Publishing in 2014 is not at all like publishing in 2000, or even in 2010. Things are changing quickly, and it's left a lot of people confused.
I CAN HELP IF:
- You want to self-publish and want the process demystified and clearly laid out
- You want to learn how to get a professional quality book without dealing with a traditional publisher
- You're going to take a traditional publishing deal, but you want to make sure your publisher doesn't screw everything up
- You're launching a book and want advice on helping it reach as many people as possible
ADVICE FOR A SUCCESSFUL CALL:
- Have a clear goal for what you hope to get out of the call
- Have specific questions ready
- Record our discussion for future reference
Basically, the question is this: Are people reading the book for your writing, or for your ideas?
If it's for your writing (say, if you're a fiction author) then you should probably write it yourself. It'd be disingenuous not to.
If they're interested in your ideas (which is the case with most Kindle non-fiction books), then what's important is that your ideas aren't lost. That doesn't mean ghostwriting is fine, only that you need to find an efficient way to get your ideas out without wasting your time writing.
Basically, the process I use is to outline the book myself, sit down with a microphone, and talk through the entire book (basically recording a really rough draft of the audiobook straight from the outline). Then I transcribe it, and then hire a "writer" to work from the transcription to the finished text. That way it's high quality and maintains my ideas, but I don't have to do all the work of typing.
I wrote a book that breaks down the process in a bit more detail (especially the process of outlining, how to record effectively, how to find that editor, etc.), but basically what I said above is all you really need to know.
Here's the link if you want to check it out: www.amazon.com/Book-Box-Method-Quickly-Easily-ebook/dp/B014EUTYGM/
Whether or not a business works comes down to two things: (1) are there customers who want the value you provide and (2) is the amount they are willing to pay for that value more than the cost of you providing it?
This hasn't changed in the history of business. What has changed is how easy it is for you to test these two things.
Fear of "failure" often restricts us to judging whether an opportunity will work out in our heads. This is silly. The world is our laboratory.
So, the answer: find a way to develop the idea into the cheapest, easiest possible test to determine whether this is the case. Then go out there and do it. If it fails, great. If it succeeds, even greater. The goal is to use the market to determine whether you have a real business idea on your hands, or just some fantasy you've made up.