If The Components Are There, Let Your Mind Do The Rest

BY JOHN GUY

The desire to write arises from some strange brain cell that carries two elements. The first is an idea or experience that leaps forward not unlike the impulse to learn how to skydive, and then to do it. The second is the rather absurd belief that this idea or experience should be shared with other people, whether other people want it, or not.

So, if you have spent a lifetime in the securities business, something must have happened worth telling. The Scottish Veterinarian found it in the business of treating animals—and their owners. The English jockey found all kinds of stories in the competitive, ego-filled, ripe-for-cheating-and-stealing environment of tracks, jockeys, horses, stewards, owners, reporters, spectators and gamblers who populate tracks and barns.

A securities industry arbitration should be interesting, right? The comings and goings of client/investors must produce unique and compelling stories, right? Once in a while, people cheat to make money, right? The components are there. They merely had to come together in some kind of logical framework. Perhaps the day-to-day stuff is not logical, but it can be made logical in fiction, right?

And so emerges a middle man, a person, not unlike a sports official, who is in the middle, looking out at both sides, and giving both sides a fair and independent evaluation. The unfortunate reality, however, is that no one is perfectly in the middle, perfectly able to evaluate events without the mindset given to him by parents, friends, clients and experience. He can try to escape these influences, and many times he does. But, not every time. And one of those times leads to tragedy.

John Guy, CFP, is president of Wealth Planning & Management, LLC, a financial planning and investment advisory firm. His book, Middle Man: A Broker’s Tale, was published by IBJ Book Publishing.

Learning About the Book Design Process

BY SCOTT SWAIN

Studies show that consumers spend an average of 8 seconds or less considering a book before moving on to the next one on the bookstore shelf—in other words, people really do judge a book by its cover. And your book is no exception.

Without professional editing and an eye-catching cover design, your book risks being lost among the hundreds of thousands of other titles competing for attention from the media and the buying public. Producing a quality book takes time, effort, creativity and knowledge of the industry.

Here at IBJ Book Publishing, we supply the design services and expertise necessary to put a professional face on the book you’ve worked so hard to create.

How does this process work? Let’s take a look.

The type of book you’ve written determines the amount of design required. For standard fiction titles, design is usually limited to typography and cover design.

For books containing illustrations or images, design takes on a much larger role in laying out how the page looks, how chapters begin and end, colors, typography, cover design and ancillary materials such as posters, order forms and other sales/marketing materials.

Non-fiction illustrated titles are the most design intensive books, requiring extensive use of images and illustrations, captions, typography and a deep involvement and consideration of the reader experience.

The design phase may also include photography from a professional photographer. This service, in limited capacity, may be available to you as part of your contract.

After meeting with our design staff for an initial consultation and establishing a production schedule, a sample layout will be designed and given to you for approval, which enables you to review the layout, to fit copy, to gauge the appropriateness of art-to-text—and to make changes, as necessary.

Once the design style is established, our design team will prepare a first-draft layout proof. At the same time, you may choose to have your book reviewed by an editor or a proofreader. Typos are then corrected and minor changes made. There also may be additional back-and-forth and fine-tuning to the layout and design at this time.

If, however, you wish to make extensive content corrections requiring layout changes, additional fees may apply. Additionally, you are permitted three rounds of draft layout corrections before additional costs are incurred.

During the final stages of production, an index is created, typeset and proofread.

After you have completed editing and proofing the draft layouts, you will sign-off on a final layout and the files are prepared electronically for the production of your book.

The files are then reviewed by our design staff and the selected printing company for any issues and prepped for manufacturing.

In some cases, copies of the final, clean files (including artwork) are simultaneously prepared for e-book conversion.

When the book has been printed, a small number of advanced copies are delivered to us and the rest of the finished books are distributed to you.

Next is selling and distributing your book. Successful distribution is not as simple as getting your book onto the shelves of Barnes & Noble or other book stores and watching it sell. The best success comes with marketing your book to an already existing network of followers you may have. Utilize the resources have readily available, and keep your eye out for new business opportunities.

Most of all, stay positive and patient. The road to becoming published may be bumpy at times, but with perseverance and a great book publishing team, you will produce tremendous results!

Scott Swain is the lead graphic designer for IBJ Book Publishing. You can reach him at sswain@ibj.com.

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Write!

BY ASHLEY WOEHLER

Writing, like singing or dancing, comes easy for some. For others, it’s equal to being one of those singers on American Idol that may make it through the first round but are quickly dismissed from the show. Being average just doesn’t cut it. Most of those that don’t make it on the first try never try out again, while others, those that want to fulfill their dream, employ a voice coach to help them get better—both in their techniques and their delivery.

Unpublished authors now have the same opportunity that unrecorded artists have; by utilizing a book coach, those that wish to publish a manuscript can see that dream come to fruition. A book coach, also know as a development editor, is a professional who teaches authors how to compose books. Working one-on-one with an author, the book coach assists the author with planning (including scheduling and proposal writing), stucture and format, style, and audience messaging—sort of like a planner, teacher and cheerleader rolled into one. Here are the main categories with which a book coach assists an author:

Planning

Sometimes the hardest part of writing a book is the foundational framework, especially for authors who have never written a book before. A book coach walks the author through the step-by-step process of writing, publishing and promoting the book. The coach will have a great understanding of how publishing works and will be able to assist the author in molding a broad subject into a concise, saleable topic. Creating a schedule and realistic deadlines are also part of the planning phase; the coach will be sure that the author adheres to the schedule (because, for a publisher, missing a deadline is like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard—cringe-inducing). The planning phase is an important first step on the path to creating a marketable manuscript.

Writing

After determining what the book is about and understanding how to articulate clearly and concisely, it’s time to get down to work—it’s now the writing phase. A book coach will help the author figure out his or her unique voice beforehand, asking a set of questions to help determine what will guide the author to writing a great book. Understanding the author’s personality, who the audience will be, the author’s goal as a writer, and the author’s goal for the reader are all imperative points to figure out. Finding the author’s unique voice is critical; like an unrecorded artist whose voice isn’t memorable, the author won’t be able to publish anything if his or her voice isn’t heard throughout the pages.

The book coach will also assist in the organization of ideas, research, main points and written material. Many new authors may not have a clue of where to go to research, but thankfully, the book coach does—he or she can guide the author to the different outlets that offer many answers. After research is completed, the book coach will help the author develop the book by creating an outline and assisting with rough drafts and revisions. And as the rough drafts are written and revised, the book coach will be right there next to the author, assisting him or her to a developing apolished manuscript ready to sell.

Professional assistance

The book writing process is an awesome, yet tiring, process; as time goes on and the author gets deeper into the process, he or she may lose motivation and focus. It’s hard to get through anything when you lose motivation (just think of how we all start our diets on New Years Day only to give up and quit a few days later). A partner in the book-writing process, a book coach motivates, supports, and commits to helping an author produce a successful book.

So if you’re an author that wants to be the next John Grisham but aren’t sure where to start, you need to book coach to get you there—trust us, the agents and publishers out there have nothing on Simon Cowell.

Ashley Woehler is an Indianapolis-based freelance writer, editor and book coach. You can reach her at: ashes2ashes123@hotmail.com.

Live To Write, Or Write To Live?

BY ALICIA CARLSON

I love to tell people that I work as a writer and editor. Not because I’m proud of what I do—I wish I could tell people I was something really spectacular, like a cancer researcher, or teacher, or spy, or nun—but because of their reaction. It’s almost always about how they feel about writing. Often: “I am a terrible writer. I could never do that.” (Interesting. Must have had a mean English teacher.) Or, my favorite: “I love to write. I wish I could quit my job and just write.” (Because writing, of course, is not a job?)

Those reactions fascinate me because I am a writer, yet I don’t think I’ve ever uttered the words, “I love to write.” That doesn’t mean I don’t love aspects of my job. I do. I really, really do. But I do not write for fun, in my spare time, on the next Great American Novel. Honestly, I’d rather spend time with my husband or kids, walk the dog, go to yoga, or unload the dishwasher.

I admire (and maybe envy) people who love to write and pursue writing as a passion, even if there’s no paycheck attached. That drive to sculpt words into meaningful text has created literary masterpieces and fearless journalism.

But isn’t there something admirable in the mundane, workman-like approach to writing, too? Making a living by manipulating words into serviceable text? Taking a business-like attitude toward the job, and doing it reasonably well?

I’m glad the world has both kinds of writers. If you’re the first type of writer, you need an editor to help you from falling so deeply in love with your own voice that you run the risk of losing your readers. And if you’re the other kind—like me—you need those passionate writers to inspire you to lift your level of writing to something better.

How do you feel about writing? Do you live to write, or write to live?

Alicia Carlson is a freelance writer, editor and communications consultant based in Indianapolis.

Shameless Self-Promotion

It's never too shameless to give yourself a little self-promotion, right? We're so excited, because this week we received the first few boxes of our recent marketing piece, Get Published! It's a 16-page resource booklet intended to help potential authors/clients publish a high-quality book in a professional, affordable and timely manner.

Get Published! includes information about IBJ Book Publishing, book partnerships, the publishing process, marketing tips, portfolio listing of past projects, testimonials, client stories, online book companions and much, much more.

Copies of Get Published! are available for FREE at your request by contacting Jeff Libich at (317) 634-6200 or you can pick one up at our office at 41 E. Washington St., Suite 200 in downtown Indianapolis.

The New Dawn of Mixed Media

BY ERIN ALBERT

One of my favorite things to do as a writer is: read. One of my favorite book series to read was Harry Potter. Furthermore, one of the best creative and fascinating entities within the Potter series for me was the local witch and wizard newspaper, The Daily Prophet. Why? Because the newspaper blended flat print media along with video footage where the traditional photos would be placed in a newspaper. It appeared as hard copy print (like a newspaper), with video embedded (a la YouTube).

The Daily Prophet, coupled with the December augmented reality edition of Esquire Magazine (http://www.esquire.com/the-side/augmented-reality) really is the exciting new trend in writing and publishing—that of blending mixed media. Publishers are now hiring movie producers. Movie producers are reading more books. Writers not only need to think about how to write “the book,” but they also need to think about supplementing the book with online materials (such as personalized quizzes, or blogs, or both). Some writers are even utilizing iPhone apps to create daily reminders or thoughts on their area(s) of publishing expertise.

Frankly, this practice should have happened long ago, but as an author, I’m thrilled to watch the convergence of video and print come to life and evolve. Also, this merging of technologies could save newspapers. Literally, the savvy author needs to network not only with his or her publisher moving forward, but he or she also needs to think about networking with a cadre of professionals, who can help their message move forward, in several different methods, and several different media channels.

It is an exciting time for writers!

Dr. Erin Albert currently is a professor, author, pharmacist, entrepreneur, and student. More on her publications can be found at: erinalbert.com.

An Editor's Conundrum: Balancing Print and Online Duties - Kim Werker - Blogs Editorial @ FolioMag.com

BY KIM WERKER

Something occurred to me out of the blue today: during my last few months as editor ofInterweave Crochet, as the company was beginning to focus more on the possibilities presented by online tools and social media, I wanted nothing to do with any of it in my work as editor. Crazy, hey?

As you might have noticed, the whole print publishing industry is struggling to make sense of online media in much the same way the yarn industry is struggling.

In my final months at IC, there was a lot more talk around the office about online stuff: blogs, forums, Twitter. And even though I had my own blog and still kept up a bit at theCrochetMe.com blog and I was on Twitter, I really bristled at being pressured to do more online stuff for the magazine. Even though I was certain we needed to be online more and better than we were.

That’s really very odd.

Why, as I sit here going on and on and on and on about how important online media are to businesses big and small, online and off-, was I so resistant to practice then what I preach now (even though I practiced it then, only on my own time)?

It could be that I don’t much like being told what to do. It could be that I’d been online for so long, relatively speaking, that I didn’t entirely agree with the approach that was being taken.

But mostly I think it might have been that I didn’t think I could do it right. Where “right” means as myself. With my voice. In my own time. Saying what I wanted to say. Where what I would have wanted to say was sometimes not so shiny-happy-positive, and where some of the positive things I would have said would have been about other companies and not mine.

My whole love affair with online media is in good part because of the spontaneity and honesty of it. To be a cog in a larger social media strategy just didn’t remotely turn me on. (To be clear: I was never asked to be a cog. I’m just super bristly.)

And so I’m left now to figure out how to amend the stuff I spout off about to accommodate this experience I’d forgotten. Here’s my first shot:

If you run a company, you should be online. You should have a blog where you engage with anyone who wants to chat with you. You should be on Twitter and you should use it very little for broadcasting and very much for sharing and conversing. Same with Facebook. And any other site. If you yourself aren’t going to be the person doing the online stuff, you should make sure the person you have do it has the following resources:

1. Time. It takes time to write blog posts and to tweet. It doesn’t have to take a huge amount of time, but it takes some time. Give the person some time.

2. Freedom. Pick someone you trust enough to represent your business and your brand that you can give them a very long leash to say what they need to say how they need to say it. If they mess up, let them clean it up. If they mess up horribly, find someone else to do it. But don’t do anything to prevent the spontaneity, fun and impromptu conversation that are integral parts of successful online media campaigns.

3. Trust. See #2.

4. Time from you. Things online move fast. In all likelihood—regardless of what kind of business you’re in—they move way faster than they do in the rest of your business. So when your person comes to you and says they need to deal with something, STAT, believe them. If they come to you because some convergence of thinking in your online community presents an opportunity for a big promo next week, see if you can make it happen. Try hard to make it happen.

Does any of this make sense? Or have I blathered myself into an atrocious contradiction?

BY KIM WERKER -- Expat writer, editor, blogger and community manager Kim Werker is the former editor of Interweave Crochet magazine.