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Self-Publishing Guidance Plan
Write your book blurb for Amazon, the back cover, and any other promotional places.
Ensure your back cover content looks strong + work with your designer and/or formatter for consistency and quality.
Set a release date.
Review your website to ensure it’s ready for launch.
Research the best prices for your book as well as the best Amazon keywords and categories for your genre. This is also a good opportunity to check out the competition.
Set up ISBN (and barcode if needed; sometimes, your designer does this for you).
Set up your book on Amazon KDP for e-book and paperback editions. Set up hardcover for IngramSpark. Set up ebook through Draft2Digital if you want to go wide.
Update Amazon Author Central account and request additional categories.
Order a proof copy of your book from Amazon KDP and/or IngramSpark to approve before publication.
Set up book promotion newsletters for your launch (Book Gorilla, Many Books, The Fussy Librarian, Bargain Booksy, etc.).
Act as your support team! When Amazon is taking too long to get things done, I'm on the phone with them so you don’t have to be.
Includes a shared Google doc, unlimited emails, how-to videos, and two 1-hour consults via Zoom. We can discuss social media incorporation on these calls as well.
Investment: $2,000
"My consulting call with Shayla was fantastic, and not only did she give me fresh ideas, she even sent me an action plan after the call. It's only been a few hours, but I've already seen a spike in book reviews! Shayla truly goes above and beyond. You'll want to start working with her ASAP!"
—#1 Best-selling International Author Angela J. Ford, The Four Worlds Series
Web Design with
MailChimp Email Newsletter Setup
Squarespace setup + template (this means I'm building a skeleton for you to approve, and then I will start filling in all the blanks with content)
Migrate any old blog posts (e.g., WordPress) to Squarespace website if necessary
Create menu titles and pages (homepage, contact, blog, books, about, speaking, etc.)
Edit any web content and offer suggestions on content to ensure your voice is clear
MailChimp account setup and walkthrough for email newsletters
Graphics selected and installed according to your brand preferences
E-commerce setup so you can sell your books
Domain and domain email address setup — your domain is free with Squarespace and the domain email address is free for the first year
Mobile-friendly test
Includes backup of all content, SSL setup, Google verification, site map
Finalize with a ready-to-publish website
2 coaching calls to help you understand how your website and MailChimp works
How-to videos
Time: 1 month of design/finalizing + 1 month of tech support should anything go wrong
Investment: $2,000 (or $1,500 without MailChimp setup)
"Where do I begin? Shayla was a major component in the success of my book, Dishonor. Her hands-on approach made me feel comfortable as a first-time author. With all the things I did not know, Shayla had an answer. There were valuable how-to resources, videos, and personal coaching all available as part of the service she provided. She worked above and beyond to get my book production completed in record time. Shayla hosted my book launch party and provided me with all the tools necessary to ensure its success. From start to finish, Shayla has everything you need, including experience."
—Best-selling Author David Mike, Dishonor: One Soldier's Journey from Desertion to Redemption
Writing Mentorship Option 1
I have two package possibilities for writing mentorships below, and I can always tailor them more to your needs. My goal with a writing mentorship is to 1) help you become confident in your writing, 2) uncover your strengths and weaknesses, and 3) guide you toward writing a book you can be proud of.
OPTION 1:
Timeline: 3 months
Detailed critique and evaluation of your current manuscript noting the big-pictures edits to focus on
Outline of your manuscript to follow so you have a structured book
Help you flesh out chapters that need it, or cut the fat
Identify all of your strengths and challenges and provide solutions to the latter
Help you sharpen and strengthen your prose for three months
Work with you on the craft of storytelling (yes, even for nonfiction writers!)
Collaborate with you in a mentoring capacity as you revise your manuscript
6 one-on-one Skype or Zoom consults to address your concerns, go over your edits, and teach you about specific topics
Recommended reading + biweekly homework to enhance your writing skills as it pertains to your book and its genre
I read, revise, and approve your work while teaching (I do not, however, copyedit like I would for other clients. Our goal is to focus on content, not necessarily mechanics)
Investment: Starting at $4,500 — This will depend on your word count
"Deciding to work with Shayla and her team was the best decision I could have made for my book. Shayla is knowledgeable, prompt, and professional, and was more than willing to answer all my questions! I had a very specific idea of what I wanted the book to look like, and Shayla was able to find the right people to make my vision a reality. The final product is gorgeous and exceeded all my expectations. Working with Shayla was a very collaborative experience, and she’s a solution-oriented problem solver. I would work with her again in a heartbeat and hope to have more projects to send her way in the future!"
—Jessica Minyard, The Littlest Dragon
Writing Mentorship Option 2
OPTION 2:
Timeline: 1 month
Detailed critique of your current manuscript noting the big-picture edits for you to concentrate on
Identify your main strengths and challenges and provide solutions to the latter
2 one-on-one Skype or Zoom consults to address your concerns and suggest specific resources and books that will help you (for example, if you need help with dialogue the most, we'd spend our time concentrating on that)
Includes critique checklist to ensure you remember everything and can apply what you've learned
Investment: Starting at $2,000 — This will depend on your word count
If you don't have a manuscript yet and want to start from scratch, then we would do things differently. We'd actually be doing something I like to call "Write from the Beginning." We would create an outline together, flesh out the story, and write your very first draft. This includes the same elements you see in the writing mentorship except that we're starting from the beginning. This is a different price and depends on the word count you'd like to hit, which we can discuss.
“Shayla provided exactly what I was hoping for. In addition to basic typos and grammar, she found things that made sense to me but not to the reader, who hasn’t thought about the story for hours and hours. Even better, she gave me her perspective on the strength of the story, and she offered encouragement as well. ”
—Bill McCurry, Death’s Collector Series
Amazon Level-Up Service
Offer feedback on the blurb to ensure it's enticing readers to buy.
Set up your Amazon Author Central account so your bio, headshot, links, tweets, and blog show up on Amazon. (A lot is accomplished in AAC.)
Research the 10 best categories for your book for your approval; contact Amazon Author Central to get you 8 extra categories (since KDP only allows 2 during setup). I can do this for the e-book and for print.
Add content via AAC to the Editorial Reviews and From the Author sections. (You can do interviews, Amazon reviews that are already published, excerpts, and more—all of which act as keywords.)
Review your 7 Amazon keywords to ensure they're the best ones for your genre and story. We need to find what people are searching for in relation to your genre.
Set up Draft2Digital so you can go wide and get on more platforms with your e-book (Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, and more). If you're already wide, or if you're enrolled in KDP Select, please let me know.
Set up book promotion newsletters with you to get way better rankings, sales, and future reviews. I will stack these during one week for the best results.
Investment: $300