best define the content of your book and identify yourself key words and catchy phrases that align with everything that you do outside of the book. Here is where we begin to look at how you show up in all efforts related to sales, marketing, and how you relate to your audience or other activities you are engaged with, such as speaking, coaching, teaching, and training.

7    The Manuscript & Editing Process
This module further defines the manuscript and how you go about engaging an editor. We talk a bit about the process and how to hire an editor that aligns with your content and just in general the working relationship you will have with an optimal editor for your book project.

8    Cover Design
Since I also play the roll of cover designer I have the ability to work with you on getting an optimal look and feel. But, with my many years of experience in brand management in a variety of different fields, and working for all the worlds largest ad agencies, I have a unique advantage and special talent in defining all the elements of your cover design. Many times the biggest mistake a new author can make is not understanding the role of a quality book design. Honestly, its a bit more expensive to get it done right and hiring a professional book designer is something many new authors figure they can cut the costs of by hiring a junior one-time artist. The cover design is the one thing outside of interest in the general topic that draws attention to your book. If it looks self-published people tend to associate that with poor quality content and may never even hear the message you have spent so much time defining. Remember that image is everything. As they say in the business - you DO judge a book by the cover! In this module we talk about colors, fonts, and image and so much more. Brand is everything!

9    Interior Layout
I’ve been doing interior design and cover layout for more than a decade now and even though most people come to me for the image on the outside, it’s the interior where I have the most joy. I have an MBA in technology management (and perhaps a bit of self-proclaimed OCD) so as they say  “the devil is in the detail”. There is another quote that says “detail is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary”.

There are many things most authors just simply don’t know or honestly just don’t care about with regard to the interior of the book. The way a book is laid out when you open the pages says a lot about you as the author. The layout is especially important when you are aware that what you do outside of the book is where true awareness of your material comes to life. If you are designing a system or coaching, teaching, or training with the content of the book than how you reference it in the book matters. How you present it graphically matters. And, if you include other content like graphs, charts, or images matters. Not everything reproduces well and not everything needs to be represented here if you are working with people on a deeper level outside of the book. Oftentimes the book is a teaser to showcase the highlights of what goes on in your ecosystem. Its a way to reach out and draw people into your world. This is also a module where we discuss image quality and whether or not color or black and white images are best in your book. Much of what happens in the layout also determines pricing for printing, so we will talk about that in the next module.

10    The Printer & Production Costs
Oftentimes a high cost print run scares away an author from the next steps. There are many things talked about here like whether or not a print on demand system is a viable choice or whether an author prints in hard or soft copy. There are a few rules or tricks of the trade, so to speak, that I discuss here that guide an new author on the proper protocol to follow with regard to printing. As a self-published author you are really reasonable for managing all the vendors you bring into your project. Since I do the graphic elements I have a unique understanding of how to best work with a printer. Oftentimes this stage is overlooked as a necessary evil in the book production process. But, being aware of all the options here is definitely a bonus.

11    Marketing & Sales
As I mentioned, I have an extensive background in brand management, serving executive management roles in both client and agency side work for many years in my career. If I can navigate all things brand management as a 6-figure earner in a variety of industries (such as automotive) I can assure you I have the credentials to assist you in navigating all the marketing aspects relating to launching a successful book. One thing I will caution you on here however is that the sky is the limit as it relates to creating awareness of your book and thousands of dollars can easily be spent very quickly. I personally don’t like the idea of book launches and selling books unless its your goal to be a professional author. When it comes to selling there are also many issues around distribution to navigate and then as you launch you might realize that you don’t have audio or ebooks and oftentimes an author never even thinks of these formats until they are actually beginning sales. Ideally, you need to develop a marketing plan and budget that aligns with well-understood goals that speak to a well-understood target market or audience.

Every book has front and back pages and here is another opportunity to showcase your talents, skillset, and background. This is the place you often get to brag about how fab you are. You’ll always want to summarize your book. The Let’s Get Your Book Published program looked at the final note as a place to hit home with acknowledging all the ways you could talk yourself out of producing a book. The title of the chapter might be where you address next steps, summarize what you have presented, or remind the reader what you’ve taught them and how to partner with you. Our final chapter is:

A Final Note: Releasing Fear and Stepping Into Your Greatness

Depending on your goals and how you position yourself outside of the book will likely determine the content of your back pages. In our program we hit on a few appendixes:

Appendix A: Book Production Process
Appendix B: Writing Plan
Appendix C: Running a Conscious Business

These appendixes just bring a bit more detail to items you’ve already presented throughout the book. We will show you how to write these in the program.

And, as far as the remaining structure or content… Generally you will have a summary about the author. This is where you elaborate on all the things you couldn’t fit on the cover.

If you have an additional businesses, a charity you contribute to, or just someplace where you regularly show up teaching, coaching, or speaking you might further identify that here. Speaking for example, you might list the topics of your speeches. This is a great place to highlight blogs, your website, your active social media or video campaigns.

So, you can see there are many ways to write a book, the Let’s Get Your Book Published program is a good partner with most business-minded authors. We like to guide you through a practical approach that takes your message well beyond the pages. It can be said that the book is your platform from which you stand but we like to get you focused on a platform where the book stands. In other words, we feel a book is a bit like the hammer in the contractors tool belt. It’s a tool for enhancing a strong business model or platform and a tool that allows you to create more visibility and organized content to further elaborate on the things your already successful at. Now, oftentimes an author does it the other way around and tries to write a book to build out something new. But, in all reality you’ve got to build it along side of the book. The book just creates awareness. If you have no place to bring a reader back to you’ve immediately stopped the engagement and never quite get to marriage… to give you a parable analogy.

It’s going to take the voice of the people to make a significant change in 2023 and beyond. Let’s start creating new ways of thinking and being that pulls humanity out of the mess it’s in now. It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on, the fact is that we all can see a need for change. Change can only happen when the best and the brightest step up to make that happen. I know you have a voice so lets put a book to your thinking and organize those thoughts into well-presented ideas that inspires action!

This program will be more than enough to get you well on your way to making 2023 the year you make your book a reality, but I do also offer additional coaching if you are stuck. All my pricing is disclosed right on the website. Sign up for a 1-Hour call to get on the path to becoming an author in 2023. In just 1-Hour I’l get you on the right page to moving forward. You can pay for as many coaching sessions as you need but the program is being offered for a limited time for just 10% of it’s original cost! If you get stuck I’m there to help guide you and just a call away. You owe it to yourself to get started today! It’s not often I turn my podcasts into an infomercial about my offerings, but I’m so confident you will be more than satisfied that I felt compelled to share this in an email campaign and podcast. I always offer a referral discount as well, so be sure to find the affiliate referral program link at the bottom of the homepage to sign up. It’s real easy and all you do is set up your PayPal account and each time someone signs up a check is automatically deposited into your bank account. It’s that easy!

OK guys, I really look forward to meeting you and getting you going off to a great start in 2023. The time is now!

As always, I’m wishing you peace, love, and light!