The Final Steps:
From Aspiring to Published Author

Congratulations! You have finished the Author Training Process. You have gone through all nine steps, and along the way you have evaluated yourself and your idea from the perspective of a literary agent or an acquisitions editor. You also accumulated a lot of information and may even have begun your manuscript.

Now what?

It’s time to put the finishing touches on your business plan and make some final decisions as you take the last steps from aspiring to published author.

Create a Timeline or Timetable for Your Plan

To complete your map, you need an estimated time of arrival (ETA) for each stop along the way. Review the information you compiled as you completed Step #1 through Step #9 and extract any action items you need so you can arrive at your goal. These are all of the things you know you need to do: start writing your book, build author platform, hire an editor, find a book designer, send your finished book to a printer, or write a query and book proposal to send to an agent. Create a timetable with these items on it. This helps you determine when you will arrive at each one of these stops on your map. It’s like the timetable used by a train or bus. Passengers know which train or bus to take to get to their destinations. They know exactly when to get on the bus and when to get off.

Next, place these action items on a timeline. You can actually create a long line on a piece of paper with today’s date at one end and the date when you want your book to be released or become a bestseller at the other end. On that line, place all of your action items. This type of tool works well for visual people.

Alternatively, you can create a to-do list organized by date. You can group actual activities under monthly headings so you know what you have to do each month and on what dates.

Last, place the items on your calendar. Use a handwritten calendar, Google calendar, the calendar on your phone, or some other type of calendar that allows you to easily see your tasks. One of those large dry-erase calendars can prove a good tool for this, too.

For those of you planning to self-publish, a timeline and timetable will prove invaluable to your business plan. To help you determine what you need to get done at each phase of your book’s writing and publication process, break the process into five phases. By now you have begun or completed some of these. They are:

• Platform building (prepromotion)
• Evaluation of self and idea
• Writing and editing
• Production and publishing
• Promotion

Work backward from the final date, placing each action item on the list at the appropriate time necessary to meet your deadline and get to the next point on the timeline. If you want to have a self-published book in hand by December 31, for example, you will probably need to have it to the printer at least four weeks prior to that date (considerably longer depending on the type of printer you use). That means you need to have your full manuscript to the printer by December 1. It should be placed on your timeline on that date. Getting your edited manuscript to the book designer would be placed on the timeline at least four to eight weeks prior to that. Sue Collier and Marilyn Ross provide a detailed timetable for self-publishing in The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing (5^th Edition).

For traditional publishing, if you want to find an agent by June 6, you might need to give yourself one to six months. You could plot out when to have your query written and submitted and when to have your proposal written and ready. You can work with your publisher to determine important dates to place on your timeline. Your contract will stipulate when you need to turn in your manuscript, but your editor can provide the editing schedule and the release date. You can create timelines, timetables, and to-do lists for building author platform, writing, editing, and promotion. Your evaluations of your idea and yourself (as an author) should have been handled long before you ever submitted your book proposal to the publisher.

It’s essential to create a timeline and timetable for promotion, the fifth item on the list on the previous page. Remember all of those things you said you would do upon your book’s release? Start putting them on the timeline or timetable. Put the items on your calendar—or use one system or the other. Find a way to ensure you implement the promotion plan you created in Step #9 of the Author Training Process.

Of course, if you didn’t do the first two items on the list above, you’ll need to create a timeline for those items as well. You can have a timetable, timeline, or to-do list specifically for creating platform and promotional opportunities. Or you can create a platform-building plan just like a promotion plan, and then implement it.

Write Your Business Plan

It’s time to write your business plan, or your formal book proposal. If you plan to self-publish, I suggest you take the time to put all the information you have compiled thus far into an actual business plan. This is not difficult; gather all the documents you created as you went through each step of the Author Training Process, print them out, and place them in a binder or folder. Be sure to include the timelines and timetables you created; you can make one for each section. Go through your journal to find any areas you need to refine after you have completed the training exercises. These areas include:

• Overview (pitch, summary, list of benefits, purpose statement, special features)
• Markets
• Promotion
• Competing Titles
• Complementary Titles
• About the Author
• Mission Statement
• Author’s Platform
• Spinoffs
• Resources Necessary to Complete Your Book
• Products and Services (Subsidiary Rights)
• List of Chapters
• Chapter Summaries

Voila! You have a business plan.

You might want to copy and paste your plan into one document on your computer. This way, you can save it there safely (and also save it in the “cloud” or on a backup drive).

Here are a few more items you might want to add to your business plan to round it out:

Operations and Management: Susan Spann, a publishing attorney and author, suggests you also include a section called “Operations and Management.” List all the people responsible for each step of the writing, production, distribution, promotion, sales, and fulfillment process for your book. Include contact and payment information for each person. Such a list provides you with a superb resource as you produce your self-published book. It will also be a handy guide for the next time you publish a book.

Profit and Loss Statement: Publishing companies consider potential profits and losses as they evaluate a project. It’s a good idea to take their lead and create a profit and loss statement for your business plan; calculate this before you self-publish and then regularly after you publish. You can use the information you compiled in Step #7 when you determined the Resources Needed to Complete Your Book. Now add in such things as production cost per book, ongoing costs for distribution, promotion, and platform-building. Include these items on your profit and loss statement:

• Sales (a total amount of money made from book sales) – Cost of Goods Sold (based on production costs) = Gross Profit
• Expenses (a list) and the Total Expenses (added up)
• Gross Profit – Total Expenses = Net Profit

A profit and loss statement might look something like this:

Then deduct any other withdrawals or expenses to come up with your retained profit.

Once you’ve done this, your business plan is complete!

If you plan to traditionally publish, it’s time to polish all the material you accumulated into a formal book proposal. If you recall, these are the parts of a proposal:

• Overview
• Markets
• Promotion
• Competing Titles
• Complementary Titles
• About the Author
• Mission Statement
• Author’s Platform
• Spinoffs
• Outline
  • List of Chapters
  • Chapter Summaries
  • Sample Chapters

You’ll find information on what goes into each of the sections in this book. You can also find a short guide that I wrote, Demystifying the Nonfictional Book Proposal, and another reference titled “Easy Schmeasy Book Proposal Template,” at writenonfictionnow.com. Carolyn Howard-Johnson also has a very short guide on writing a book proposal, The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book to an Agent or Publisher in Twenty Minutes or Less.

You’ve compiled all these pieces into a business plan; now you need to edit and make it conform to industry standards. A book proposal must be as perfect as possible, which explains why many aspiring authors hire a book-proposal consultant or editor, like me, to review their business plans prior to submitting it to agents and publishers. The average author does not know what belongs in a book proposal, how it should read, or how it should be formatted. Once edited, it also needs to be proofread.

Submitting a proposal to an agent or publisher represents one of those instances in which you want to remember the adage, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” In the publishing world, when you send a book proposal to an agent or acquisitions editor—especially one who doesn’t know you—you really do get only one chance. So you better make a good impression.

That means your book proposal better:

• meet industry standards
• be polished and professional
• have no grammatical errors or typos
• catch their attention
• provide a convincing argument in each section for the marketability of your idea

Spending the money on a great proposal editor not only increases the likelihood that you make a good impression, it serves as your last chance to evaluate your readiness to become a published author. A proposal consultant has the ability to see you and your project objectively. If you have failed at doing this for yourself, he or she will catch your errors. Plus, some proposal consultants are agents and offer the advantage of seeing your work through the actual lens you’ve been trying to use during the Author Training Process.

It’s possible that despite your best efforts you may not have:

• formatted your document well
• written clearly
• included all the necessary information or sections
• provided an enticing lead
• detailed the reader’s benefits
• given all the details of the complementary or competing books
• offered a thorough enough promotion plan
• done enough to attract a publisher
• approached each section from a marketing perspective
• offered a convincing argument in each case for the salability of your idea
• provided information that supports your argument

A good proposal editor or consultant will not only edit your book proposal for grammar and punctuation but will catch the other “errors.” He or she will make sure your proposal has everything an agent or acquisitions editor is looking for—and that you are everything a publisher wants in a business partner.

Working with a Writing Coach or Freelance Editor

Finding a good editor or consultant can seem difficult, and you might need one for your manuscript, query letter, and/or proposal. If you traditionally publish, you might choose to have your manuscript or sample chapters edited prior to submitting to agents or publishers. If you choose to self-publish, you won’t need a query or proposal edited, but you will definitely need your manuscript edited if you want to hold yourself to the same standards as traditionally published books. (Your readers will expect you to do so.)

The move from aspiring to published author involves being mature enough to release your manuscript into the hands of a professional editor. Most writers treat their manuscript like a baby, and they are reticent to hand it over to someone else—especially if it comes back missing fingers, toes, or essential organs. Like every parent, you must let your baby go. For your book to have the ability to succeed in the real world, it has to be able to survive the tests and rigors of editing (a bit like going to school or falling down and getting up again when learning to walk).

You must be willing to have someone give you objective feedback on how to improve your manuscript, and you must receive that feedback objectively and willingly—and then put it to good use. Editing by an experienced professional book editor makes a manuscript better. It allows your idea to grow from a manuscript into a full-grown published book with the ability to succeed in the competitive publishing world.

Before you even begin looking for an editor for your book or your proposal (especially if the proposal editor will also read your sample chapters), prepare yourself for this experience. There are a few ways you can do so, such as:

1. Join a critique group where you can learn to get constructive criticism.
2. Ask your blog readers or other fans to serve as beta readers of your book and give you early feedback on your manuscript.
3. Go to a conference or workshop where you can get an editor’s feedback on a small piece of your manuscript.
4. Hire a book doctor or coach to work with you.

I recommend reading No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique by Victoria A. Hudson and The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide: How to Make Revisions, Self-Edit, and Give and Receive Feedback by Becky Levine if you plan to join a critique group.

While critique groups and beta readers leave you open to a wide array of untrained readers and editors, a book coach or book doctor can actually provide a great first experience with the world of editing. Most coaches work with you on an ongoing basis to help you mold and craft your book and offer feedback on your writing and on manuscript development. Many of my clients enjoy this process because they feel less alone as they write, they enjoy having a sounding board when they feel unsure, and the accountability of a coach helps them meet their writing goals.

I have spent many years working as a freelance nonfiction developmental and line editor. Although I have worked with many writers who have had their work professionally edited before, I probably have worked with more writers who have never encountered the editing process with anyone other than a writing buddy, someone in their writing group, a spouse, or a high school teacher or college professor. Thus, they have no idea what it means to work with a professional editor. For them, the process feels scary; they are often shocked by the “bleeding” copy returned to them.

Many types of editors exist, and they have different ways of working with writers and charging. You might need one or all of them for your manuscript. Your proposal, however, will only need a proposal editor or consultant and a line editor, who will check your grammar and sentence strength. After that, you will need a proofreader. For your manuscript, you might need a developmental editor, a line editor, a copy editor, or a substantive editor. After that, you will also need a proofreader, especially if you plan to self-publish.

You do not need to live close to your editor. Most editors work by phone or Skype, but all primarily rely on documents sent back and forth by e-mail. You can even live in another country than your editor and still develop a successful working relationship. The key lies in finding someone with whom you can work well.

Don’t worry about theft of intellectual property. An editor has to treat the information you offer in the form of your book idea, proposal, or manuscript as “privileged.” Despite what some people say, little idea stealing occurs in the publishing industry. If you are worried about this, you can always submit your manuscript for copyright (http://www.copyright.gov/) prior to having it edited, or you can speak with a literary lawyer or intellectual-property lawyer prior to having anyone read your work.

Choose an editor that suits your “style.” Talk to editors before you begin working with one. Ask them if they like to “take off the white gloves” and dig in or if they like to coddle their writers. If you want a “warm and fuzzy” editor who prefaces every bit of constructive criticism with words of praise and encouragement, be sure that’s who you hire. If you want someone who “tells it like it is” and is all business, make sure you find one who edits in that style.

Check out an editor’s track record. Look for testimonials from past clients. And if possible, test them out. Often you can find editors who offer book-doctor sessions at a conference. Many give a free test edit of material before you hire them. This gives you an idea of their editing style.

Don’t be surprised if an editor wants to do more than one round of work on your manuscript. Two or three rounds are typical, especially if she asks you to make considerable changes to the manuscript.

Charges vary from per word to per page to per hour. Most of the top editors I know charge by the hour. Depending on the length of your manuscript and the number of rounds of editing it needs, this could prove to be the most expensive aspect of producing your self-published book or preparing your manuscript for submission. The editing of a 50,000-word manuscript, for example, can range from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the quality of the writing, the type of editing, the number of rounds of editing necessary, and the editor or editors you hire.

To find a good book editor, ask for recommendations from authors you know and trust. Get references. Find someone who has edited many books, preferably books in your genre. Make sure American English is the editor’s first language. You can also look for an editor on these sites:

• The Editorial Freelance Association (http://www.the-efa.org)
• The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (http://naiwe.com)

Know that everyone needs an editor—even editors and English majors and best-selling authors. Don’t skip this step if you want to achieve successful authorship. As my agent says, “Behind every good writer is an even better editor!”

Also, there’s a learning curve to improving your work. My student Rhonda has taken classes, gone to writing retreats, used critique groups, and hired a professional editor. “A writing group can become too friendly, in my opinion, and at a certain point I might not get the feedback necessary to improve my manuscript. A professional editor will tell it like it is. I had a professional editor review my current story,” she said. “Her insight was invaluable. I was afraid of what she would say but found that feedback was an encouraging process, which helped me grow as a writer.”

Your Publishing Options

If you haven’t decided previously, you now need to determine how you will publish your book. Maybe you’ve known all along. You could be what I call a “traditional-publishing holdout.” Or maybe you fancy yourself an indie publisher. It’s important to know well what each of these options entails—and which one best suits you. Just as I advised you not to write a manuscript that you will later discover isn’t marketable, I suggest you delay the decision to become a self-published or traditionally published author until you know everything you can about these particular publishing paths.

Why would you decide to self-publish your book project? You want to:

• be a “project manager” and manage editors, designers, accounts at printers, etc.
• invest your money in your project
• have more control of your work
• earn more money per book
• make your book available sooner—in months rather than years

Self-publishers manage a huge number of details as they take their project from idea to published book. They must have entrepreneurial spirits and a strong business sense. They must be authorpreneurs. Additionally, they must like having control of decisions and want to run a company since true self-publishing means starting a publishing company. Are you up to the job of being a publisher?

You can choose several ways to print your book, should you decide to go the self-publishing route. With offset printing you:

• hire all the subcontractors
• get an imprint of your own
• purchase large quantities of books
• arrange distribution

This is considered the “real deal.” You end up with many boxes of books in your garage. It’s the do-it-yourself (DIY) method. You will pay the least amount per book.

If this does not appeal to you, you can choose to publish with a subsidy press, also known as an “author services company” or “vanity press.” This is not the best choice if you want to produce a commercial book, and you need to be extremely careful about the details of the contract and the quality of the services you purchase. These companies provide:

• a variety of services (editing, design, promotion)
• print and/or e-book conversion and distribution
• no imprint of your own (usually)
• distribution

You could also opt to DIY with a print-on-demand (POD) printer. This affords you the same level of control as offset printing, but you don’t need to print as many books to get the price you desire. In fact, you don’t have to order any books at all. You may pay more per book depending on the printer. The printer will print one book per order received. Most POD printers will offer distribution and your own imprint.

You could also opt to use a digital press. This provides a good option if you need books printed fast, want a short run for back-of-the-room sales, or want control of distribution for some reason. Such printers typically offer:

• fast, high-quality printing
• small quantities
• no distribution (or distribution at a cost)
• reasonable pricing

In a nutshell, this is the self-publishing process for a printed book:

• Evaluate your book.
• Create a business plan.
• Write your book.
• Have your manuscript professionally edited and proofed.
• Have a cover professionally designed.
• Have your interior professionally designed.
• Create an account with a printer.
• Purchase an ISBN.
• Upload your artwork to a printer.

Another option, assisted self-publishing, has cropped up in recent years. You may find literary agents and other publishing professionals, or simply some experts in the publishing industry, who can hold your hand through the self-publishing process—for a fee. Some of these are full done-for-you services, and others are not. Prices vary considerably.

Additionally, you can find hybrid models of self-publishing. These publishers partner with you to produce your book. They pick and choose the books they acquire, much like a legacy publishing house, but they ask you to help pay for the actual production of your book, as if you were self-publishing. This can be a nice option if you aren’t sure which path to take or if you have had trouble finding a traditional publisher for your project but prefer the traditional publishing route.

Of course, you can also produce an e-book, the lowest-cost and fastest method of publishing a book. You will still need to hire all of your subcontractors—editor, proofreader, etc.—unless you choose to work with an e-book publishing company. Such companies are similar to subsidy publishers, offering services and packages of services for e-books. The largest free, reputable DIY e-book publishing and distribution platform is Smashwords, or if you prefer more handholding and don’t mind paying a modest fee, try BookBaby.

In a nutshell, this is the self-publishing process for an e-book:

• Evaluate your book.
• Create a business plan.
• Write your book.
• Have your manuscript professionally edited and proofed.
• Have a cover professionally designed.
• Have your manuscript converted to e-book formats.
• Create an account with an e-book distributor.
• Purchase an ISBN.
• Upload cover and manuscript.

Remember, you are the publisher when you self-publish. You become the publishing professional. As such, you must hold yourself and your book to the same standards as a traditionally published book—it’s the only way it will succeed. That means you must hire professionals every step of the way, including professional editors and designers. “Books from all publishers now compete on equal footing,” says Joel Friedlander, author, book designer, and self-publishing expert at thebookdesigner.com. “Self-publishers need to realize that in exchange for this level playing field, they have to meet the standards set by traditional publishers. Otherwise, they face the possibility their books will suffer by comparison. Professional editing and design are essential to achieving this aim.”

Friedlander shared these two stories to stress his point: “There was an interesting story about a woman who self-published a cookbook, which didn’t sell very well. Puzzled, she started really looking at other best-selling cookbooks and realized her book didn’t look like a cookbook, compared to the others. She pulled the book down, had it professionally designed, and put it back up for sale. It went on to sell over 250,000 copies. Cover redesigns can have a similar effect. A couple of years ago, a client brought me a book on self-empowerment, a deep work. The cover had a stock photo of a man jumping in a field of daisies and it couldn’t have been more inappropriate for its category. We created a new cover that emphasized the psychodynamic aspects of the book and featured a male making direct and confident eye contact with the reader. The book is selling much better than it had before.”

If all of these steps and the tasks and responsibilities of self-publishing sound appealing to you and fit into your life and schedule, and if you want to become a publisher and run a publishing business, super! You know what choice to make.

Let’s look at traditional publishing next. Why would you decide to traditionally publish your book project?

• You don’t want to be a “project manager.”
• You don’t want to invest your own money in your project.
• You want broader distribution for your book (for it to appear in physical bookstores).
• You want credibility or authority in your field.

A traditional publisher will handle most of the details of publishing for you—and even pay you to write your book in most cases. This payment is called an advance, and, as mentioned earlier in the book, an advance is calculated based on potential book sales. (It’s an advance payment on those potential sales.) You don’t get paid anything else until your book “earns back” the advance. Once your book has sold enough copies to cover the advance paid to you, you begin receiving royalty payments, which are also based on sales. These are calculated based on percentages—different percentages for print books, e-books, foreign sales, etc.—detailed in your publishing contract.

Plus, despite the growing acceptance of self-published books, the media and most of the general public continue to see authors of traditionally published books as more credible. Bookstores tend to carry only books produced by publishers.

Your agent will choose the appropriate publishing houses for you and your manuscript. But it’s a good idea to understand the different types of publishing houses that exist and which ones you might approach on your own.

Large Publishing Houses

The publishing industry used to talk about the Big Six or the Six Sisters when referring to the number of large conglomerate publishing companies in the United States. These days, it’s the Big Five or the Five Sisters since Penguin and Random House merged in early 2013. That made Penguin Random House the world’s largest publisher, moving it ahead of the other four publishers: Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. (At the time I wrote this, another merger was in the works.)

Each of these publishing houses, also known as the legacy publishing houses, operates many imprints. The large publishing houses have created smaller book lines that have broken off into small and midsize publishing houses that operate like separate profit centers. In some cases, the houses purchased independent publishers.

The conglomerates are actually bigger than they first appear when you look at who owns each of the Big Six companies. MacMillan is owned by German company Holtzbrinck; Hachette is owned by French company Hachette Livre; and HarperCollins is owned by Australian Media Corp owner Rupert Murdoch. Random House and Penguin were divisions of German conglomerate Bertelsmann; Bertelsmann owns 53 percent of the new Penguin Random House, while Pearson owns the remaining 47 percent.

To approach a large publishing company, you need a literary agent. Literary agents serve as the gatekeepers to acquisitions editors. Acquisitions editors at large publishing companies do not accept “unagented” (also called “unsolicited”) book proposals or query letters. (Remember: Your agent will send a query letter first; if the editor is interested, he will request a proposal.)

Large publishing houses can feel impersonal to work with. You will be one among many authors because these houses produce many books per year. You will be a small fish in a big pond if you are a first-time author—or even a second-time author.

Small to Midsize Dependent Publishers

Small and midsize dependent publishers are those (mostly) not associated with or owned by the Big Five. They might be owned by an organization, university, or some other midsize publisher and thus not “independent” but “dependent” on an outside agency, association, or company. A few examples include Andrews McMeel (associated with Universal Press Syndicate), Chronicle Books (affiliated with the San Francisco Chronicle), Graywolf Press (a nonprofit publisher), AMACOM Books (affiliated with the American Management Association), and Beacon Press (a division of the Unitarian Universalist Association).

Other such publishers include:

• Adams Media (owned by F+W Media)
• Globe Pequot Press
• Health Communications
• Quest Books
• That Patchwork Place

Sometimes you will find imprints of larger houses amongst the names of midsize publishers as well.

In most cases, midsize publishing houses only take agented submissions from aspiring authors. Some acquisitions editors, however, will look at a query or book proposal from an unagented author.

Working with a small or midsize dependent publisher can prove a more personal experience. You may still feel as if you are one among many authors since these houses do produce a good number of books per year, but you won’t be quite as small a fish in the pond. You also stand a better chance of becoming a big fish in that pond.

Independent Publishers

Independent publishers, also called small publishing houses, are independently owned. They are not part of the huge conglomerates, nor are they dependent on any other agency. These are different than “indie publishers”—individual self-publishers who have started their own imprints. Most of these publishing companies have been around a long time, such as:

• Career Press
• Chelsea Green Publishing
• New World Library
• Berrett-Koehler
• Chronicle Books
• Hampton Roads
• Jewish Lights
• The Other Press
• The Permanent Press
• Hay House
• Newmarket Press
• Prometheus Books

Almost all independent publishing companies accept unagented query letters and book proposals from aspiring authors. They have their own websites and submission guidelines. If you want a personal publishing experience with a traditional publisher, these are your best bets. These houses often produce a small number of books per year—but not always—and have a bit more time and energy to spend on their authors. You may be treated like a big fish in a small pond if your book does really well or if you show up with a big platform or a track record of previously published books. You are more likely to stay with one editor at an independent publishing house, too.

If you want to approach a literary agent, this is the process:

• You submit a query letter.
• The agent asks for a proposal, manuscript, or manuscript + proposal.
• You submit a proposal (or manuscript + proposal), if requested.
• The agent asks to represent you, and you sign a contract.
• The agent pitches to acquisitions editors at appropriate publishing houses.
• The agent submits a proposal to interested editors.
• You and your agent go through contract negotiations with editors who make offers.
• You sign a contract.
• You receive half (or possibly a third) of the advance (if there is an advance).
• You write the book on deadline.
• You receive the rest of your advance when the book is submitted in full or at agreed-upon intervals, such as when you turn in the full manuscript and upon publication.

Traditional publishers, with the exception of small independent publishing houses, require that your proposed book project or manuscript is seen and accepted by a literary agent first, then an acquisitions editor, and then by an editorial board or a pub board (including the marketing and sales team). Only then will you receive a contract.

To gain representation by a literary agent, you must send a query letter. If your query letter intrigues the agent, you will be asked to send along a book proposal or a manuscript (or even some sample pages), depending on your genre.

If the agent finds your proposal or manuscript acceptable, she will offer you representation. You then sign a contract agreeing to pay the agent a percentage of your advance and royalties, typically 15 to 20 percent.

Agents contact acquisitions editors by query letter. If interested, an editor requests a proposal or manuscript. She evaluates the material, and if interested, she takes the project to an editorial meeting or pub board meeting.

As mentioned early in this book, the decision by a publishing company to purchase a manuscript involves many people, all of whom are concerned with the creative aspect of the project as well as its marketability or salability. The editorial or pub board meetings at a publishing house typically involve a team of acquisitions editors and the publisher, but they often include marketing and sales personnel as well. If everyone agrees the project is viable from a business perspective, the acquisitions editor contacts the writer’s agent and the publishing company’s legal department draws up a contract. Some of the details in the contract can be negotiated and often are. The contract is sent to the agent, who sends it the writer. They consult on the terms. All negotiations are done via the agent, editor, and legal department.

Once all the concerned parties sign the contract, your traditional book deal is done. Of course, you still need to meet your deadlines and turn in a fabulous book.

If any of this process suits your personality, goals, or schedule, super! Get to work writing a query letter and polishing your business plan into a formal book proposal.

Write Your Book

The final step involves writing your book. Many writers never complete their books—even if they have a contract with a publishing house. This explains why publishers shy away from first-time authors. Many an advance is returned by writers who simply can’t make good on the publishing deal after it has been made.

At this point, you are more prepared to write your book from start to finish than most writers. You also have put together the best writing guide possible: your Overview, TOC, and chapter-by-chapter synopses or a full synopsis. Let’s explore this before you complete your training.

No matter how you plan to publish, each time you begin a writing period, I suggest you use this six-step process. It will help you remember everything you have learned in this training as you write. While you do want to get creative with the writing process at this point, you need to deliver on your promises—the benefits your book will offer readers—and you want to produce a marketable manuscript. You don’t want to forget everything you’ve learned or lose your Author Attitude as you write. The following process offers you a reminder at the start of each writing session and a self-check at the end but allows you to be creative the rest of the time—as you write—so you produce a finished manuscript that sells to publishers and readers.

1. Take out your “[Book Title] Writing Guide.” Remember, this is a document you created that contains the following:
   1. Your Overview (pitch, book summary, list of benefits)
   2. Your TOC
   3. Your Chapter Summaries or Synopsis
   4. Your book’s purpose statement
2. Before you begin writing, read the Overview. This reminds you of the job you must do. Create a book that delivers on all your promises to your readers and fulfills the book’s purpose.
3. Open a chapter document. In Step #6, you created a separate document for each chapter; each document contains the chapter synopsis you wrote for that particular chapter. If you are writing nonfiction, you may have broken the chapter summaries into bullet points or subheadings. (If you find it easier, you can determine what questions you need to answer, what benefits you need to provide, or what solutions you need to provide to address the topics at hand in a particular chapter.) For fiction, you may have separated your chapter summary into scenes, vignettes, or flashbacks.
4. Write to the chapter synopsis. Now you can be creative! Review your complete summary, and then write! The planning has been done, and you can just flow. Write your chapter by moving from bullet point to bullet point, section to section, and scene to scene until you get to the end of your chapter. Of course, you can add, delete, or change anything as necessary.
5. Reread your synopsis. Then skim over your draft chapter, and determine if you achieved all the goals of the chapter. Did you cover everything you said you would cover and provide all the benefits you promised? If not, make notes on what you left out so you can add those points in your second draft.
6. Return to your “[Book Title] Writing Guide.” Reread the Overview, and consider whether you delivered on your greater promises—the benefits and purpose—in this particular chapter.

Your timeline should have a deadline for the completion of your manuscript—self-imposed or imposed by a publisher. A deadline will help you finish your book. Too many writers start and never finish. Don’t let this happen to you.

I always say, “Deadlines are my friend.” I received a degree in magazine journalism and know deadlines well. I often create them so I have to meet them. The first draft of this book got written in eight weeks because I created a deadline as I taught a class on the topic. The first draft served as the class text. The participants also became my beta readers. I had to get them one or two chapters every week. I had to turn in the second draft to an agent (who served as a beta reader as well), which pushed me to revise three chapters per week for the next four weeks. I then had two months to complete the rest of my revisions, which included input from my beta readers, to meet my deadline at the publishing house.

I finished the first draft of How to Blog a Book in five months by writing just 300 to 500 words three or four times a week on my blog, howtoblogabook.com. Once I had readers tuning in to my blog, I felt I couldn’t stop or miss a post. Those readers served as my accountability partners, and I had my self-imposed weekly blog publication schedule—a deadline.

Even if you have your manuscript completion date on your timeline, timetable, to-do list, and calendar, it’s easy enough to skip the scheduled time for writing. You must make writing your book a priority. That means plotting out time daily or weekly for writing.

Maintaining your Author Attitude is inherent in the writing methodology I have described here. Finishing a book, much like evaluating your idea or becoming a successful author, requires tenacity and willingness to work hard despite challenges.

Final Evaluation

Now comes the final evaluation in your Author Training. Can you maintain your Author Attitude through the writing of your manuscript, through the editing of your manuscript, through rejection, through promotion, through the nitty-gritty details of production, and even through success? You have the manual that tells you how to become a successful author. Will you put the information to use? Or will you just read the book, try some of the training exercises, and then go back to your old ways? Will you remain an aspiring author rather than a published author?

Much depends on four things I mentioned early in your training: Beliefs, Decisions, Actions, and Results.

Beliefs determine what you accomplish. They affect your ability to achieve your goals. If you harbor a belief that you and your idea have what it takes to attract an agent or publisher and that your book will sell more than an average number of copies, achieving success becomes much more likely.

Remember that your decisions directly affect your ability to succeed as well. If you make the decision to complete the work, I suggest in this book that is your decision to make proactive affirmative choices. You move yourself closer to your goal when you make these kinds of decisions. Think about what other decisions you must make or have made that help you become a published author. Continue to make decisions that help, not hinder, your progress.

Like decisions, actions are simple to evaluate. Every day you act in ways that either get you closer or further away from your goal of becoming published. Taking no action at all is a decision that keeps you stuck where you are. If you worked through the process in this book, congratulations! You took action toward your goal.

Together these three things help you achieve results. Change your beliefs and begin making decisions and acting like a successful published author right now. (Fake it ’til you make it.) See if your results change as you do so.

If they don’t, or if they do, remember why you wanted to become an author. You had an idea. You felt inspired.

Remain inspired. To do that, recall your passion for your idea. Combine that with your sense of purpose or personal mission. When you combine your passion and purpose, you will feel inspired every time. That inspiration will come through in your manuscript—and in your business plan or book proposal—and make you and your book successful. You will achieve inspired results.

And that will make it easier for you to maintain your Author Attitude, which will transform you from aspiring author to successful published author. And your training will, indeed, be complete. WOOT! WOOT!