One of my clients is in the process of republishing a book, publishing a new book and co-authoring another book. I in no way claim to be an authority on assisting authors but I am picking up some interesting information as I go through the process with her.
Deadline
Help your client organize the information. Contracts and deadlines are a tricky business and if even a small detail is missed you are behind the game. Make everything is put in the calendar so that deadlines are clearly understood.
TIP Sheet
Now this was my first experience working with a TIP Sheet. TIP stands for Title Information Page. You definitely need a wealth of information to be able to organize this information efficiently. Here is a list of information you might need.
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Title
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Subtitle
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Tagline
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Author Name, Website and Social Media site information
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Specs such as word and page count
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BISAC Category
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Agent’s Name, Phone & Email
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Handle or brief description of mission statement
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Description of the book
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Selling points including reader benefits and features of the book
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Potential Foreword Contributors
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Promotional activities
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Author bio
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Author’s prior sales including book name, ISBN number, publisher, format, price, etc.
This process will go much faster if all of this information can be organized and obtained beforehand.
Author Bio
Make sure a well edited bio is available for the author with a good head shot. Check to see if there is any limit on the word count. This bio is a reflection on the author and if it is poorly written or edited it may damage their ability to find a good agent or publisher.
Social Media
Helping the author setup profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook that are sharp and accurate is a great way to help them publicize their writing. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and all links work. Make it visually appealing to potential readers. Feed snippets of info leading up to the release of the book to help build up momentum.
There are certainly more ways to help like helping them find art work, letting them know if something doesn’t make sense. I was proofing something and kept reading it over and over again thinking to myself “what are they talking about”. Let the author know if you don’t understand something. That helps them know that someone else make ask the same exact question.
If you have a suggestion on how a VA can help an author, please feel free to add it in the comment section below!
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