Why co-author?

Why Co-Author? Well, let me tell you a little more about publishing.

When you think about writing a book and becoming a published author, you're probably picturing the media's representation of the traditional publishing route:

Think Carrie Bradshaw snagging her book deal, having meetings in her swanky Boutique Publishing House in Manhattan, and getting $25,000 book advances.

The thing is, that route still exists. It's still possible to get a book deal with mid-high level traditional Publishing Houses. It's not impossible. They're just usually reserved for traditionally famous people, with massive reach and exposure.

Remember, Carrie Bradshaw (though fictional) was relatively well-known in New York as a newspaper columnist (...called "Sex And The City" 🤣), her first book was a collection of her previously written columns, and she had some clout as a mid-level "celebrity" status freelancer, even before blogs, YouTube and social media made people "famous".

Traditional Publishing was THE ONLY way, for a very long time. And it isn't going anywhere.

Technology has changed, and some amazing advances have been developed for writers who are willing to put in their time, effort, and money in order to stick it to traditional publishing and become independent (and independently funded) authors.

Enter: Self-Publishing.

With this new option, those who had been rejected by traditional publishing houses could simply publish their own manuscript.

But... book production costs money.

I'm not just talking about the printing of the actual COPIES of the book, either.

I'm talking about CREATING the actual book that you wind up holding in your hands.

Things like multiple stage editing ($$$$),
cover design ($$$),
art direction ($$$),
interior layout ($$$),
typesetting ($$$),
marketing efforts ($$)...
and a multitude of variable costs that come up from delays, changes, technology issues, and more.

Self-Publishing is controlled by the author, and usually fully funded by the author.

To put together a good-quality book, you're looking at an investment of anywhere between $5000 - $10,000, or more. There are a lot of costs that go into publishing.

You're also responsible for finding the time and creativity required for actually writing the entire book (50,000 words or more) - which is more difficult than you might think. It's not as easy as fingers on a keyboard and *VOILA*, a book appears. It's actually quite a challenge.

I think the idea that it costs money to become an author comes as a surprise to some, because if you've only ever known the traditional publishing route, you're used to hearing that publishing companies PAY THE AUTHOR for their work.

That's true, they do. But they also recoup that initial investment back via book sales and the author doesn't generally make money until the "advance" is paid back. They also fully own your intellectual property. They also make all the decisions about style, cover, and content. They also usually get about 6-10% in royalties, vs. 60-70% with self-publishing.

(Example: if you're paid a $25,000 book advance, you don't make royalties until the book is on sale, and makes $25,000, and the publishing company retrieves that amount. Then, they take a percentage of your royalties forever. So you get money in advance *woo hoo!* but then you may not make money again until the book makes that much money.)

(I don’t hate traditional publishing; it is a viable option and should that opportunity arise for you, it could be the perfect fit!)

If you don't have the time, energy, or financial backing required to spend $5000-$10,000 and publish your OWN book, there's a way you can do it for a fraction of the time, energy, and money. It's also a lot of fun, highly rewarding, personal-growth focused, and virtually hands-free.

It's Co-Authoring.

The investment is fixed, and substantially less than what you'd need to publish your own book.

Yes, there is still an investment, and that goes in part towards the aforementioned publishing costs required (which can be MORE than mentioned above, because a collaborative book has multiple authors with multiple writing abilities and the editing costs are always higher).

But your investment also goes towards the time, experience, commitment and energy of a real human being hosting the program, facilitating the group environment, compensating the Lead Author, spending 9-12 months orchestrating all moving parts, and fulfilling all processes required to take everybody's chapters from word document to published paperback.

That time and energy is a SERVICE and it's provided for you at a COST. You will have the opportunity to make back some or all of your investment, if you choose to... but the investment you're making is mostly for the production of the book from start to finish.

Lastly, let's be real - you're also paying for the convenience of doing it this way.

You have two commitments: write your chapter, and participate in the author team community. That's basically it. You don't have to lift a finger doing anything else on the road to becoming a published author. Publishing costs money and it's also a learned skill that improves with experience and that's something valuable and worth paying someone else to do for you. You even get support, guidance, and training during the writing phase, which you don't get (without paying for it) when writing your own book.

There are pros and cons to co-authoring. Let me clear one thing up before you go: no, you will not have rights to the published work or revenue/profits on Amazon as a co-author, and in order to generate a revenue stream from a collaborative project, you are responsible for leading your own sales campaigns (selling books at retail price, and purchasing inventory at wholesale cost - just like any other product).

You CAN make money by adding your book to your existing business, or creating a business around the book. But it is UP TO YOU to take that seriously. It's possible; it's not guaranteed. Your results will reflect your efforts, just like everything else in life. If you don't want to sell books, that's your prerogative. Some co-authors simply want to get their words in print and are satisfied with holding a book THEY WROTE in their hands. They don’t care about selling and just want a copy on their shelf or for their family/friends.

You can create a revenue stream by selling books direct to customer (and make a far higher profit margin anyway!) But if you want to create a revenue stream with Amazon directly, and reap the benefits of that system, you need to write your own book and be the solo author of it. Which, as mentioned, requires a lot more time, energy, and money.

Do-able, but a few more roadblocks exist there.

Many co-authors make back a large percentage of their investment during our initial "pre-order" campaign, before the book is available on Amazon. Some have made back their entire investment. Some do not put in any effort and make back $0 - but they don't care because they simply wanted to invest in themselves and crush a long-standing goal: become an author.

Ultimately, you decide if co-authoring is something you want to pursue. It's not for everyone, but if it's for you, I promise you we'll have a FREAKING BLAST working together in the process.

Apply to an open project today if you’re interested!