One way to get out of your head as a writer is to acknowledge that, if you want your book to mean something to other people, you need feedback.

If you’ve been following Hybrid Pub Scout for any length of time, you won’t be surprised when I say writing and publishing a successful book is one of the most collaborative things you can do. You know that good publishing practice means bringing in competent editors, designers, and other guides.

But believe it or not, the dialogue between you, your book, and the rest of the world actually begins much sooner than the editing process. In fact, it begins before you even start writing.

In this blog (part one of four), I’m going to show you how to do research to write the book your audience needs and wants.

Find comp titles before you write your book

One of the most powerful lessons I took away from my conversation with Kelley Gardiner a couple weeks ago was the value of testing. She recommends starting your quest for feedback with a little bit (or a lotta-bit) of research on Amazon or other review sites.

Comp titles, aka., comparison titles, are books similar to the book that you want to publish. They’re beacons in a mystifying industry that help guide you to what catches readers’ attention. There’s a lot to say about the value of comp titles at every stage of your book’s development, but for now, start by doing the following on Amazon.

(Yes. Do it even if you hate Amazon and plan to sell elsewhere. Use their data to your advantage—it’s the least they can give you.)

Identify a High-Level Category

Let’s take this step by step. Start with the big picture—a high level category under which your book falls. Go to the drop-down menu at the top of the Amazon home page and type in your category.

The search will reveal the top books in that category. Copy-paste a few links for books that come up during that search into a doc so you can check them out later. If you want to get more specific, and I suggest you do, you’re not done.

Start with a top-selling book to scope out

Pick a book as a starting place. The top seller is fine, but anything in the top five or so should also be taken into account. I’m going to start by picking the third book from the left in this picture to examine, The Challenger Sale. It’s got the second highest number of reviews, and there isn’t a photo of the author on the cover—so it’s a better comp for someone who isn’t well-known on sight.

It is okay if you’ve never read any these books before. You’re just getting an idea of what’s out there. If you really want to read them later, cool. They’re now on your radar.

Scroll down to “Product Details” to find category options

Go all the way down the page—past the product description, book recommendations, and any editorial reviews. Product details will be useful in other areas of your book publishing journey, but for now, look under Best Sellers Rank to see where this book is ranking the best. It might surprise you to see where, but then, Amazon is always full of surprises, for better or worse.

Investigate the bestsellers in those categories

When you click one of the blue links under the “Best Sellers Rank” heading, it will take you to the bestseller page for that category. You’ll see a grid with the top 100 bestselling books for it. Please note that in this picture, I’m looking at what sells best in the Kindle store. If you use a print book selection in your product search, there might be some variation in what categories and books come up. Look at both if you want, especially if you care about getting print sales.

Find comp titles and analyze their reviews

Whatever books or book descriptions appeal most to you or look the most like what you want to do, add it to the list. Once you’ve got a few, it’s time to start digging through reviews.

This time, scroll all the way down past the Product Details, past the About the Author section, and past the Sponsored Products carousels. Now start going through reviews. Five star reviews, one star reviews, all are worth checking out. Three or four stars can often be the most helpful of all. Those are the ones where people are likely to share what they felt was most helpful about the book and what they thought might be missing.

“Look at what the reviews are saying, not necessarily about the book, but what people wanted from the book… The questions that were answered, the questions that were left unanswered, what they wanted from it; what they got, what they didn’t get.”

Kelley Gardiner

Gauge audience interest—after you find out where they are

If you have a blog, podcast , mailing list, or social media following, first ask yourself whether they are also the target audience for your book. Is your current audience curious about the topic you’re thinking of writing about? Try writing a blog on the topic or a post on your regular social media platforms and see what kind of response you get.

It’s like a minimum viable product, or an MVP, except the “P” here stands for…mmmm…point? Pontification? I think you get what I’m saying. Figure out whether the people already in your circles care about the topic enough to engage with it.

Use your comp titles to find your audience

Maybe you don’t have a huge following yet, or the audience you have isn’t quite the same as the one who is likely to want your book. In that case, take out that comp title list again. Get on the social media platform you use the most and start using the title and author names to find out what people are saying about those books. If you don’t see a ton of talk about it on your platform, maybe try another one. Check out who is reading those books. Think about whether they’re an audience you can connect with based on your book. Start thinking now about what you can do now to connect with these readers. Otherwise, when you publish, you’ll have a lovely, hard-won piece of work and nobody to sell it to.

Accept the gift of questions

Particularly if you’re a business owner, blogger, or another person who serves the public, you might already have a great entry point to your customer’s psyche.

“Questions are gold…for any kind of writer,” Kelley told me. “If your audience is asking you a question, then they’re giving you a huge gift. They’re telling you exactly what they want to know.”

If someone comes out to ask you about a topic within your area of expertise, write it down before you forget! If one person is curious about something, there’s a good chance other people are curious about it too. If you’re considering writing a book and you already have an audience that interacts with you, use their questions as launchpads to set a good trajectory for your project.

It’s okay if you’re not the first

Maybe something inside you wants to ignore all that advice. 

Maybe you’re afraid that if you do your research, you’ll see something you don’t like. Specifically, you might see that someone else has written a book similar to yours, and maybe that someone has sold a lot of books. And, oh no, the author is so smart and successful! What are you even doing thinking you can do what they do?!

Even if you know that’s a silly train of thought, tell that to your sympathetic nervous system. That’s right. You can’t.

However, you can soothe that grumbling in the pit of your stomach by reminding yourself it’s usually a good thing to see book ideas similar to your own. That means there are people who want to pick up the sort of thing you’re about to throw down. Nobody out there will have the exact perspective you bring. Some people might be wired to understand the way you communicate better than the way other authors do. If you put research, love, and attention to detail into your book (and marketing—never forget marketing), there will be readers who will benefit.

So don’t give up before you even get started. As long as you’re not literally plagiarizing, your story is going to be unique.

Yes, it’s noisy out there. There are more books being published right now than at any other point in history, and that level of competition can make you want to retreat to the woods forever. Don’t let all the other voices out there keep you from sharing your story.

But before you start talking, keep your ears open. Be discerning of which voices you listen to, and then let them guide you into writing the best, most helpful book you possibly can.

The post Don’t Write in a Vacuum Part 1: Test Your Topic and Target Audience first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Don’t Write in a Vacuum Part 1: Test Your Topic and Target Audience appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

In publishing, there are many places where a project can stall. That shouldn’t be too big of a shock if you’ve worked in any industry where a project passes through multiple sets of hands. It’s rarely anyone’s fault, per se. However, every member of the chain of production in publishing a book has responsibilities which, if fulfilled faithfully, can make the process go as smoothly as possible.

The fact that the client asked this question made me really want to work with them. After hanging up, I also realized the answer could help a lot of authors as they worked toward self publication. So, here’s my take!

Two Things to Remember…

There Will Always Be Delays

I have never once participated in a publishing project—self published or traditionally published—whose release date wasn’t moved at least once. The goal is to move it as few times as possible in order for the author to be able to make marketing and sales plans. Since multiple peoples’ efforts are involved, any delays early in the process can cause a chain reaction. It’s really easy to have that happen at any point, so easy that you should expect it to happen at least once.

You Have the Right to Change Your Mind (But There Will Be Consequences)

I’ll admit it—this blog might seem a little bossy. So, it’s important I remind us of the bottom line: you are the client and this is your book. If you decide at the last minute you don’t want to include a chapter, that you forgot to mention something important, or that you don’t like the typeface of the book, it’s well within your rights to say you’d like it changed. Especially with Print on Demand and the fact that you can always update ebooks, you can even make changes after publication.

However, there are consequences. Not punishments—just natural consequences based on availability and resources. When you change your mind about something in your book, those changes will not turn on a dime, and they may take you over your budget. But if you really want them in order to be happy with your book, those details could be worth the trouble.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, here are some of the places your book project might hit potholes.

Missed Connections

The authors I work with mostly run their own businesses, and that means they have packed schedules. Sometimes it’s hard to fit me into their schedules, and weeks can pass before we address an important issue together. Since my ghostwriting projects require collecting raw material from these folks, if I don’t get what I need, I have nothing to use when writing. There are a few ways to stave off this issue.

Schedule dedicated book time. Business owners sometimes have trouble themselves, and writing a book can often feel like it’s something you’re doing “for you.” Setting the book as a higher priority that requires time to be set aside is the top way to keep the project on track. For example, one client let me know that they regularly don’t schedule company meetings on Friday and made that time available for talking to me if necessary. Another regularly schedules two hours every morning for his own personal projects. If you can set that precedent for yourself, it can keep you flexible and responsive to working on your book.

Share pre-recorded materials. If you record meetings, filmed presentations, instructional videos, podcasts, or virtually any other relevant content, it can save you lots of face time with me. Each contract I write has a confidentiality clause, and I’m dedicated to using any information you share with me according to your comfort level. If I have discussed your goals and plans for the book at the beginning of the project with you, sometimes this is enough for me to get a big chunk of the work done.

Assign a point-person to coordinate information sharing. The people who work side-by-side with an author often know how to access a lot of useful resources. If you have colleagues or employees who know you and are familiar with your goals, you can save yourself time by putting me in touch with them.

Regardless of which one of the above appeals to you, to keep things on schedule, you will need to work with me to connect and get into agreement on the different priorities in your book.

A Changing or Expanding Table of Contents

Scope creep happens in every field. In website design, someone might decide they want to add a blog page, or a new form, or a video. In a nonfiction book, introducing new topics once an outline has already been set means we have to hit the brakes and put the project in reverse. Unless we’ve already had a conversation on that topic, we’ll need to backtrack and have that conversation.

Not everyone wants to work with a predetermined outline. Some people would rather explore and brainstorm with me first before building that structure. That’s totally ok! Just understand that if you want to have that more organic approach, you might be looking at a longer timeline as you develop and shape the structure of the book around those ideas.

Delayed or Incomplete Feedback

Even if someone else is writing the book, an author still needs to sign off on the content. Some authors are fine with simply skimming or even outsourcing the review to someone they trust. So far, the authors I’ve worked with want to have more direct input—they want to look at it and comment on it themselves. For a person with a business, that time investment can seem daunting. Understandably, it doesn’t always happen quickly either. An author might have a heavy hand with edits, and the revision process almost always takes longer in that case. (This is also ok!)

Feedback doesn’t just apply to the initial process of writing the manuscript. Once the book has been edited, there are occasionally sections that need to be rewritten. Those need to get the author’s blessing too. Additionally, design feedback—particularly cover design feedback—can often be delayed or incomplete. This leads into my discussion of another possible source of delays.

Changing Your Mind

Authors change their minds over more than just covers, but that’s where I’ve seen the most pivoting. Everyone judges books by their covers. It doesn’t mean the potential readers are correct about what is inside those covers, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to their buying habits. Most adults understand this, and authors can often be anxious about their cover designs. That’s why complete honesty about one’s design preferences in the very beginning is vital to keeping a project on track.

As the person managing the project, I want to see examples of book covers my authors love and ones that they hate. I want to know what books they’ve bought and that their colleagues have bought. I want to be told what their least and most favorite colors and typefaces are. The goal is to get as much knowledge up front as possible so there aren’t any regrets or reasons to backtrack down the road.

Always Set a Realistic Timeline

Taking into account that there are always potential delays, it’s important to create a lot of cushion in the publishing schedule. Even though it doesn’t take as long to get a book out as with a traditional publishing schedule, self-publishing doesn’t happen overnight. Better to have reasonable expectations and meet them than to keep shuffling the pub date further and further down the calendar.

Thinking about taking those first steps on the path toward a published book? Let me know here!

Photo by yns plt on Unsplash

The post What Can Delay Your Self-Published Book? first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post What Can Delay Your Self-Published Book? appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

For the first book I worked on, Set Up to Win by Karl Becker (which you can buy here), I didn’t do a postmortem. I was still flying pretty high on the fact that I’d supervised completing a book project from the brainstorming and writing through its publication. It wasn’t until the next book that I finally felt ready to log and analyze the entire process.

Without getting too personal, I’ll be sharing some of the elements I examined and a few lessons I learned along the way.

Timeline — Start to Finish and Everything In Between

Looking at the timeline is a process of zooming all the way out and then all the way back to the ground level. First, I broke down how much time was spent on the entirety of the book project, taking into account when it began, when it was projected to end, and when it actually ended. Then I evaluated each phase of writing and production individually.

For the time spent brainstorming, writing, and revising. I took into account meetings with the clients, evaluating the existing content, writing the drafts, and revising those drafts. Thanks to my time tracker (I use Toggl), I was able to take an honest look at the number of hours I spent on all these different tasks.

Next, I measured the timeline for each step in the project management process. These timelines overlap, but the breadcrumb trails of emails and invoices makes it possible to pull the strands apart and record them. Those steps include:

• Cover design
• Editing and proofreading
• Interior design
• Ebook production

My writing process is heavily collaborative with the author, but the production process brings in contractors too. That makes it all the more important that I evaluate how long it took them to complete their work, and how the speed of the client’s and my feedback made a difference to the production schedule.

Phase-by-Phase Notes

Sometimes timelines overlap with one another. I do account for this and make sure there is a healthy amount of space in the notes column for me to log any issues that affected the timeline itself, whether that be delays from the authors, contractors, or even myself. It’s not a judgment or an indictment—life comes for us all, especially in our unpredictable (to say the least) age.

Having a separate section to take notes and for each phase of the project (in addition to the timeline) is hopefully a great way for me to avoid making the same mistakes I made in the future. While this includes the time management aspect, this goes beyond the timeline and catalogs editorial and design issues that took me a longer time to notice. It also is a great place to catalog any bumps that occurred during the process of posting the book online.

In the case of the latest book I worked on, I saw opportunities to tighten up the timeline, and I hope to apply those time-saving lessons next time.

Time to Come Clean

Because they say you should be vulnerable and authentic in business (ugh), I’ll admit I made a very silly mistake that took a couple of days to figure out both during the design review and while I was posting the book.

It all had to do with one pesky piece of punctuation mark: the ampersand!

The ampersand (&) was used in the title of my most recent project. In reviewing the cover and several interior pages, I noticed an inconsistency: in several places the ampersand was replaced by the word “and.” This resulted in extra work for me as I combed through the proofs to make sure it wasn’t an issue anywhere else. I also later realized that a similar mix-up was part of the reason Amazon wasn’t accepting the ISBN I’d registered on Bowker. 

I know! It’s silly! This is why I hire a much more eagle-eyed copy editor than myself for the book manuscript. However, with the bits add after her review, as well the administrative tasks I control, I will be forever more careful!

Ok, how’s that for being vulnerable?

Budget and Hours

Of course I track expenses that I incur separately from the individual book, as I don’t want to get slammed (too hard) when tax season arrives. However, having a realistic view of the costs of project management book-by-book is a must. This applies to what’s paid to contractors, the costs of ISBNs and barcodes and other admin fees, how much I spend on tools, and the number of hours I spend doing work.

Sometimes comparing the hours I work during both the writing and the coordinating with my hourly copywriting rate puts a lot of things into perspective. It helps to see how much time I’m truly devoting to these books and reminds me that my input is valuable and that I’ve got quite a bit of skin in the game to make publication successful!

It’s not always easy to look at all the data. Collecting it and organizing it can be daunting and even a bit of a pain. Beyond the challenges of keeping the details in order, reviewing the mistakes I made can also be a little embarrassing. I mean, the answers seem so obvious now! However, acknowledging those facts means I’ll do even better next time.

If you’d like to learn more about what goes into my process of publishing a book from beginning to end, you can read about it here. If you’re interested in creating a book of your own, find out how.

Photo by Marco Rickhoff on Unsplash

The post Project Postmortem: Evaluating a Published Book first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Project Postmortem: Evaluating a Published Book appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

For me, the use of they/them signals that I am a non-binary person. That means I am neither a man nor a woman, but something completely different. The way our society is formed now, that can be confusing. Don’t worry—it’s confusing for me too sometimes. However, there are some easy things to remember about interacting with someone like me, and before Pride Month ends, I’d like to provide a little guide for how to do so!

While some people object to this identity and pronoun usage, I find most people are simply nervous about getting it wrong. 

It’s understandable—everyone hates to be embarrassed or run the risk of hurting someone. However, part of why I enjoy working with entrepreneurs especially is that we consider ourselves a pioneering, adventurous bunch. If it helps, think of it as learning a brand new skill!

Note: If you’ve got ideological issues surrounding transgender and non-binary folks, please skip to the heading “The Political Elephant in the Room” first for a discussion of my boundaries.

They/Them Pronouns and Grammar

One of the biggest objections I see to using they/them pronouns is that it’s grammatically incorrect. As a writer and publishing services provider, I totally understand why folks may be concerned. Teachers, style guides, and editors have all tried to obliterate the inclination for us to use singular they throughout our lives (although I’d challenge you to examine the way you speak and take note of how many times you unconsciously use it).

The truth is, language changes over time! Style guides, which set up writing rules for different industries and publications, are all currently examining their use of singular “they” and often changing their own approaches. For example, the APA style guide, the Chicago Manual of Style, MLA guidelines, and Merriam-Webster have approved singular they usage in the past few years. If that isn’t convincing enough, I’m not sure what is.

So the million dollar question—how do you use it? Something a little silly that I have found helps some people is telling them to think of me as three raccoons in a trench coat. You’d refer to me the same way you’d refer to multiple people…well, entities. Examples:

Instead of: She says she will have that draft to you by Friday.
Use: They say they will have that draft to you by Friday.

Instead of: He is attending this meeting.
Say: They are attending this meeting.

That’s right. It’s exactly the same sentence construction you’d use to refer to a group of people. I definitely can’t speak for other non-binary and gender non-conforming people, but I’m perfectly happy with my clients (respectfully) thinking of me as a cluster of woodland creatures if it helps!

Please note—it can be a good allyship move for people, even people who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth, to put their pronouns in their bios. However, if you are a manager, I’d discourage you from mandating that your employees do so. You may have some who are currently unsure of their gender identity and are not comfortable with discussing it publicly. “Outing” someone—aka., revealing someone’s gender or sexuality against their will—is considered a form of violence, as it can unfortunately lead to harmful consequences in many cases.

Address a Group with More Gender Inclusive Language

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters, you guys… 

We have been trained to use binary gender language in all aspects of our lives. Making your language inclusive is a matter of practice and training, and it doesn’t have to be too big of a headache. Some things you can try instead when addressing a group are:

• Folks
• Friends
• Distinguished guests
• Y’all (I think this is really fun to say)
• [Company] Employees
• [A fun nickname for the folks in the group you’re addressing—be creative!]

Also, referring to a stranger as a “person” (even if they look like a man or a woman) is a great habit. You’re less likely to make a faux pas, and if you happen to be addressing a non-binary or gender non-conforming person, it will probably make them like you more. A lot of us are used to being left out, so it’s nice to be included!

Instead of: The woman in the second row.
Say: The person in the second row [+ a distinguishing feature (red scarf, Nirvana t-shirt, etc.)].

Remember Everyone Has a Different Identity

Not every person who uses they/them pronouns calls themselves non-binary. It’s best not to make assumptions, and probably best not to ask questions unless the information is volunteered.

There also might be an even more complicated dimension where a person lists she/they or he/they in their bio. In those cases, you may ask the simple question, “Do you prefer she or they?” or “Do you prefer he or they?” Respect their answer and do your best to honor it.

If you get someone’s pronoun wrong (called “misgendering”), don’t panic. You don’t need to make a show of apologizing, in fact making a big deal out of it can make things awkward for everyone. Instead, just correct yourself and move on.

Instead of: I gave her…oh, sorry, oh my god I’m so sorry, them…I gave them the link to the folder.
Say: I gave her—them the link to the folder.

We have a lifetime of using exclusively she and he under our belts. You’ll mess up. I still mess up! Unless the person asks for an apology, self-correct and keep moving. If they do ask for an apology, let them have it—it costs you nothing.

Don’t Pressure an LGBT+ Person for Answers

My clients are welcome to ask me questions about non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming identities and language usage. Not all LGBT+ folks are comfortable talking about their identities, and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color may be especially tired of having to field such questions. Often, questions about identity can feel like the person is being asked to defend their own existence. Since there are a lot of people who don’t like trans or non-binary folks, that can be pretty scary.

I invite and encourage my clients to ask me questions before you approach someone who hasn’t given such an invitation.

However, the best way to go is to do some reading on your own first! Here are some recommendations:

• In Transit: Being Non-Binary in a World of Dichotomies by Dianna E. Anderson
  This is an accessible intro book to Queer Theory (note: not all LGBT+ folks are comfortable with this term), which I really enjoyed. The last chapter in particular has helpful tips for people who want to be supportive!
• A Guide to Gender Identity Terms by Laura Wamsley (from NPR)
  NPR compiled this glossary with help from different LGBT+ organizations. I don’t agree with every single definition on this list, but such is the nature of the conversation.

I’ll be adding more resources in the future!

The Political Elephant in the Room

Unfortunately, the non-binary identity is wrapped up in a culture war that’s taking place right now as part of the transgender community. Things like LGBT+ book bans, attacks on transgender athletes, restrictions against trans medical care, and other human rights violations against trans people do not fly with me. As a queer person and someone who has counseled numerous sexual assault survivors, the incorrect and weaponized use of the word “groomer” to refer to queer people also, frankly, disgusts me.

It would be nice if I could just be “normal” and not have to talk about politics, but as a writer, a queer person, and a human being, it’s important I be honest. These issues are much, much more important than whether or not someone messes up my pronouns.

If you’re of the mind that non-binary or other transgender people are inherently degenerates, liars, or don’t deserve the same rights as everyone else, please do not engage with me. I’ve found that such strong negative opinions are impossible to change with a single conversation, especially online, and the experience ends in very bad feelings. The work I do as a writer often requires personal discussions, so if you hold these opinions, we won’t be a good fit for one another. We don’t have to agree on every single little thing, but if you come at me with a bad faith argument, I will not fight with you. I will simply block you. We both have better things to do.

In conclusion…

More often than outright hostility, I find people just aren’t sure what to do with non-binary folks and are afraid to be chastised for making mistakes. Some LGBT+ folks may act a little pricklier from being burned in the past, or because they’re afraid to be harassed, but do your best to respect them the way you would any other colleague. You can keep growing and learning. If you mess up, you mess up, and you can try to do better next time.

Everyone has different ways of relating to their own identity, so my opinions aren’t the final word by any means. However, if you as my client have good faith questions you want to ask, I’m happy to help!

–

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

The post How to Work with Someone with They/Them Pronouns first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post How to Work with Someone with They/Them Pronouns appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

A lot more goes into publishing a book than writing it. Usually, we call the finished product of an author’s labor a manuscript, because the production tasks that make it an actual book haven’t yet taken place. However, we can save our opinions about what is and isn’t a book for another day. (Some nerdy folks like to fight about it, and I’m no exception.)

To learn about my philosophical approach to ghostwriting in more depth, go check out this blog I wrote on the subject. The blog you’re reading right now focuses on how I help an author write a book, then facilitate its production to ensure a strong final product.

To begin, here’s a list of the steps that go into bringing a book from conception to completion.

• Writing (naturally!)
• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Cover design
• Interior design
• Ebook production
• Uploading final files to sales platforms

My style is to walk with the author from the beginning to the end of these steps, frequently checking in for feedback and approval and drawing from a pool of trusted contractors. I’ll now break down all the points above to give you a better idea of what they mean.

Please note—other ghostwriters and project managers will likely have distinct opinions from me depending on what works best for them.

Creating the Plan

Sometimes someone comes to me with nothing but an idea, and other times they come with notes or even a half-finished manuscript. I’ve learned that each of these states contain their own obstacles and challenges and frequently require just as much effort to parse. The first step of either path is to take an inventory of what the book should cover and then to organize the information into a cogent outline.

Ideally, after 4–6 weeks of sifting through existing info and interviewing the client, I’ll have what I need to build a table of contents that includes theses and summaries for each chapter and lists of topics and arguments included with each.

This outline can have plenty of minor adjustments as the author’s thoughts develop or change. In fact, I’d say it’s inevitable! However, the more complete the outline and the more confidence the author has in it from the beginning, the faster the writing and revision process will be.

Writing and Revising the Manuscript

I like to be transparent about my writing process, and that includes collaborating through Google docs. Clients are invited to check in after chapters are completed to judge that the voice and direction are appropriate (though I prefer larger revisions to occur after the entire first draft is complete). Authors can review the work and use the “suggest” function to leave comments in the document.

Putting the manuscript together is more than creating the central text. It also includes gathering author bios and acknowledgments, as well as photos, diagrams, or other interior graphics. Before the book goes to copyediting, I also like to complete the summary that will go on the back of the book. That comes in handy if authors plan to market their book in advance of its release.

Copyediting and Proofreading

Next, I draw from my network of experienced editors and hand the manuscript to them to correct grammatical errors and catch inconsistencies. The copyediting round consists of a line-by-line edit for grammar, ease of reading, logical issues, balance, and voice. The edits are then returned to me for review, during which time I’ll get in touch with the author if there are any questions or concerns that require feedback. Afterwards, the manuscript will be returned to the copy editor with corrections and any additional text for a final proofread (at this point they are just looking for small punctuation, spelling, and grammar issues).

Cover Design

During the writing process, work on the front cover also begins. Ideally, a final title and subtitle are selected during the writing process in a timely way to help make this happen. The cover design process may or may not be completed before delivery of the manuscript to copyediting. That heavily depends on the approval of the title as well as the completion of cover and spine copy.

First, I present the author with multiple covers of books currently on the market for consideration and also give them prompt questions to determine their aesthetic preferences. Once I have the author’s input, I pass the info on to a professional book designer. They then create mockup cover designs for author feedback. Once a mockup concept is approved, the designer uses photos, type, and graphic elements to create and hone the cover to the author’s satisfaction.

Interior Design and E-book Production

After the manuscript is proofread, and after I have given it a final review, it’s time to get these hard-won words looking as professional as they actually are. In the same way they provide cover mockups, the designer also provides type treatments that allow the author to select how the inside of their book will look.

Once the book is designed for print, it gets one more review for overlooked flaws. This is also the point at which the table of contents is generated, since up until now, the page numbers change along with edits and revisions. At this point the ebook is also produced based on those print files. 

Getting the Book Online

After the print and ebook files are complete and delivered, it’s time to upload the book to major ebook distributors and a print on demand service. This process includes adding descriptions, keywords, and metadata to listings, based on the back cover copy of the book. I also create an Amazon author page as part of this process if none exists, using the provided author bio and headshot.

There you have it! What used to be just a series of thoughts and ideas has made it across the finish line and is now a real book. There are plenty of other sales and marketing tasks that come after this production process, as well as options to create alternate book formats (yes, audiobooks are books—I will not be swayed from this opinion). That is where the author takes the baton for the next leg of their journey!

If you’d like to speak about writing and publishing your own book with Hybrid Pub Scout, please visit this page to learn more and get in touch!

Photo credits:

Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Mikołaj on Unsplash

The post Cover to Cover Book Project Management first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Cover to Cover Book Project Management appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

When I found out that Jessie Kwak released a new book on writing books, I decided to order it straight from the source at Microcosm Publishing. From Chaos to Creativity serves as such an effective manual, I figured the ability to pick up one of her books and thumb through it for the tips I needed was worth the paper. Then last week, as I recuperated from a medical procedure, I thought I’d break into it to see what pearls it had to offer.

Listen to Episode 15 with Joe Biel, Founder and Manager of Microcosm Publishing.

As soon as I opened From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Process that Brings You Joy, I had to reach for my laptop and boot up Evernote. After reading From Chaos to Creativity, I should have known Jessie Kwak’s newest would be similarly packed to the gills with amazing quotes, vividly illustrated concepts, and a Matryoshka doll’s worth of book recommendations. It requires quite a bit more attention than an afternoon on the couch with no notetaking equipment in hand can afford.

This book is a great balance of practical exercises and psychological insights about different facets of the writing craft and process. It’s an excellent starting point for people who want guidance on their process of getting a book ready for publication, or even a midpoint for people who have done it before and want to sharpen their systems. In fact, it might be sufficient for many as a manual for the whole process (although, it is also redolent of recommendations to books on craft, creativity, and productivity).

In similar fashion as in From Chaos to Creativity, this book gives the reader ample space to be themselves and focus on what works best for them. “As I’ll be saying over and over and over in this book,” she says, “you do you.”

What You’ll Find in From Big Idea to Book

From Big Idea to Book is organized into the three major stages of work on a book and addresses issues faced by both fiction and nonfiction authors.

Planning

This book manages to walk an idiosyncratic line. Imagination and inspiration are not treated as elusive beasts to be tamed or to be dismissed as imaginary. The first chunk of the book includes ways to pin down ideas, then allow them to grow, change, or make room for different ones altogether.

Drafting

There is no sugar-coating how difficult it is to make it through the process of drafting an actual book; writers have to negotiate the unexpected behavior of characters, mental blocks waiting around unexpected bends in the plot, and corners where authors accidentally trap themselves. Fortunately, there are plenty of exercises and suggestions made for how to climb over, push through, or chart a new path.

Revising

The latter portion is for folks who want help during the last stretch, where the work is polished into something shiny and enticing. The revising section also includes a breakdown of different types of editors and where they fit into different stages of writing a book. She also discusses alpha readers and beta readers and how they can let writers see their book through the eyes of the people that will hopefully love it!

Key Takeaways and Tools

The following are three themes of From Big Idea to Book that really meant something to me.

The Value of Inverting One’s Thinking

A lot of the suggestions in this book invite the reader to think about different steps of the writing process from new perspectives. An early example is challenging the idea that idea generation, outlining, and plotting a book are different from “writing” a book. Under the header Planning is Writing, Jessie points out how many writers rush through the planning process because they have been taught word count is everything. She reminds us that activities like going for walks, talking through our ideas with friends, and even just staring into space, are all important parts of the writing process.

Another mental trick she mentions was suggested in one of her writer’s groups to someone who was struggling with being blocked: “What if you just tell yourself you aren’t a writer anymore?” The question was meant to inspire the person to express their creativity for a while in alternate ways, and to free them from the mental frameworks writers build around themselves that ultimately hold them back.

That particular idea hit me in a really personal way, because it was something I tried myself. All my life I’d had these ideas of what it was to be a writer inside my head—all the ways my life should work, the times of day I should write, the way I see the world. Then one day, I said, “What if I just am not a writer?” 

Instead of depressing me, the thought freed me as if from handcuffs I’d lost the keys to years earlier. I went on to learn a ton about publishing business, marketing, and design—the things that go into creating books, websites, and other print and digital publications that don’t involve “being a writer.” Now that I’ve turned back to writing both fiction and nonfiction myself, I feel comfortable inhabiting a writer’s identity again. The lessons I’ve learned in the meantime have shown me there are many different ways to be a writer and to do the actual work. The possible amazing outcomes of flipping the way we think about ourselves and our work can’t be overstated

Practice Self-Examination—but in Moderation

Jessie suggests activities suggested at each point in the writing process from free writing to fully walking away from one’s desk. These activities are meant to get writers unstuck when they have a mental block or an element of their plot that makes sense. They can also help them empower the ideas that have the greatest go-power. However, there are limits to how much one can and should reflect before falling into the trap of overthinking. Kwak encourages readers to go through reflective exercises, but when the time comes to write—turn off all distractions and write.

One of my favorite topics discussed is how to write through drafts without stopping and revising as one goes, a struggle for many of us. A major theme is silencing the critical voice. Informed by the words of authors like Anne Lamott, who suggests (to paraphrase) letting the voice shout itself out and then silencing it to move on. Kwak also Twitter-sourced thoughts from other writers regarding how they move through this troublesome stage.

Author Jordan L. Hawk mentioned that every time a turn of phrase in a sentence bothers him, instead of fixing it, he’ll just write “[ugh]” and continue writing. This is almost exactly what I try to do when I write my own drafts (and anyone who has shared a Google doc with me—including my clients—can attest to this quirk). The difference is, Hawk claims that when he goes back to read those sentences, they’re usually left as is (though I can’t say that’s the case for me).

Look for Joy at Every Stage

“Joy” is right there in the book title, and it shows up again and again throughout the text. One thing Jessie reminds readers to do is to celebrate every milestone of book creation. That means every finished outline, draft, or revision. She also has a wealth of ideas for bringing pleasure to those supposedly duller points in the writing process. She talks about how self-editing, which is the most plodding and unpleasant part for many authors, is actually one of her favorites because it helps her bring the book closer to everything she’d imagined it could be. Jessie says, “This is also where I can waste a lot of time going over and over a scene, tweaking words and digging for gold.”

There are quite a few references to digging and excavating and caving and mining, and I believe these images are truly effective to describe the work of completing a book. Ultimately, writers are digging down inside themselves and getting under the surface of the world around them to find the stories they and their readers will treasure.

I’m happy that I added this book to my writing and publishing bookshelf. I’ll be referencing it the next time I get started on a book of my own and probably at all the hurdles I hit along the way. 

Buy From Big Idea to Book here, and get Jessie’s first book From Chaos to Creativity here.

The post From Big Idea to Book by Jessie Kwak — Planning, Drafting, and Revising with Joy first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post From Big Idea to Book by Jessie Kwak — Planning, Drafting, and Revising with Joy appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

Whether or not you are a good writer has nothing to do with the value of what you have to share. However, if you struggle with writing and have a message you want to clearly communicate, a ghostwriter may be the right answer for you. Those of us who help people translate their knowledge into something easily understood by readers have our own unique philosophies and approaches. Here are some of mine.

Please note—my experience is primarily with business and spiritual nonfiction and copywriting. Ghostwriters in other genres and even in the same genre I write will likely have distinct opinions from me depending on their level and type of experience.

Here’s what I do to help an author conjure a book.

Hold a Series of Conversations

Especially for nonfiction, ghostwriting is an important way to get an expert’s message across in a way that won’t confuse readers or make them fall asleep in their chairs. As far as I’m concerned, even though I work very hard to write a great book, you, as my client, are the true author. The content of the book comes from your head, and without you, I wouldn’t have any words to craft (or all I could offer would be fluff at best). That’s why my process is highly collaborative—focused on excavating jewels from your thoughts.

When I write a book for you, I need lots and lots of information. If the story is about a topic of which you have often publicly spoken, some of that information can come in the form of videos, blogs, or previously written content. However, what helps me most are one on one conversations, usually over Zoom. The discussions I have with you have a lot to do with the content you want to share, but it also is a way of hearing and defining your voice. They also allow me to then use a transcription service to both see the words in print and relisten to the conversation recordings. Every time I relisten to a conversation with an author, I find new threads to follow that can pull the book’s content out of the ether. 

Establish an Understanding of Audience

The truth is we’re all full of stories, expertise, and convictions, and different knowledge and emotion touches different audiences. Sometimes they’re for people in your field who can benefit from what you have to teach. Sometimes they’re for your family, who are curious about genealogy and and the places you have been. Sometimes the audience is you yourself, with writing as a form of reflection or therapy.

Just like in a marketing scenario, a nonfiction book in particular needs a specific audience—key word specific. It’s exactly the same as if you were trying to sell a product or service. The content must be relevant to them, and if you don’t know who they are, it won’t be. If your book teaches a subject, you must be mindful of the level of knowledge your reader has. If you over-explain concepts, they’ll become bored, but if you start at too high a level, they’ll become confused. Both of these reading experiences are likely to cause someone to put your book down and never come back to it. Before an outline is even created, I like to have conversations about who exactly the reader of the finished book will be.

Build Structure (But Stay Flexible)

The process always goes best when there’s an outline before the actual writing commences, but that outline also needs to be able to change. During my discussions with authors, processing happens in real time, and that means a lot of exciting surprises for both of us. Sometimes, an amazing new point or a new topic emerges, and the outline needs to make room for these flashes of insight. Ultimately as the book comes together, though, an accurate outline becomes more and more important for revising, tracking topics and anecdotes, and referencing existing content. This is one of the places you’ll see some overlap between the work I do to create a book and the work of a developmental editor (as discussed in a previous blog).

The experience of identifying the most important points and arguments for each topic can be nonlinear during the experience of putting the book together—ideas can be explored long before their central point emerges. That’s why even the earliest discussions of concepts and topics can be used later in the writing process. I collect the stories and lines of thought extracted from these conversations like stones, parceling out into different conceptual buckets based on the outline we create together. Once the central points become visible, I can use what I’ve put into these buckets to build something coherent and beautiful.

Ghostwriting a book doesn’t just consist of summoning words from thin air. It’s something that works best through talking, processing, listening, and sharing. The best works emerge when the author is invested in letting that sharing of ideas emerge into a corporeal form.

If you’re interested in bringing your thoughts to life in the form of a book, contact me for a consultation to see if we’ll be a good fit. Visit this page to learn more and set something up. Work samples are available on request.

The post Ghostwriting: A Process Of Collaboration And Conjuring first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Ghostwriting: A Process Of Collaboration And Conjuring appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

Ghostwriting nonfiction, at least in the way that I do it, has many intersections with developmental editing. Reading specifically about developmental editing is useful when I take the content of my interviews with authors and put them into a written format. While my goal is to write in a “clean” manner without riddling my work with grammatical errors, my primary concern is content. Editing based on grammar and flow is self-evidently technical, but developmental editing is technical in its own way—focused on organizing, amplifying, and selecting the right narratives in the work of creating each book.

You’ll find similarities in the nonfiction elements discussed below and those mentioned in my post about manuscript evaluation. Developmental editing, in some ways, is just an unabridged version of that. It doesn’t just point out problems with a text; it’s a process where the DE rolls up their sleeves to solve them.

Note: both developmental editing and the developmental editor are often referred to as DE.

Weaving a Narrative Web

When I consider developing a nonfiction book, whether that be fully writing it or winnowing existing content, I find frameworks that involve layering and weaving to be useful. Nonfiction often is not tied to a temporal narrative (except in the case of some memoir and historical accounts). Instead, it’s often about developing theses and arguments, then deciding how to structure and present them in a way that keeps readers engaged. The writing process itself is also rarely linear, as new considerations that appear in one chapter can deeply impact another.

Through a series of assertions and explorations, the author doesn’t reach the end of a road; they reach the center of a web, a series of circles that reaches a core understanding of whatever topic the text addresses. The author sits in the center of this web, a home base that is now solid, balanced, and designed specifically to lure readers to it.

Viewing Expertise as an Outsider

A person who specializes in developing manuscripts often works side-by-side with an author who is a subject matter expert. This puts them in a position to objectively observe how content is presented and evaluate whether it is coherent and authoritative. Authors can be so embedded in their subjects that they have a hard time judging what type of base knowledge their readers need to understand their points. A DE can point out what framing still needs to take place for the book to make sense. They can also identify what is relevant to the book’s thesis and make calls on whether some topics can be left out because it is either unnecessary, unrelated, derivative, or outside the scope of the author’s knowledge.

Organizing and Balancing Content

If there is one thing that makes a book inaccessible, it’s a meandering narrative that buries its points in long walls of texts. Managing 60k+ words of content can feel like trying to direct a boulder as it rolls down a hill if you don’t have a track in place to keep it on course.

One thing that I have found helpful to keep books on track both during writing and revisions is having a running record of theses, arguments, anecdotes, and illustrations as I write. It’s a shortcut to seeing whether each chapter introduces ideas so that one builds on the next, and it prevents the same stories being told over and over throughout the book. It’s also valuable to create a reference for titles, subtitles, and headers to ensure tonal consistency and avoid repeating oneself (starting with a table of contents is great for this). Without these references, writing new sections can inspire deja vu, where the only way to determine whether you’ve already covered something is to comb back through pages and pages of text.

Maintaining and Amplifying Voice

Believe it or not, editing for voice isn’t just about vibes (although I would say some consideration of vibes does come into play)! There are rules about levels of criticism, sarcasm, and condescension; there are ways to track overly enthusiastic tones, or ones that seem insincere. Maintaining consistency in these rhetorical areas can help a DE make sure the author is cast in the most authentic light possible. A friendly voice that is respectful of the book’s subject and its audience makes for a much more pleasant reading experience.

A Useful Resource for Developmental Editors and Nonfiction Writers

Developmental Editing by Scott Norton demonstrates how this process, which many people might think of as more intuitive, can be largely systematized. The techniques and systems he suggests for evaluating and improving a manuscript is much like deconstructing a faulty machine, then putting it back together (often with old parts exchanged for new) so it runs much better than it did. 

I enjoyed how each chapter explored a different aspect of a DE’s job, using different imaginary books, authors, and publishing companies to illustrate the process. The examples did double duty; they didn’t only act as technical manuals, but they also provided context for working with different types of publishing houses and different temperaments of authors. One warning I’ll give is that, in the process of discussing how to prevent authors from stepping in it by producing offensive material, there was some problematic language used in reference to transgender people.

Many of his points resonated with my experience developing manuscripts and gave me some useful ideas and frameworks to improve my own work. I’m sure I will continue to refer to it as I work on future projects.

The post Nonfiction Developmental Editing: Systematizing Expression first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post Nonfiction Developmental Editing: Systematizing Expression appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

When it comes to your own book, you sometimes reach a point where you’re not sure whether readers will be able to navigate it. Maybe something feels “off” that you can’t quite articulate. Maybe you know what’s missing, but you aren’t sure how to fix it. In a solitary pursuit like writing, this uncertainty can make you feel even more alone.

Trying to map major landmarks and engineer a smooth-running book can be daunting when you’ve been moving through everything on foot. You can only see story elements from the ground level when you really need to see how it all comes together. To create something comprehensible to the reader, you need to be able to see how all the building blocks come together, and what they look like from 10,000 feet. When you’ve been so absorbed with putting one foot, or one page, in front of the other for so long, your perspective may be a bit skewed.

That’s why it’s important to have a second pair of eyes—someone who can spot where your sidewalks abruptly end or where you have a dangerous and depressing cluster of abandoned buildings; someone to point out any gaping plot holes that might cause your readers to break their ankles (or at least their concentration). A manuscript evaluation is a deep dive into all the structures, components, and features that have to come together for a well-crafted and cohesive book.

A quick note: What I describe below is a full manuscript evaluation. Other options include partial evaluations, or lighter evaluations. Generally the following will be covered for a book of any length, with variation to the depth of these reviews.

Manuscript Evaluations for Fiction

Fiction is deeply personal, as writers become attached to their characters and ideas. While it can hurt to hand that over for someone to analyze, a good faith evaluation can turn your book into a place where readers will want to hang out for a while. It will probably even give you a renewed burst of writerly energy.

Plot, Structure, and Pacing

For readers to feel like they’re where they’re supposed to be within a book, (even if that book is full of surprises!) it has to be well structured. The evaluator will be able to give input on where their attention wanders away, parts of the book that don’t feel relevant to the overall plot, and places where an event or action seems out of step with the rest of the story. The right questions asked at the right points can spark your imagination and help you plug those plot holes. You can also get feedback on specific places in the narrative where you’re unsure of what readers’ reactions will be.

Genre conventions

If you’re attempting to write sci-fi, fantasy, horror, or romance, having an evaluator who knows about the conventions and reader expectations in those genres is a must. Also, it really helps if the evaluator is a true fan of the genre, otherwise their feedback may not reflect the experience of a reader who voluntarily seeks out books in your genre. If children’s books are your passion, be sure to find someone who is well-versed in them; they can really benefit from people with specialized knowledge.

Characters

Few things turn readers off like characters who don’t seem authentic. Even if they’re not from planet earth, readers want more than just stick figures who move from one plot point to the next. You may or may not know whether you have a problem with a character, but often the person evaluating your manuscript will have some ideas for how to give them deeper dimensions. This applies to heroes, antiheroes, villains, and side characters at all levels of likability and relatability.

Culture

If you have characters of races, ethnicities, genders, or orientations in your book that differ from yours (as you should!), an evaluator can point out where you need a little more realism. This is also true for stories set in places other than your home and in cultures other than yours. Sometimes an evaluator may refer you to a sensitivity reader if your story has major elements where different cultures come into play, and could do with an expert’s eyes.

Manuscript Evaluation for Nonfiction

While nonfiction manuscripts need some similar elements to fiction, there is an entirely new set of standards used to measure nonfiction books. The following specifically refers to the kinds of nonfiction books written to guide and teach the reader (memoir is a whole different animal).

Theses and Arguments

While your nonfiction book needs to have an overall thesis, it also needs to have a thesis for every chapter. Once these theses are established, the chapters and the book as a whole must deliver on their promises to demonstrate those theses. Naturally you can’t just state a thesis without supporting it properly. Your evaluator will check for unclear passages, arguments that don’t make sense, or theses that aren’t supported.

Pacing and Transitions

Your points need to be in order and logically build on one another; otherwise, readers won’t have the background information they need to understand what you are trying to argue or instruct. Someone evaluating your book, especially if they are not an expert in your subject, will be able to tell you if you aren’t introducing concepts in an order that makes sense. You can use their advice to rearrange sections and chapters and define terms and concepts at the proper times.

Voice and Style

Voice is, of course, part of what makes fiction attractive, but in nonfiction it’s just as important. Nonfiction books have fine lines to walk: you don’t want to sound like everyone else, but you also want to sound professional. You want your material to be cogent and approachable, but you want to offer information that actually gives the reader something they didn’t have before. Evaluators can point out where the text becomes too dry and make suggestions on how to identify, amplify, and stabilize.

Get Back on the Road

Once you’ve got your review in hand, what do you do? You get back to work on your book, that’s what! The difference is, now you’ve got a chart in your hand that will help you zero in on all the places that need to be refurbished, built out, or completely demolished. If you’d like a full evaluation of your manuscript, a comprehensive report, and a one-on-one consultation on how you can put the action items in that report to work, visit my services page, or reach out at emily(@)emilyeinolander.com.

The post What is a manuscript evaluation? first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post What is a manuscript evaluation? appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.

Notice I said “book” reading.

This batch of statistics from the fanfiction website Archive of Our Own, however, indicates folks flocked to fanfiction in droves. And when I say they were reading fanfiction, what I mean is we. Yes, late bloomer that I am, I too joined the chaotic world of ships, fixits, and wish fulfillment, eventually writing a book-length fic of my own, and no you cannot read it. Yes, I am on a Discord server where most of the time we talk about how much we all love a single fictional character who only appears in less than 3% of canon content. I regret nothing. Do what you need to do to cope, amirite?

Despite the surge of new users and my own, personal late adoption of the habits of fandom members, fanfiction has always been relevant. There is a ton of overlap with people who write and read original fiction and people who write and read fanfic. As someone who loves books and is part of the process of creating and selling them, it would be foolish to ignore the movement and the intersections. People who consume media consume it within many different formats and mediums (and if you want to hear more conversations about omnivorous media consumption, listen to our interviews with Dr. Rachel Noorda And Dr. Kathi Berens and literary agent Dongwon Song).

Fanfiction readers are often writers, and many of them are big name traditional authors, including one of my favorites, N.K. Jemisin. And if that doesn’t convince you that the land of fanworks is worth paying attention to, hopefully we’ll see you back in a couple months!

Here’s what you can look forward to:

• I sit down with a friend of the pod and a new friend who is both a traditional YA author and a veteran fanfiction writer to define fandom terms and discuss the experience of writing fanfiction.
• We grace you with a dramatic reading of one of the most notorious fanfics of all time.
• I interview a communications representative from the largest platform and preservation project for fanworks on the entire internet—and damn does she know her stuff.
• A marketing professional from a popular reading app joins us to talk about how their platform’s way of presenting serialized fiction has a kinship with the way people read and interact with fanfiction.

Do you love fanfiction? Don’t be shy! You’re in good company, and I look forward to introducing you to some smart, creative folks who are in the same boat.

—Emily

The post A Porthole to the World of Fanfiction first appeared on Hybrid Pub Scout.

The post A Porthole to the World of Fanfiction appeared first on Hybrid Pub Scout.