Guest Post: When Ghostwriters Need Each Other

Ghostpreneuers help ghostwriters step out of the shadows
By John Kador

If being a writer is a lonely occupation, consider the fate of the poor ghostwriter. Not only do ghostwriters toil alone, they don’t even get to tell people what they’re toiling on. When the book is published, someone else gets the credit, stands up at the bookstore readings, and sits down to sign books for adoring friends and fans.

The only satisfaction for the poor ghostwriter is that ghostwriting makes them a little less poor. It’s a living that definitely has its moments, but attaboys or accolades from readers are not among them. Isolation prevails. Even finding fellow ghostwriters to network with is hard to come by.

Enter “Ghostpreneurs” a support group for ghostwriters that has boosted my professional practice. The group was started three years ago by Derek Lewis, a business ghostwriter based in Baton Rouge, LA. Each month, six highly successful ghosts call in to share tips and leads, describe best practices, and help professionalize the craft. The title of the group is a mashup of “ghostwriter” and “entrepreneur,” a nod to the fact that ghostwriters are, first and foremost, in business for themselves.

Water-Cooler Conversations

The six members of Ghostpreneurs meet by teleconference every month for 75 minutes. After everybody checks in with a quick update on the last month, we focus on a theme to improve our game. We usually talk shop. After all, the business of ghostwriting is how we choose to support our families. So there is generally a lot of conversation about setting fees, marketing, structuring contracts, and qualifying prospective clients.

Often we have a guest speaker talk about some aspect of the work of ghosting. In recent months, we heard from an attorney on intellectual property law, a social media expert, a branding expert, and even an accountant on the best way to handle billing and taxes.

When a member is stuck, the group never fails to surface out-of-the-box ideas. For example, one member confided to the group that even with a steady flow of potential clients, the ghost was unable to get prospects to sign. Someone in the group suggested the ghost consider hiring a coach with the narrow task of getting better at closing sales. Within weeks of working with the coach, the ghost had closed three new book projects.

A Ghost Support Group

Sally Collings, a ghostwriter based in Palo Alto, CA, focuses on memoirs and life stories. Sally worked for HarperCollins and was editorial director for Amber Books before going out on her own in 2006 and founding Red Hill Publishing. “Being part of this group has been enormously valuable to me in so many ways,” Sally says. “Over the past couple of years, its members have become my pseudo-colleagues: people I can gripe to, celebrate with, and commiserate with. Our monthly calls are my water-cooler conversations.”

It's helped me, too. Sometimes, I’m stumped by how to work with a testy client; the group helps me figure out how to stay professional. When I’m looking for a fresh perspective, it seems like someone has a suggestion that helps me.

I met Derek Lewis, the founder of the group, at a rare conference for ghostwriters. It’s so rare, in fact, that the conference has yet to be repeated. Ghostwriters attended from all over the U.S., England, and Australia. As the conference was winding down, Derek suggested a few of us continue the conversation about professional matters and that’s how Ghostpreneurs was born.

“I wanted to set up a monthly conference with some of my fellow ghostwriters for a purely selfish reason,” Derek concedes. “I wanted to learn from the best for free. More than two years later, I'm still learning.”

Most of all, I’m reminded I’m not alone.

# # #

John Kador is a business author and ghostwriter based in Winfield, PA. His website is www.jkador.com

Guest Post: Fun Facts About the Transcription Industry

Being a ghostwriter means talking to people. A lot. There are few better ways to capture someone’s writing voice than to hear how they communicate out loud. After hours of interviewing your client—digging through layers of triviality to find those nuggets that make up a good story—it can be hard to even look at your tape recorder. But all that glorious truth doesn’t do any good unless it’s been transcribed into words for you to shape and hone.

Whether you transcribe yourself, or hire out, we think you’ll appreciate some of the stunning facts and figures about the transcription industry found in this excellent infographic via Take 1 Transcription, a company that offers transcription services.

Infographic created and originally posted by Take 1 Transcription

Three Ways to Collaborate as a Ghostwriter

by Graciela Sholander
This post originally appeared on Ghostwriting Plus.

I have ghostwritten over 25 books for a number of clients, including doctors, lawyers, and motivational speakers. Today I want to share with you three effective ways you can collaborate with your client.

1. Rewrite a Raw Manuscript

These days, this is my favorite way to ghostwrite a book. If your client has written most or all of her manuscript, you’re in a great position to help her reach the next level. She’s written down her ideas. Now it’s your turn to do your magic.

Starting with what she’s put together, rework it to produce the most engaging, professional product possible. Hack away! Create new chapter titles and section headers. Rewrite to your heart’s content. Remove redundancies. Expand points. Add anecdotes and examples to support her points.

Keep the main messages, and make sure your client’s voice comes through. But use your own savvy to rework the manuscript, transforming it from amateurish to a highly professional work of art, with every sentence a joy to read.

2. Write a Manuscript from Interviews

At the other end of the spectrum is the client who has written nothing and has a million ideas floating in his head. He’s brilliant, and his ideas are worth sharing with readers, but as soon as he tries writing anything down, he loses them. He’s an eloquent speaker, not a writer.

In this case, schedule a series of interviews. They can be conducted in person, by phone, or through Skype. I interview clients by phone, and since I’m a fast typist I go ahead and type what they say, creating a written record in real time. This saves me the expense and extra step of having an audio interview transcribed. Then as I piece together a manuscript from scratch, I simply copy and paste sections from the written record, rewriting and expanding them as needed.

By the way, in this case it’s a good idea to charge separately for the interviews. I typically charge clients a per-page rate for ghostwriting plus a per-hour rate for phone interviews.

3. Piece Together What You’ve Been Given and Gather More

In this approach, the client has some material to give you. For example, she might hand you 19 pages she’s written with rough ideas for her book, plus five articles published about her in different magazines, and two YouTube videos of her being interviewed on the subject you’ll be ghostwriting about.

Your job is to take this hodgepodge and incorporate it into a new work. In addition, you’ll need to figure out what’s missing and schedule a few interviews to gather more information.

Since I enjoy writing a hundred times more than I enjoy talking, I try to conduct email interviews whenever possible. This won’t work for clients who love to talk and hate to write. It does tend to work for very busy professionals, though, since they can sit down and address your emailed questions at their leisure.

When I conduct email interviews, I do not charge extra. I charge only a per-page fee for ghostwriting the manuscript.

Graciela has been a professional writer for 21 years and focuses on ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, articles, social media, marketing, and website content. She is also the co-author of Dream It Do It: Inspiring Stories of Dreams Come True, a motivational self-help guide.

To Write Well, Forget Everything Your High-School English Teacher Taught You

By Jonathan Rick

In today’s the-world-is-flat era, few things can differentiate you better than polished communication skills. Indeed, even at the world’s top PR agencies—among people who make their living off the written word—those who can write well are shockingly few (and increasingly well compensated).

Happily, the mechanics of good writing are eminently learnable. For most of us, the problem is readily diagnosable: our last English class was in college, and from our corporate perch today, we look down on continuing education—“Do I really need a two-hour seminar on something I do every day?”

Yes! We all do. (If you disagree, ask your boss.) In fact, the time you spend writing (emails, memos, reports, proposals, website copy, blog posts, social media content, e-newsletters, and so on and so forth) is a reason for training.

In that spirit, I hope you’ll page through the above presentation. A refresher on the myths and rules of good business writing, it contains cameos from House, Good Will Hunting, Saturday Night Live, Shakespeare, Churchill, Einstein, da Vinci, Orwell, and of course Strunk and White. Even the IRS makes an appearance.

Enjoy—and happy writing!

Jonathan Rick is the president of the Jonathan Rick Group, a communications consultancy in Washington, DC. For more linguistic learnings, pursue his blog, Sprachgefuhl.

Bidding on Elance: Here’s How Easily Freelancers Can Get Screwed

by Carol Tice

From my very first blog post back in 2008, I’ve advocated that freelance writers avoid mass bidding sites such as oDesk and Elance.

This past week, I learned in an unexpected way just how easily freelancers can get ripped off doing writing work through impersonal, third-party platforms like Elance.

Because I got ripped off, big time.

Here’s how it happened…

My first sign something was wrong was a series of emails I got from several different India-based SEO writers applying for “the post of content writer.” Asking if I would hire them.

I assumed they were interested in my writer’s guidelines for guest posting here on the blog, so I sent those over.

But something about it was weird. Just the way they were phrasing it didn’t seem right to me.

But I didn’t write anything for you…

Next, on the day after a religious holiday when I was out of the office, I got this odd email:

I assured her that I had never started article writing for her, and certainly wasn’t going to continue. I didn’t even have any idea what topics she was having articles written about!

When I asked what the deal was, I got this reply:

So there you have it, sports fans: An imposter created an Elance profile using my name, my photo, and my writer website, and was trying to get writing clients based on my reputation.

And if this one client hadn’t smelled a rat, who knows how long this might have gone on.

How’d they pull that off? They used a different, London-based Skype number and a different email address than my real one, thereby funneling responses to them rather than me.

And Elance was clueless.

Obviously, I was pretty steamed, given how strongly I’ve advocated for writers to avoid using places like Elance! I was quick to post about it on Facebook and Twitter, and start spreading the word around that I am not really hiring writers on Elance, hoping to warn prospective clients that they weren’t really hiring me.

I was hoping that would help resolve the problem.

But instead, things got worse.

Writers get sucked in

If the news that I was being impersonated on Elance so that someone else could earn a few bucks made me mad, I can tell you I totally hit the roof when I saw the next set of emails and Facebook messages that came in:

 

The complete picture emerged: Someone was impersonating me on Elance, getting clients, and then subcontracting out the work to other writers.

The final insult? The rates! This impostor was charging $20 a post… I opened that spreadsheet the client up top had sent over, and that was the per-piece rate.

I shudder to think what this person might have been paying the writers they hired to do the actual work. If, in fact, this fraud paid anyone at all.

Will writers get paid?

I contacted Elance immediately about all this, and it took them several days to get back to me. They let me know the bogus profile had been removed.

I think it’s notable that there wasn’t even an apology made for the damage to my reputation here. But OK — I’m breathing and letting go here, because suing is not a positive way to spend my time.

Who was the impostor? Elance isn’t saying. But I know they’re overseas, which would make legal action difficult to pursue anyway.

What about the writers who went busily to work, thinking they were writing for me? Given that Elance allowed this fraud to take place, will they be compensating the writers for their work?

Elance’s security team wouldn’t tell me how the writers would be dealt with…but one of the writers responded to me directly, saying they were told Elance’s payment protection policies would cover them — IF they could document their work to Elance’s satisfaction.

Here’s hoping Elance does the right thing and pays all of these freelancers for their writing.

Elance did indicate that it reached out to at least one freelance writer to warn them to stop writing for the impostor. But at least one other writer told me they got the word to stop work from the impostor, not Elance!

I guess it’s nice that Elance alerted at least one writer it was a bogus account, but from what the writers had to say above, it seems like the damage had already been done. Several writers had already wasted their time writing dozens of articles which they may or may not be paid for.

It just makes me sick to think about how these writers were excited to be writing for me, and then had to find out it was all a scam. Even though I’m only an unwitting participant in this ripoff, it really rankles.

Fighting writer exploitation is the core of my mission here on the blog! And then, this mess happens. I run a Google alert on my name, but it never turned this up. Makes me wonder what more we can do to monitor our online reputations.

The bottom line

This whole experience was a sad reminder that when you go on platforms where it’s easy for clients to mask their identities, you really don’t know who you’re dealing with. Which means it’s easy for that client to disappear without paying you.

Just another reason to go out and find your own clients instead of hanging around bidding on Elance for gigs posted by clients who may not be what they appear.

This article originally appeared on makealivingwriting.com

Small Writers Group Nets Big Results

by Theresa Sullivan Barger

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, FastCompany.com, Columbia Journalism Review, Family Circle, Parents, The Atlantic, Philanthropy, Poynter Online—these are just some of the places the bylines of our small writers group members have appeared for their first time since we started meeting 10 months ago.

We originally formed as a monthly accountability group, but soon evolved into much more. We set up a closed Facebook page where the eight of us could post questions and share the wisdom of the group. Our virtual newsroom replicated the days when we could slide our chair over to a coworker to ask how she would handle that day’s challenge. We soon switched to meeting every two weeks.

We’re each other’s support system, cheering squad, and sounding boards. The group is helping each of us advance our careers while addressing the isolation we freelancers face. We recommend each other to our editors and share links to helpful webinars or websites.

When we started, most people in the group had never met. I was the only one who knew everyone, and I didn’t know most of them well—but I knew them enough to know that we all shared a desire to grow as writers. We’ve become trusted colleagues who offer honest critiques, ideas for sources, and a gentle nudge.


Freelancers By Choice

Our members range in age, specialty, political views, and freelance experience, but that’s part of why the group works. We’re different enough to not be in direct competition. We have diverse strengths and weaknesses, so we learn from each other.

We come to our meetings with lists of stories we’re working on or thinking of doing, and the rest of the group offers suggestions on story approach and where to pitch. When we hear of editors looking for writers, we share that news.


Success Breeds Success

When one of us gets a “yes” from a prestigious pub for the first time, we’re all happy. Each person’s success propels the rest of us to aim higher and keep trying. If one of us can break into that coveted market, so can the rest of us. Our celebration of breakthroughs seems to be happening with increasing frequency.

Since rejection—or simply being ignored—is so much a part of the job of being a freelance writer, it really helps to have encouragement from writers whom you respect.

One of our members—a talented, experienced writer—had never pitched to a national publication. A challenge from the group propelled her to commit to a date for pitching. When she stumbled on an idea worthy of a national newspaper, she pitched it to the New York Times. When they passed, she refined the pitch and immediately sent it to the Journal, which said yes. We felt like proud parents.

(This post originally appeared on The ASJA Word)

Guest Post: The Biggest Mistake a Writer Can Make on Twitter

by Jonathan Rick

Don’t just tweet the headline. Comment on the article. Explain why you’re sharing it.

Don't create a Twitter crime scene. (Photo by Andreas Eldh)

Tweeting has never been easier. Just click that turquoise bird alongside nearly every kind of content on the web today, and a ready-to-go message presents itself. All you need to do is click “tweet.” The whole thing takes less than five seconds!

Yet there’s no decree dictating that you must use this prewritten gruel. In fact, you shouldn’t use the default text, which is tantamount to a robot announcing the Oscar winners: it’s generic and devoid of any shout-outs, styling, or personal commentary. After all, what you tweet is transmitted over your name and avatar, so it behooves you to stamp it with your own style.

What’s more, if you want to stand out, you can’t just put out what everyone else is typing. You need to offer up something new—even if it’s just your two cents. Indeed, with this little bit of extra effort, you can make each tweet count.

Consider the widely read post, “Facebook: I Want My Friends Back,” by Richard Metzger of the Dangerous Minds blog.

Bad

Here’s what happens if we click the “tweet” button:

FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back via @dangermindsblog

While the essentials are here—and, to the blog’s credit, the Caps Lock key is employed for emphasis—this tweet typifies the bare minimum. This is an opportunity lost.

Good

Now let’s tweak a few things:

HEY, @FACEBOOK! I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK! - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back via @DangerMindsBlog

Notice:

• We used Facebook’s handle to ring its bell.

• We added the word “hey” so that everyone will see the tweet (not just those who follow @DangerMindsBlog and @Facebook).

• We separated the link by way of a hyphen, thus making the tweet easier to scan.

• We capitalized @DangerMindsBlog in accordance with how the blog stylizes itself.

Great

And if we overhaul everything…

Is Facebook scamming you? Check out this eye-opening post by @RichardMetzger - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back (via @DangerMindsBlog)

… our followers benefit from:

• A teaser (“Is Facebook scamming you”?) in sentence case

• A call to action (“Check out”)

• A shout-out to both the writer (“by @RichardMetzger”) and the blog (“via @DangerMindsBlog”)

In other words, we’re no longer mindlessly broadcasting. Instead of repurposing a headline written for a blog, we’re now issuing a call to action tailored to Twitter. In short, we’re explaining why whatever we’re sharing is worth reading.

Alternatives

As usual, sometimes you need to break the rules. Consider these alternatives, which play off key points in Metzger’s post:

How Facebook killed more than 50% of @DangerMindsBlog’s page views - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back

Don’t let Facebook get away with the biggest bait and switch in Internet history - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back

C’mon, @Facebook. You’re better than this! - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back (by @RichardMetzger)

An important analysis from @RichardMetzger: “Facebook has taken a pee in their own pool from quite a lofty height” - http://dangerousminds.net/comments/facebook_i_want_my_friends_back

Best

So which publishers embrace the great model? Unfortunately, not many—with a few exceptions.

Here’s how Upworthy, the website known for making serious subjects go viral, masters the medium:

Article Headline	Tweet
A Church Told a Pastor That He Couldn’t Preside Over His Son’s Wedding. He Responded Like a Dad.	You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate how amazing @StandWithFrank is.
This Is the Most Inspiring Yet Depressing Yet Hilarious Yet Horrifying Yet Heartwarming Grad Speech	This is why it’s good to have strange people like @timminchin give your commencement address.
This Amazing Kid Just Died. What He Left Behind Is Wondtacular.	Zach Sobiech: “You don’t have to find out you’re dying to start living,” by @soulpancake.
If This Video Makes You Uncomfortable, Then You Make Me Uncomfortable	Watch this @getup video and just TRY not to be open-minded.
A Brave Fan Asks Patrick Stewart a Question He Doesn’t Usually Get and Is Given a Beautiful Answer	THIS JUST IN: @SirPatStew is a friggin’ amazing human being.

Similarly, as documented by Laura Hazard Owen of paidContent, Slate has woven this twin-titling into its content management system. A few examples:

Article Headline	Tweet
Thanksgiving Is Just a Special Dinner Party	It’s Thanksgiving Dinner. Stop Eating at Lunchtime.
Can You Hack It?	Everything Electronic You Own—iPhone to Subway Card to Power Strip—Can Be Hacked. So How to Defend Yourself?
Doctors Need to Have the Sex Talk	Doctors Spend 36 Seconds or Less Talking With Teen Patients About Sex. Grow Up, Doctors!
Wind Chill Blows	Yeah, it’s cold out. But wind chill is a lousy measure.

The bottom line (in less than 140 characters, of course):

Don’t be afraid to change the prepopulated, default text. Those 140 characters are yours—own 'em. Make each tweet count.

Jonathan Rick is the president of the Jonathan Rick Group, a digital communications firm in Washington, DC. Tweet him your biggest Twitter pet peeve at @jrick.

Guest Post: Why Authors Need to Have Chemistry With Their Ghostwriters

by Tim Sanders
This article originally appeared on NetMinds.

Recently I caught up with my longtime friend Glenn Plaskin to talk about why chemistry was the #1 factor an author should consider when selecting a ghostwriter.  He's both an author himself, a syndicated columnist, and seasoned ghostwriter of several bestselling books. While many authors look for credentials or, sadly, price, Glenn suggests they first seek out a personal connection.  

Tim: How did you get started as a ghostwriter?
Glenn: For me, it all started with magazine writing. After 25 years in that business, one of my interview subjects, a celebrity, had liked an article I'd written about him, and asked me to write a book with him. We would talk on tape, I’d formulate a chapter from our interviews, and then we’d go over that material until it was a fully formed chapter, then a fully formed book.

Tim: Talk to me a little bit about why the author/ghostwriter relationship needs to be collaborative. 
Glenn: It’s like going on a blind date except there won’t be any romance—or at least there shouldn’t be! But it is a little like dating someone: there has to be that indefinable click. And is anything more collaborative than dating? You have to feel a rapport, some kind of emotional connection that allows the author of the book to feel comfortable with a ghostwriter, to feel that the ghostwriter understands them, not just intellectually, but emotionally. An author/ghostwriter relationship needs to be harmonious. You’ll be working together in very tight quarters. So things have to be amiable. And having a great sense of humor is key too! I once met with a prospective author for what was scheduled as a 45-minute meeting, and we ended up talking and laughing for three hours! I knew after that our writing relationship would be a successful pairing. And it was. 

Tim: How do you conceptualize the author/ghostwriter relationship? 
Glenn: The author may have a compelling story but may not have the time, skill, or training to write it. The ghostwriter is the conduit. I compare it having a Mercedes: it’s a great car but when you need it serviced, you don’t try to do it yourself, you take it to the dealer. The ghostwriter is the book mechanic, who is best equipped to make the Mercedes run perfectly. The author has the ideas and the content; the ghostwriter has the technical skills to tell the story in the way in needs to be told.

Tim: Let’s put you in the author’s shoes. What should an author look for in a possible ghostwriter? You indicated humor previously. What other factors should the author be looking for in those first two general meetings with a ghostwriter? 
Glenn: Well, the first thing a prospective author should do is check a ghostwriter’s credits. A simple resume check. Google the name, see what comes up. Go to the ghostwriter’s website and see if it’s professional and well maintained. Make sure they’ve been published. Make an effort to call authors the ghostwriter has worked with in the past and ask them how working with that ghostwriter was. There is quite a lot of pre-prep that can be done. 

Tim: And ghostwriters should have their credentials readily available? 
Glenn: Exactly. Once an author has determined the ghostwriter is professional, step two is the meet and greet. Usually the first interaction is conducted over the phone, then the second meeting in person. The very first thing I look for is simple likeability. Do you get along with the person? Would you be their friend in “real life”? Are you impressed with their intelligence? Do they seem to understand what you’re talking about? Did they come prepared? Nothing will impress someone more than knowing something about them. Everyone likes to talk about themselves. Also, is the ghostwriter a good interviewer? Can the ghostwriter fill in the blanks? Are they a good listener? Do they seem to be grasping the verbal cues that you’re giving them and picking up on them and furthering the conversation?

Tim: Do you always ghostwrite subjects that you are well versed in? 
Glenn: Not at all. I met with a pastor once. I really liked the guy, so he passed the likability test, but I didn’t feel connected with the religious subject matter of his book. I didn’t actually have much interest in it. So I turned the project down. A few months later he came back to me and asked me again, and I said yes. I challenged myself. We ended up having a great collaboration. My lack of knowledge of the Bible didn’t hurt the product in any way. I feel that a good ghostwriter can write about anything, especially if they have great chemistry with the author, as I did with the pastor. 

Tim: Can the author cultivate that chemistry? 
Glenn: The author shouldn’t have to. Remember, the ghostwriter is there to make your life easy. They’re servicing your Mercedes. It’s not up to the Mercedes to do the work! The ghostwriter is the one that has to build the relationship and build the trust. 

Tim: As a ghostwriter, can you improve the chemistry with the author? 
Glenn: If by the second date you’re not crazy about the person, you’re really not going to go on any more dates. So I can’t overemphasize the importance of the first telephone and in-person meetings. If the click doesn’t happen after the first two or three interactions, it’s likely that it may not go any further. And maybe that’s as it should be. You can’t improve what never existed. 

Tim: What do you do to sustain strong chemistry over a long project? 
Glenn: Well, for starters, every working relationship needs boundaries. We can’t work in an unorganized vacuum. So it’s up to the two collaborators to decide things like: When are we going to work? How are we going to work? How often are we going to talk? Once these boundaries have been established, a ghostwriter might need to get creative when making sure the author follows them. I once worked with an author and our schedule was a tight one. We needed to finish a chapter every week. The problem was that he wasn’t giving me the information I needed soon enough. So I gently told him, “The train is leaving the station every Monday, one way or the other.” He heard me, and we had zero problems after that. I got the information I needed first thing Monday morning from then on. Writing a book takes discipline on both sides, and that certainly helps the sustained chemistry stay buoyant. The final thing I’ve learned to help keep the chemistry strong is to never responding when angry. In the book-writing process, there will be moments of great tension. There are going to be times when the author is irritated and not in the mood to do his or her part, and there are also going to be times when the ghostwriter may feel annoyed by the client. That’s normal. One thing I practice is that when I’m upset is always the wrong time to discuss it with the client. Instead, talk to a friend, talk to your sister, talk to anybody else, but don’t talk to the client. By practicing this, I hardly ever have arguments with an author. You want to avoid those at all costs. You’ve got to learn to let annoyances go. It’s almost like you have to take a ghostwriter twelve-step program! In order to keep the chemistry going, it’s very important to keep the relationship as harmonious as you can make it. 

Tim is a bestselling author and former Yahoo! executive with a mission to disrupt the traditional publishing and self-publishing industries and share knowledge with authors looking to publish and market high-quality books. Follow him on Twitter at @sanderssays.