Finally, the manuscript is finished!

Well, not really.

I finished the first draft of Daughter of the Deepwood, and it's now in the editor's hands. She should complete editing within two weeks, at which time I'll revise, revise, revise. Following revision, I'll format the manuscript. Then the book will go up on Amazon.

I've worked with several clients new to the book writing process, one for whom I'm writing a sort of biography. Except it's not really a biography. Last week I completed the first chapter and sent it to him for review and feedback, because nothing's correct on the first try. In my message notifying him that the chapter was ready for review, I included the caution that writing a book is a messy process.

I think that surprised him a little. However, I wasn't joking. Writing really is a messy process. That coincides with the task of bringing new clients on board, which in January and the first half of February didn't go all that well.

Being a participant in an entrepreneurial mastermind group, I brought up the "onboarding" issues challenging me and received some advice along with some comments that some of these clients didn't understand the whole ghostwriting or editing process. I don't necessarily expect them to: I'm the seasoned expert and they're the newbies.

Acting upon the group's suggestions, I created some online questionnaires with qualifying questions. The answers should provide the information I need to calculate a fee. I also created two hiring guides, facetiously titled "Everything You Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask about Hiring..." an editor or ghostwriter. The guides offer a quick overview of the process, a range of fees, and what the service entails.

We'll see how that works out.