The Big One! Probably the most important marketing project you ever undertake is the big one -- your book. It can be as long as 300 pages or as short as 50. Whatever the length, it's a simple and relatively easy process for you, if you understand the process. It should be easy -- your ghostwriter/editor will do most of the work. In some cases, all the work.

Why a Book? A book can open more doors for you than any other project you could ever do. It will get you free publicity. It will get you more respect. And it will get you greater credibility than you've ever had before. Along the way, it will also get you more prospects. What more could you ask? Direct mail letters are not correspondence, though they may borrow some of its elements. Mainly the salutation and the signature.

Getting a book published involves the following 17 steps:

1. Getting organized. Together, you and your ghostwriter/editor determine what kind of book you want. You decide on the size and the approximate length. Then, you come up with a very basic outline.
   
   
2. You use the outline as a subject guide for compiling some information. That includes any articles, brochures or other marketing pieces you can find that explain the topics you want to include in the book. Use a file folder for each topic or chapter. Then send them to your ghostwriter/editor. This is also true when you consider finding some other professionals to contribute chapters to your book. (Contributors can also help underwrite the cost.)
   
   
3. Your ghostwriter/editor does extensive research to see what other people have to say about your subject. The search is vital because the more references cited in your book, the better you look. It shows that you're not just a person with a wild idea. Two things are important here. The references must be recent and they must be sources your target market will respect. The internet or the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature at the library both afford you access to hundreds of credible journals and publications.
   
   
4. Your ghostwriter/editor compiles a chapter outline with rough copy ideas sketched in for you. He will ask you some questions along the way and send you some page layout ideas and layout ideas for the cover.
   
   
5. You go through the chapter outline and give your ghostwriter/editor your thoughts.
   
   
6. Drawing from the information, research and outline, your ghostwriter/editor produces a rough draft of your book. Typically, that is done in sections. (This is also a good time to submit articles to magazines your target market reads and/or respects.)
   
   
7. You go through the rough draft(s) and mark your corrections.
   
   
8. Your ghostwriter/editor makes your corrections and delivers a final draft to you.
   
   
9. You approve the final draft, page design and cover design.
   
   
10. Your ghostwriter/editor transfers the final version into the desktop publishing program for the printer. It's important that you understand this step. The printer will not print your book from a word processing program like WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. All book printers work with publishing programs like Quark ExPress and Aldus PageMaker.
    
    
11. Once your ghostwriter/editor knows what the cover will look like and exactly how many pages we're going have, he gets print estimates for you and determines which printer to use. (This is probably a good time to start sending news releases to local media, like newspapers, radio and TV stations).
    
    
12. You send your ghostwriter/editor a check for the printing charges.
    
    
13. Your ghostwriter/editor sends the final book package to the printer with the check.
    
    
14. The printer sends your ghostwriter/editor the "blue lines" for approval. "Blue lines" show exactly what the type will look like. Both of you should approve them.
    
    
15. The printer lets your ghostwriter/editor know what the final charges are. That's determined by the exact number of copies printed and if there were any unanticipated print production charges.
    
    
16. The printer's final invoice is paid.
    
    
17. The printer ships the books to you.

As you can see, you can be involved as much or as little as you want to be. Either way, the book you'll receive will be clear, easy to read, easy for your target market to understand. It will make you look like the penultimate expert on your subject. You'll be the accepted authority.

The success percentage. The exact number is difficult to gauge, but it is significant. In my research on what builds the credibility, I asked "authors" about the increase in business that they can directly attribute to book projects, the answer is overwhelmingly 50%!

How Much Publishing Your Book Will Cost

The confusion over how much publishing a book costs is tremendous. An insurance agent called me in January and wanted a complete book for $500. A financial planner was happy to pay between $20,000 - $30,000. To put the actual costs into perspective for you, I'm going to break your book into separate services and explain the services and their costs.

5 Steps. As you now know, there are 17 minor steps to getting your book published. Those 17 steps can be organized into five major steps: Research, Writing, Page Design, Print Production and finally Printing. I believe the most logical way to estimate the cost of a book is to spread the total over the length of the book. Thus, each page has a cost that is easier to understand.

1. Research. Finding magazine articles, reports and academic studies that support your topic can bring enormous credibility to you and your book. The question is, do you have time to spend a hundred hours in the library or on the internet? Of course not. But your ghostwriter/editor does. For instance, referring to a recent Wall Street Journal could add credibility. Quoting a study conducted at Duke or Stanford will certainly bring independent validation to your words.
   
   Costs. Research is traditionally contracted by the hour. Thus, to locate and reproduce 30 articles you can quote from could cost from $500 to $1,000. If you want a 100-page book (simply a hypothetical number), the research could cost from $5 - $10 per printed book page. Since the standard charge for intellectual work is from $60 - $100 per hour, $5 - $10 per page is a good deal.
   
   
2. Writing. Every professional writer knows that all good writing is really only skillful rewriting. Look, David Letterman's show is simply a rewrite of the old Ernie Kovak's show. All new rock music is simply a rewrite of 50's and 60's music. All encyclopedias . . . Your writer's job is to make your book easier to read and create more value than is in the other books on your subject.
   
   The rewriting process is very important, because facts cannot be copyrighted; only interpretation of facts can. Let's say you take the facts from a document published by Medicare, or Vanguard. Then, you restate, explain and illustrate them, using easy-to-understand language, VOILA! you've interpreted facts. Do it successfully and you won't infringe on the copyright law. I suggest citing the original source, that will bring even more credibility to your work.
   
   Writing and editing is very time-intensive. They also require great skill and years of day-to-day wordsmith experience. In the same way your dentist probably can't render quality insurance counseling, a recent college graduate can not produce your book. A friend who was an English major in 1972 can not produce your book. Your secretary can not produce your book.
   
   Costs. Your ghostwriter/editor will estimate $50 - $75 per printed book page, depending on how much work he perceives will be required. The more work he has to do, the more it will cost you.
   
   
3. Page Design. This is very easy to visualize. Pick up any novel and open to somewhere in the middle of the book. What do you see? It's called the Wall of Gray. You don't know where any information is located. Your book needs to be different. It needs to be organized as logically as an excellent direct mail brochure. The reader needs to be able to find specific information immediately. The person skimming your book should be enticed to read something on virtually every page. That's what the page design effort accomplishes for you.
   
   It involves the choice of type face families, type sizes, hyphenation styles, and the exact calculation of every page break. It involves breaking paragraphs into bulleted lists and creating subheads from the content. It also involves delicate editing to make your messages fit on the pages.
   
   A word of warning: do not entrust a graphic designer with this job. Page design is a word-related task. Thus, it is best accomplished by your ghostwriter/editor -- period! That's because he is 1) intimately familiar with the intellectual messages and 2) capable of manipulating the words when necessary.
   
   Costs. Page design should cost $20 - $30 per printed book page, depending on the complexity of the information. That brings the cost of your 100-page book to:
   Per-Page Estimates: (Minimum Maximum)
   Research = $5 - $10 per page or: $500 - $1000
   Writing/editing = $50 - $75 per page or: $5000 - $7500
   Page design = $25 per page or: $2000 - $3000
   
   Now, when you see an estimate of $75 per printed book page, you'll have a clear picture of what kind of effort and services make-up those costs. If you find those numbers out of your budget, there are ways to reduce the total. First, think in terms of a shorter book. You ultimately get more work for less money. A fifty-page book is still a book, and can cost half as much as a 100-page book.
   
   The following two steps involve costs that your ghostwriter/editor/publisher has no control over. They're relatively fixed costs because they're determined by outside influences. Namely, the cost of paper, labor and the demand for printing services.
   
   
4. Print Production. Most people understand that a book must go to a printer. However, they don't understand the process for making the book printable. In same way a roll of film in your camera must go through processing before the snap shots can be added to the photo album, the pages of your book must go through a similar process. Each individual page of the book will reside on a computer disk. The disk goes through a process that turns each page into a separate piece of film negative. Making that film negative is absolutely essential, and it adds a cost of from $5 to $10 per page. Without going through that process, you simply don't have a book. Other minor costs you might see would result from photographs, other artwork and extra colors you want included. A typical cost to process one black and white photograph is $15.
   
   The printer turns the film negative into a blueline for each page. It shows the exact position of everything in the book. The blueline adds a cost of from fifty cents to a dollar per page.
   
   Costs
   Per-Page Estimates: (Minimum Maximum)
   Film negatives: = $5 - $10 per page or: $500 - $1000
   Bluelines: = .50 - $1 per page or: $50 - $100
   
   
5. Printing. Once you approve the bluelines, the printer can print the books, apply the covers, and ship the end result to you. But, before the printing press can be turned on, it has to be loaded with paper, and you have to choose the quality of paper. The cost of paper is probably the single most volatile variable in the cost of printing. It can change the cost of your printing by several hundred dollars. In fact, every printing estimate I've ever seen carries a disclaimer that reads something like, "Due to fluctuation of material and labor costs, prices are only effective 30 days from date of quotations."
   
   Printing charges can vary greatly. We normally think of the corner QuickPrint as inexpensive. If you're interested in photocopies, they might be a bargain. However, for printing a book, they would cost an arm and a leg. Even large printers can vary in their charges by thousands of dollars. True story. By researching printers and getting many estimates, I saved Jim Hollon several thousand dollars on his 128-page book The Deferred Compensation Plan.
   
   Here's a true example. The following estimates are based on the same basic book: 7 x 10-inch hardcover/128 pages/1000 copies)
   
   Printer A -- $3,877
   Printer B -- $6,524
   Printer C -- $7,433
   
   As you can see, the printing costs can indeed vary greatly. That's why it's important to know which printers to get estimates from, and what print specs to base the estimates on.

Time Frame. The entire of process of publishing a book should take from four to six months. Add another month for the print production and printing process. The time element actually works in your favor. It gives you ample opportunity to perfect everything before you send it to the printer. Trust me. You want that time to add everything you can think of to the book. You certainly don't want to say, "If only I'd added such-n-such to my book."

Publishing a book can be a huge and daunting undertaking for an anyone . Or, it can be simple and invigorating. No matter how much or little effort you put into it, the final product will be a trophy you'll be proud of. It will help you get more publicity for your business than you've ever had before. And it will help you get considerably more business.

If you want help putting it all together, call me. I'll save you some money and make sure you get a superior book!

About the Author

Michael Lovas is the author of The World's Best Prospecting Letters and Capitalizing on Credibility. He is also the primary ghostwriter in the insurance and financial industry. He specializes in writing, editing and publication of books, articles, and prospecting projects for business people. Naturally, there's a great deal of one-on-one consultation involved with all clients.

Michael has written projects for: State Farm, Southwest Business Corporation, Programmed Insurance Marketing, J.C. Penney Life, Guardian Life, CIGNA, Transport Life, Garden State Life, National Association for the Self Employed, Hospital Corporation of America, American Quarter Horse Association, Zig Ziglar, Central State University, BEST Products, Federal Home Loan Bank, Sheraton, the Dallas Symphony, and many others.

Michael's articles are published nationwide under his and his clients' names in nearly every insurance magazine in America, including: Broker World, LIMRA's Managers Magazine, CPIA's The Selling Edge, IAFP's Planning Matter, Life & Health Insurance Sales, Life Insurance Selling, Merritt Insurance Pro, Texas Insurance Journal, Birmingham Marketeer, Birmingham Business Journal, Arizona Agent, Nevada Agent, Illinois Broker, Wisconsin Broker, Transport Times, Marketing Concepts, and Credit Union Times.

He is a speaker to the Million Dollar Round Table, and speaks on Credibility and Direct Marketing at conventions and training seminars.

As a ghostwriter and author, his books include:

How to Master the Art of Lead Generation
For Prestonwood Press

Leads Leads Leads -- How to Set Insurance Leads and Appointments
For Jessica Armstrong & Telemarketing Today, Inc.

The Deferred Compensation Plan
For J.R. Hollon, CFP

The Exploding Senior Market--How to Triple Your Income this Year!
For Moreland Educational Services

How to Avoid Accidental IRA Sabotage
Ffor Sylvia Roberts, CPA, CFP

Protect Your Income--Protect Your Assets
Ffor Artie Goldstein, J.D.

The World¹s Best Prospecting Letters
Available on disk from Lovas Company Publishing

Capitalizing on Credibility
Available on disk from Lovas Company Publishing

Prospecting Letters--Better than the BEST!
Michael Lovas and Allyn Kramer for Prestonwood Press

Wave Marketing--Wave "Hello" to Increased Sales!
Michael Lovas for Lexington House Publishing Co.

He can be reached at:
Michael Lovas
G H O S T W R I T E R
Ideas and Strategies for Insurance and Financial Professionals
404 W. Graham Street
McKinney TX 75069
Voice (972) 562-1126
Fax (972) 548-1184