Sept 2009
Announcing a new service at MPC: The Publishing Roadmap for Your Book

We will review your non-fiction project and assess your outline, proposal and/or manuscript and provide a roadmap for what to do next. Here are the critical questions we will answer:

*How would a publisher rate your project on a scale of one to ten based on what you have presented to us?
*How clearly is your book presented?
*What is the best editorial course for your book?
*How do you present yourself as an Author? What could you do better?
*How close are you to a complete and potentially successful proposal?
*What elements of your project, if any, are missing?
*What is the logical publishing home for your book?
*What is the market potential for your project?
*How would your project be served better with agency representation?
*Which Canadian or American publishers should you target - and who are the key decision makers at those companies?
*What self-publishing options could work for your project? What are the risks/rewards of self-publishing? What are the best formats for self-publishing your style of book, and how can they be executed?

We will deliver to you a customized Publishing Roadmap report that will save you weeks of wasted effort, create a logical workflow and put you immediately on track toward successfully publishing your book.

For more information contact us at: queries@mackwoodpublishingconsultants.com

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Many people ask why we have set up a publishing consultancy division.

Two reasons: From the large volume of e-mail, paper queries and from meeting many non-fiction writers, I find most new authors really need the most help a the very beginning of their projects. That is to say help in putting projects together long before approaching anyone in the publishing business. Sometimes there is no real proposal there at all, or it needs help defining the market, positioning the book, but often times - people just need to find someone in the publishing business to help them get on track - to find the right track. So this new service, I hope, will help those people accurately and meanfully present their book project. We have all the resources to help you deliver the best book possible.

Second reason is to help authors explore one of the few growth areas of book publishing: self-publishing. There are many new and good quality self-publishing companies available through the internet and with the advent of print-on-demand - where you only need to print the copies you need - it is easier than ever to get your book into your hands quickly and cheaply. It's an exciting option for many. However a word of caution: there is an old axiom in the publishing business that holds true today: it is easy to get into publishing but difficult to get out. It is easy to print and publish a book but a well thought out and executed plan about what to do with and where to put those copies needs to be formulated. The many stories about a garage full of unsold books by an overly exuberant self-published author can still apply in this present day.

Do send us an e-mail with any questions about the publishing business and if we might be able to help.

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Robert Mackwood