Magnolia Studio | Portfolio When Being Strong Is Your Only Option: A Survivor's Memoir

Often I hear about first time authors struggling with all the details involved in self-publishing their book. They frequently give up on their quest and hire a publisher or agent to help with all the intricacies involved.

Last spring, a mutual friend mentioned that her lifetime pal, Merica Erato, was in the process of getting her life story published. She had hired a publisher and thought she was on her way. That turned out to be very far from the truth. She was swindled by this company and ended up with a $4,500 debt, and a manuscript that the publisher hadn't copyedited or proofread at all, with a sub-standard cover and an interior design that looks like it was formatted on a manual typewriter. The publisher did nothing but add section headings and upload it to KDPAmazon for sale.

Against all odds, this embarrassment of a "professionally published" book attracted so much attention that sales exploded and it rose to Amazon's "#1 New Release" status garnering many 5-star reviews. [ … Read More ]

In our first consultation I was very candid about how inferior the previous publisher's cover and design were, and I pointed out the multitude of proofeading errors on just the first several pages. Following my suggestion she agreed that we would redesign her book cover together with her chosen stock photo. Next, I copyedited and proofread the manuscript and created a new layout with a classic design style and lots of family photos. This updated memoir included transcriptions of interview with her and her family members and friends. These interviews were then pieced together chronologically and edited for sense, along with changing names to protect the innocent and the guilty.

Once the copyediting, proofreading and design process was complete, I produced a self-published, 198-page, 5.5x8.5 inch, perfect-bound volume and Kindle E-book version which I uploaded to KDPAmazon's online publishing service. It is available online: Buy on Amazon!

The downside of producing a totally new book with a more appropriate title and its own ISBN number was that her book lost its #1 status at Amazon.

I also designed a professional business card using the book cover art and her company logo to assist Merica with promoting her book signings at bookstores and libraries. [ Read Less ]