Edward DuCoin's Blog: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) About Our Collaborative Book

Book Project – “The Strangers I Know”

FAQ’s
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QUESTION: How did you come up with the idea for the collaborative book “The Strangers I Know”?

ANSWER: In the past few months, I have been thinking quite a bit about social media. I have over 2,000 connections on LinkedIn, however, if I was walking down the street or sitting in a coffee shop, how many of these contacts would I know? All of this “social media buzz” in my head is the reason I am inviting connections to participate in this book project. This is a timely book that I strongly believe will be well received in the market.

QUESTION: What is the flow of the book? How will the stories be shared?

ANSWER: The book: “The Strangers I Know” will focus on you. It will review what is learned about you and how this interaction affected other participants. The book will review hundreds of interactions and prove the real power of social media: knowing your contacts and really making the effort to know them.

QUESTION: Why should I do this?

ANSWER: This will be a wonderful, long-lasting marketing and sales tool. You will be able to announce forever you are a published author. You can send books to prospects, offer as gifts for customers, use as a recruitment tool for new employees and add to your bio / resume.

Plus the connections your will make from the other participants should yield new introductions and sales.

QUESTION: Is the cover design complete?

ANSWER: Not yet. All participants will be listed on the cover – after all – this is a collaborative book.

QUESTION: How will the book be promoted?

ANSWER: We will be developing significant publicity. Our goal is you will be able to brag that you contributed to a best seller. We will use social media, public relations and the power of the participants’ connections.

QUESTION: I am not a great writer / do I need to write?

ANSWER: No writing is expected of you. You will be interviewed several times where we will learn more about you and how you are growing your business while utilizing LinkedIn and other social media.

QUESTION: What contact information can I share?

ANSWER: You will be able to share your contact information (whatever you care to share) so this will be a wonderful marketing tool for you. People who are intrigued by your story will want to contact you. We will make it easy for them to reach your website and/or any other form of communication you want to share.

QUESTION: Why $475 – sounds cheap? AND Why $475 – sounds expensive?

ANSWER: Collaborative books are not new. I participated in one about 10 years ago that was, in fact, a best seller. It cost me $4,000 and I was one of about 80 participants. In doing research for this project, it seems that collaborative book projects cost each participants (typically) $2,500 to $10,000.

I believe “The Strangers I Know” will be a great story but I did not want to charge, what I believe is, an outrageous amount. I determined this full project could be done for far less. It seems to me in the above-mentioned collaborative books, someone was making out very well financially.

The project budget is as follows:

Budget	Per Participant	Total Project
Interviews / Writer	$200.00	$23,000
Copy Editing	$28.26	$3,250
Cover Design	$4.35	$500
Formatting - Print	$6.52	$750
Formatting - Digital	$6.52	$750
ISBN	$3.48	$400
Public Relations / Promotion	$60.87	$7,000
Printing - Initial Run - 2000	$121.74	$14,000
Distribution	$7.83	$900
Administration/Mailing Expense	$34.78	$4,000
Total	$474.35	$54,550

It is $475 with 115 participants. Many of the costs are proportionate to the number of people. I believe the project will be a green-lit if we have 25 + participants. If you elect to participate, you will receive 15 copies of the book and you will be able to order additional copies at cost – approximately $7.00 each. The book will sell for approximately $15.95.

QUESTION: How will you communicate the progress?

ANSWER: We will have a special “invite-only” LinkedIn group along with a monthly conference call and updates sent via email.

QUESTION: How much money are you going to make? Who gets the profits?

ANSWER: There are zero profits. The book distributors will make all the funds from posting with Amazon etc. IF there is ANY profit, it will be equally divided by the participants. The reason to participate is to promote yourself and your product/service. It is also a great resume builder and creditability builder.

QUESTION: How do I pay?

ANSWER: The total is $475. It will be in 3 payments – (online) of:

• $175 initial payment – to get the ball rolling.

• $150 in 30 days

• $150 in 60 days

QUESTION: Will the book be on Amazon etc.?

ANSWER: The books will be distributed on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks and Kobo. We will have paperback and eBook (Kindle) editions. There will not be a hardback edition. We are shooting for a July 2014 release.