The Truth About Book Writing, Being an Author (7 page)

Chapter 9

What is a Good Writer Worth?

T
o better understand what would be fair and ethical exchange for a professionally written book, you first need to realize what goes into a book as far as time, effort, rare skill and mental brawn are concerned.

The first misconception of
how
one writes is that you “just write it down and it’s done.” This is a bit off the mark and high-level, to say the least, in how a professional writes a book that is at a level of quality appropriate for the world’s eyes.

Here’s an attempt to give at least a slight idea as to what goes into just a single section of a chapter.

Information is either supplied in writing, on tape or not at all from a client. Often the writer must research to find a lot of the data or to gain an understanding of what needs to be written.

But let’s say, for the purpose of example that an aspiring author wanting a health book and sends his writer information on how to become healthier and lose weight at the same time, efficiently and easily through daily walks.

He supplies this in writing:

“Loosing weight can be as easy as 1-2-3. All you have to do is walk each day aftr dinner. Swing your arms for bettter energy burn. A steady Metabolism is important in burning fat too. Never walk too fast. Too slow isn’t as effective either. If you do this ever day, you will become healthier and lose weight.”

Now this information needs to be expounded upon, not to mention fixing the grammar and spelling errors.

As you can see, there is
not
a lot of specific information, though a lot of instruction. The potential of having readers do the actions they’re supposed to do in the wrong way is highly probable.

How are the readers supposed to swing their arms? What does metabolism mean? What is too fast or too slow when walking? These are just a few things that need to be brought out, made clear and remain interesting.

A professional writer has to either:

• create a list of appropriate questions, go back to the author and pull more information from him/ her through their stimulating and appropriate questions
  

and as well may need to ...

• research the topic, culling out false data and validate data by finding several reliable sources to verify the correctness of the information found, and then take that data, meld it with the author’s information, into something more useful.
  

The insightful and highly-trained writer knows that things such as aerobic exercise (exercising slowly and steadily with adequate oxygen being supplied to the organs and blood) needs to be included for better understanding for the reader.

And making anaerobic (which means exercising with too little oxygen to support adequate fat burning, like when running full speed, etc.) needs to be understood by readers as well. Leaving it out creates the potential for readers to apply the author’s data incorrectly and get “no results.” Even though the author’s program does work when applied correctly, inadequate information in the book will create ill effects for her/his reputation and future success.

With all of the appropriate and necessary information, the reader can then understand why they need to walk at a “certain” pace–not too fast, not too slow–“at a pace where they can still talk without having to gasp for air.” This will allow for the greatest efficiency of fat burning while also allowing the heart to get the best workout as well.

Then there’s the right shoes to wear. If people start hurting themselves or begin to develop blisters or unnecessary aches in their feet and legs, they will likely give up on the endeavor. Wearing the right shoes will avoid this kind of unnecessary failure and offer better support and cushion for the knees and joints.

Then there’s what to eat and what not to eat before and after exercise for ideal fat burning as well as gaining a higher level of energy for getting them off the couch and completing their walks, and even being able to walk further.

And what should they to do with their arms. Swinging them will increase caloric burning. And so on, and so on.

Meanwhile, many, many hours, days, weeks later, and after lots of questions or research and a number of versions written and rewritten ... this small section of a chapter is finally completed.

Then this has to fit properly with other sections and chapters.

Now consider an entire book of 60,000 to 85,000 words or many more, and you should have a fair idea as to what goes into the writing of a book for impact and success. It’s a great deal more—much, much more—than “just writing it down.”

How Much Time It Takes To Write A Book

Most books can
easily
take a year to complete, depending on the length, the amount of research and so forth. It can take less time or more time, depending on how quickly the author gets back with answers to questions and so forth. Also, additional members of your team can be added, like separate researchers, fact checkers and even more preliminary writers to shorten the normal timespan.

Remember, it’s not about time. It’s about quality and impact ... making a book that’s even worth more than its weight in gold—a priceless book.

Compensation For Your Writer

Obviously, if you are the writer of your book, then your investment is mostly time ... and burning out a few brain cells.

With a hired gun, a few things need to be taken into consideration:

• A professional writer writes for a living.
  
• This is how he/she survives.
  
• Talented book writing is extremely rare— extremely rare.
  
• As mentioned earlier, average writers are available in volume and are part of “the norm.” Ultimately, like everything else in life that’s average, mediocrity falls short of the appointed goal.
  
• So you are investing in extremely rare ability that very, very few people on this planet actually possess.
  

And considering that really great writers are
very
few and far between, they are a hot commodity. They are not going to work for peanuts—not the professionals.

What the professional writer offers the world is the written word in its more elegant form, ideally chosen and perfectly combined for impact. This is valuable to a culture and can change the way societies think about things and look at life.

This is powerful to an author! Imagine being able to cause a trend or change the direction of an eroding situation! Imagine being able to influence others to live happier, more rewarding lives? Think of something you’d like to cause, and realize that with a great book writer, you can set the stage to make that happen! As mentioned earlier, this is serious business!

This ability to craft effective communication allows people to share their thoughts, plans, ideas … with thousands and even millions of other people, without misunderstanding, without loss of concept in translation!

Great writers allow the emotions of one to be felt and experienced by everyone else!

How valuable is that? What a great writer can do with the written word is more valuable than any diamond or rare, precious metal. A great writer and an author with a great idea or purpose is an invaluable and powerful combination for mankind!

But as there needs to be a realistic fee attached to book writing, here is a rough guideline that is very useful in determining a “fair exchange” rate for the services of a talented writer.

There can be a set fee, but as a rule of thumb, great writers get between $225 and $350 per written manuscript page.
⁵
Good Writers get between $125 and $200 per page.

The reason for the “range” in the per page fee is mainly as a gage for measuring production in an author-writer relationship.

There are two main book writing arrangements— a collaboration or a ghost write.

Benefits To The Writer Can Lower Fees

The writer’s fee can be influenced by what benefits s/he is given. A writer will sometimes lower their fee from their normal rate—if the benefit is important or valuable enough to give up part of their immediate livelihood.

Things like the percentage of profits/royalties, copyright sharing, etc., will sometimes convince a writer to lower their normal rate. These things are what mainly create the price ranges listed earlier.

Flat fees can work out well, as long as the author client understands that such a fee is based on a certain number of pages, and if the original scope of the project lengthens beyond a certain percentage, a new fee will need to be negotiated.

Depending on things like the length of a book in pages, its topic and other circumstances, a book can have an average investment of anywhere between $35,000 to $85,000. The amount will be higher for an in-demand best-selling book writer or celebrity to figures of $100,000 to $250,000 and much higher.

And just like you can have a car to drive that costs $29,000, you can also have a car that costs $300,000. It depends on what you want. Similarly, you get out of a writer what you invest for one. And the rewards pay off very well, whether it’d be in the fine car or the talented writer. The benefits are there.

These questions arise at this point ...

Are you willing to take your book project seriously, treat it like the business venture it really is and go for the real potential that’s there? Do you want a book that will make a significant impact, or something that makes no affect?

Speak to an author who has a failed book and I’ll bet s/he tells you they “got a
great
deal on a writer.”

All is Not Lost if You Can’t Afford a Professional

As it would never be a good choice to have your book written by a nonprofessional because their price is lower, there has to be other favorable options for achieving your goals while staying within the level of quality that you have to have for achieving your goals and successes.

It may seem like savvy shopping to get your book done at a “low price.” But things like parachutes, brakes, brain surgeons and book writers, just to name a few, it’s just the opposite. You, of all people, do not want to have sour grapes by being another bad statistic with those infamous last words, “I got a great deal on this one!”

Once again we have to remind ourselves ...

DON’T DO WHAT THE MAJORITY OF ASPIRING AUTHORS ARE DOING.

If you do, you might as well take your dream and flush it down the toilet. You would do better investing in some pyramid scheme than “spending wisely” on a bargain book-writing offer.

Undesirable alternatives are never the way to go when there looks to be no other option available. All is not lost if you can’t afford a pro!

If you simply do not have the funding for a professional book writer to write your book, there are
exceptional solutions
coming up in the coming chapters!

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______________________

⁵
A manuscript is what is sent to agents for consideration of their representing you and to publishers for consideration of buying the rights to your book for publishing it under their name and terms.

Chapter 10

An Author Coach Is A Great Option

B
esides having been a professional ghostwriter since the late 90s, I’ve also worked with many aspiring authors and entrepreneurs in helping them to do things like: self-publish ideally, get their books printed cost-effectively, market their books and build strong, profitable platforms.

Sometimes, I even help them develop a line of their own information products, a line of products that can often make mild mannered authors and entrepreneurs into six and seven figure income earners.

But in my experiences with clients, there had been a great many of them who had wonderful ideas for a book of their own but did not have the budget to afford to get their books written professionally.

So they quickly came to understand (from their coach) that their books needed to be quality for making an effective impact, it was a dilemma that stopped them from moving forward, becoming a published author and positively influencing others.

This really bothered me because my passion has been
to help individuals to help countless others
, and authors can do that when they have valuable books. When I couldn’t succeed at finding a way to help certain individuals get their books written and pursue their commendable goals, I fell short of the reason why I bounced out of bed each morning. But that was many years ago.

With necessity being the mother of invention, this unacceptable and heart-wrenching issue eventually led me to come up with what I still believe to be the most practical and exciting solution for anyone.

To make it more affordable for those who had a desire to help improve conditions in the world, I added to my repertoire of author services,
Author Coaching
. But coaching in a very unique and practical way that really made it possible to succeed if you simply followed through with enough perseverance.

Like I described earlier, it takes three key aspects to succeed as an author: a quality book, publishing correctly and effective marketing.

The secret behind the incredible coaching results I’ve personally seen with my clients has been that fact of understanding that all of these absolutely must be considered for things to really work out.

As a coach or mentor, taking on a narrow perspective of just “a good book,” for instance, without having a clear understanding of your goals and your purpose for being an author, will not hit the mark for achieving your success.

A great many things must be decided upon and made very clear, which go far beyond the book itself. This only makes sense because your book is just the ammunition for achieving many other things.

If those other things are not taken into consideration, effort will be wasted doing needless, senseless things that do not add value to your venture.

Like a website that is made just to be a website and not to forward the goals of its owner, you need to make sure that the coach or mentor that you hire knows better than to take a tunnel vision approach with you, and that he or she knows, at the level of a seasoned expert, all three aspects of being a successful author.

I began showing gung-ho individuals how to write their own books, and we ensured they ended up with that all-important high-quality book. But this went further than just writing a book.

As Marketing is one of the three key actions that must be done correctly to succeeding as an author, I also started them concurrently building their audience of loyal followers, allies and excited book buyers!

I’m sure there are others out there too who can help you as well, in the capacity of an Author Coach or Author Mentor. Just be sure to look for someone who has been through it all. And they don’t only have a single or limited perspective of your success as an author.

When I or my team of coaches work with authors, we take into consideration all three aspects for author success, and never lose sight of them. This is a very significant importance for your success! So don’t compromise with this with anyone you might hire to coach you.

Writing Your Own Book With The Guidance Of A Coach or Mentor

So, the option of writing your own book in a step-bystep, guided process, with confidence that you’re doing everything correctly, as well as setting things up for success when your book is launched, became a real solution for many! And it is an exceptional solution, for sure.

Especially when the investment for this is in the neighborhood of one-tenth the cost of hiring a professional.

At the risk of sounding narcissistic and self-serving, I wanted to speak from my own experience first because I know first hand how effective our approach is.

But know that there are other author coaches out there. I am not exactly sure what they do, or to what extent, but it is doubtful that there are many who take aspiring authors through the precise, necessary “wholeistic” process for writing their own book effectively for success. I say this because, there are few individuals who completely understand all three aspects of author success. You need not look any further for proof of this than the ugly statistics of failed authors.

I have spent the last decade learning, trying, researching, failing and succeeding in the book author and publishing industries. It has been my job and my passion. Not many people would even have the time to venture into all three aspects like I have. I have no doubt that there are people who are incredibly smart and experienced experts in any
one
of these three aspects. But I’ve yet to find another who knows all three. Just a fact at this point ... just a fact that you should know.

Okay enough about me. This is about YOU and your success!

Any way you look at it, hiring a coach or mentor to help you plow through the confusion, make things with your book (and you as the author) crystal clear, while keeping you focused, moving forward and ensuring your book stays on topic and completes its purpose and has you move towards your goals, is an excellent way to go for getting your book written!

Ideally, you will find someone who can work with you from concept and through to the publishing and marketing stages. A writing coach, though extremely valuable in what they do, will greatly help you with a narrow aspect of your project, but nothing more. So if you don’t need publishing or marketing help or guidance, then quite possibly, a writing mentor is all you need.

If you are looking to avoid being lost and not knowing what to do next once your book has been written, then find someone who clearly knows the ropes of the entire process from the writing and polishing phase to the publishing/distribution phase and with the marketing phase, which has to do with positioning yourself as an author of a particular expertise, building a following of loyal readers who want to buy more books from you and be greatly interested in other things that you might come to offer.

With author coaching, you are able to move along at a steady pace while avoiding the pressure of needing to come up with a lot of money. Instead, you can pay as you go. By investing small blocks of coaching sessions, you will be able to move forward with your book dream.

The investment for an Author Coach to guide you through the writing process to make it possible for you to write your own book, we have seen between $2,500 and $6,000, depending on the depth of coaching needed by the author. It could be more, it could be less. The point is that no matter how you slice it, it is much less than hiring a professional writer ... and much safer than going it alone.

Author coaching is an awesome option and can be a wonderful win-win scenario as you and your coach share a fantastic experience and a relationship of parity in working together towards a common goal for your greatest success!

You might be wondering whether coaching needs to be in person or not. It does not. Telephone is all that’s needed. But if you prefer visual, the Skype or Google+ will allow for video meetings.

Realize that an Author Coach can be a very valuable member of your team! Minimally, you should hire one if only in a consulting basis once a month to keep you on track with your project. It’s vitally important to have an expert on board any project as big as creating a book and seeking success as an author or entrepreneur.

If you cannot afford a professional writer worth their weight in gold, then Author Coaching should definitely be looked into.

You will know within your first couple of coaching sessions whether it is working out for you or otherwise. That’s a safe and smart way to proceed, for sure. It should not take long at all. You should be excited by the first or second coaching session. If not, get a new Author Coach!

Typically, the wins are immense. That is because you are being guided by someone who has successfully done all that you are trying to figure out how to do. And s/he knows exactly the way to show you how to work through your own challenges with getting your book written.

Whether it is a desire or a necessity (due to finances), many individuals want or need to write their won books. After witnessing, firsthand, the excitement, joy and favorable results of what Author Coaching can do to make it possible for aspiring authors to safely and properly write their own books and head towards their goals, this is what I believe to be one of the most fantastic solutions, on many different levels!

Now before you make up your mind as to which book writing option is right for you, you’ve got to know about the option described in the next chapter. It’s more of a combined approach where Author Coaching meets a really nice way to move through the book creation process.

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