HOW IT WORKS

Writing & Editing

Through several initial phone interviews, we’ll work together to create a book outline, title/subtitle, and overall structure and organization for your book, based on your business goals. Next, we’ll schedule weekly, 30-minute phone interviews, and I will write and edit your book using our interviews and any additional recordings or writing samples you will provide. You will have 100% creative control over the final manuscript. You are in the driver’s seat. Your name will appear as the author. I am just going to do the grunt work for you, utilizing my writing skills and incorporating my knowledge of writing and marketing a book that will sell.

Marketing & Design

I will design your book cover and interior along with mock-ups and promotional materials. Then, we’ll work together to create and execute a marketing plan to promote your book to your existing fanbase and to a broader audience. This will include my formula for becoming an Amazon bestseller.

Publishing

Once your manuscript is completed and you’ve approved it, I’ll upload it to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform in e-book and print-on-demand paperback format. You will be listed as the author, you will manage your own book sales through your own Amazon account, and you will keep 100% of your profits.

YOUR INVESTMENT

For all services above, my rate is $35 per hour. The total number of hours required to complete your book will vary depending on the scope of your book, the services you require, and your level of participation. There are no additional costs or fees except $99 for an ISBN number (for paperback books only) and any fees involved with hiring additional designers if necessary. With your cooperation and participation, I can guarantee the completion of your book within 20 weeks.

WORK WITH ME

Want to learn more? Enter your details below and I’ll reply within 24 hours to set up a free 20-minute phone consultation to see if we’re a good fit for working together.

FAQs

Is Pilot Press an actual publishing company?

Pilot Press is not a traditional publishing company. Instead, it’s a company that assists self-publishing authors with services like writing, editing, formatting your manuscript, marketing, design work, and publishing a book on Amazon. Pilot Press is for authors who have made the decision to self-publish, but need help with putting it all together to create a book that’s polished and professional.

What’s the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing?

Traditional publishing refers to “getting a book deal,” which is most people’s vision of getting published. But self-publishing has boomed in popularity in the last decade, and I truly believe it’s the way of the future. I recommend self-publishing over traditional publishing for the following reasons:

1. It’s way faster. With self-publishing, once you finalize your manuscript, format it, and put all of the other elements into place, you can go live on Amazon in just a few days. Whereas, with traditional publishing, it’s a process. First, you must create a pitch. Then, you need to find an agent (this step alone can take up to a year or more). Then, if you are lucky enough to find an agent to represent you, the agent will pitch your book to publishers (this can take another year). And finally, if you are lucky enough to find a publisher who will take on your book, you will likely work with this publisher for another year before your book gets published. And with more and more authors turning to self-publishing, the odds of finding an agent and traditional publisher are slimmer than ever.

2. You’re responsible for your own marketing either way. Lots of people think that one of the main benefits of choosing the traditional publishing route is that a traditional publisher will roll out the red carpet for you, taking care of all your book’s marketing and publicity needs. Wrong. The majority of traditional publishing companies do not have a budget for marketing your book at all. I went the traditional publishing route with my first book, Starving In Search of Me, and my publisher would not have taken me on unless I was able to prove to them that I had a network of influencers (ie. people with large social media followings who would help me to promote my book). I was responsible for forming the connections, for growing my own following, and for promoting my book via my channels.

3. You’ll earn more in royalties. When you self-publish on Amazon, you’ll earn 60% of every print book sale, less printing costs, and 70% of every e-book sale. When you go with a traditional publisher, you’ll likely earn between 10% and 30% of book sales.

4. More than 80% of books sold are sold through Amazon. Okay, I will say this: one benefit of going with a traditional publisher is that they will take care of distribution for you. They work to sell your book to retailers like Barnes and Noble, and can get your book into physical bookstores more easily than you’ll be able to on your own. However, more than 80% of books sold today are sold through Amazon. Therefore, self-publishing straight to Amazon is already putting you in front of the main audience of book-buyers. And when you select Amazon’s expanded distribution option, you can get your book into other online retail outlets as well.

5. You’ll have more creative control. With Pilot Press, I want you, the author, to maintain creative control over your book. I want you to be proud of the final product, and I want it to align with your goals and your vision. I will offer my guidance and expertise to help you to create a book that is beautiful, marketable, and professional. But you get the final say in all creative decisions. Whereas, when you sign a contract with a traditional publisher, the creative control is in their hands.

6. You can update your book at any time. The beauty of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing print-on-demand format is that you can update your book at any time. So, if you include a resource in your book and that resource expires, you can update it in live time and all books purchased and printed from that point forward will be corrected. Making updates to a book that is traditionally published is a much slower process, and any books that have been printed in advance (such as those sold to physical bookstores) are going to contain the error.

7. You own the rights to your own work. When you publish with Pilot Press, you are essentially self-publishing. You own the rights to your own work. You manage the back end of your author dashboard, incoming sales, and revenue, etc. I do not collect any royalties or debts beyond the upfront hourly rate I charge, and you will own the rights to your work. When you publish with a traditional publisher, they own the rights to your work.

8. If you self-publish now, you can always get picked up by a mainstream publisher later. Did you know 50 Shades of Grey started out as a self-published book? From there, it got picked up by Vintage Books, and then went on to become a movie. If you self-publish a book and it does well, agents and publishers will come knocking on your door, rather than you needing to beg them to discover you.

How much time will it take to create my book?

Hours are going to vary drastically depending on: the scope of your project; whether you’ll be submitting to me a partial manuscript, a completed manuscript, or starting from scratch; your level of involvement, etc. But, because I like to be as upfront as possible, I’ll give you a very approximate idea of how long each of the following services should take:

• Ghostwriting a complete manuscript from scratch: 80-120 hours

• Content editing, organizing, optimizing, and finalizing a completed manuscript (if you write the book yourself): 15-30 hours

• Copyediting a rather polished, completed manuscript: 5-10 hours

• Back cover text: 2 hours

• Author bio: 1 hour

• Cover design: 2 hours

• Formatting a manuscript for print: 2-4 hours

• Formatting a manuscript into an e-book: 3 hours

• Uploading a final manuscript to Amazon + final proofing: 2 hours

• Support with creating and executing a marketing plan: 10-20 hours