Build your team according to the type of book you are producing. Every book is different and requires different skills to be brought together.
This is where the 80/20 Principle comes into play.
If you are unfamiliar with this, here is a quick rundown in the context of this discussion.
Here are some specifics we discussed during our time together:
- It’s all about being professional – get the right people for each job. A professional copy-editor, a designer for the cover, especially if you are looking at wider distribution (as we discussed, sales teams for publishers or book distributors often only take the book cover with them when they shop titles into stores).
- When engaging co-creators for your work (such as ghost writers, co-writers, illustrators), seek legal advice to ensure copyright and IP are considered and correctly attributed.
- If you engage someone to help you self-publish (either through a service or a consultant), ensure all rights to your work remain with you. All rights should remain with the author/creator.
- If you have friends and family wanting to help, beta readers can provide valuable feedback for you – be clear about what you want from them.
- When seeking specific feedback that has a big impact on the structure or development of your book, make sure they are either working in your industry (for non-fiction), or know your reader (for fiction).
Next step… Optimisation and Amplification