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How hard is it to create an ELP book? Not as hard as you might think. The following steps describe the process for creating a book for a local organization (such as a school). Obviously, the steps for creating other types of books may vary slightly. And even more obviously, the suggested times for completion (which are included in parenthesis) are intended as 

Step 1: Enlisting the Support of Decision-makers: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (Confucius), and the sale of a thousand books begins with a single sales call (Criswell). The most important call a Publishing Partner can make is the call to the local decision maker who can endorse the creation of a book. Those decision makers include, but most certainly are not limited to: coaches, band directors, principals, PTO leaders, and local civic leaders. Total suggested time to complete: 2 hours  (1 hour to arrange appointment, 1 hour for the sales presentation with the decision maker). 

Step 2. Gathering Information: Once a book has been okayed by a local decision-maker, it's time to gather information and photographs. Rest assured that decision makers will have access to plenty of both. For large numbers of interviewees, use questionnaires. Total suggested time to complete: 4 hours (1 hour to interview decision maker, 3 hours to create and duplicate, distribute, and collect questionnaires).

Step 2A. Selling Advertising: If you're interested in making your publishing projects more profitable, you'll discover you'll sell advertising. To do so, you can either: 1. Sell ads yourself and keep all of the proceeds above $10 per page (ELP's current charge for a page of advertising) or  2. Enlist the assistance of an organization's built-in sales force (a high school band, for example). If you enlist an organization's sales force, you'll probably need to share advertising revenues on a 50/50 basis (and you'll still owe ELP $10 per page), but you'll stand a good chance of generating significantly more revenue this way. Total suggested time to complete: variable (but if you're making less than $100 per hour selling advertisements, you're probably not doing it right).

Step 3. Organizing Local Content and Adding Text: Here's where you may want to hire a typist (especially if you can't type!). All text must be submitted to ELP in Microsoft Word document, so somebody needs to type in the information that you've collected. Plus, you'll need to create a few readable paragraphs of introduction and / or summary. But remember this: you're not writing War and Peace (Tolstoy beat you to it), so concentrate more on recounting the words of your interviewees and less on the words that come out of your own head. And while you're submitting text, don't forget the advertising copy, if any. Total suggested time to complete: 8 hours.

Step 4. Submitting Information to ELP: (Total suggested time to complete: 1 hour) Here's what we need:

Text as it will be printed, in Microsoft Word document (you can e-mail this to elpart@comcast.net )

Photographs: We'll scan them, but if someone else has not already done so, you should clearly write on the back of the photo who is in the picture (write in pencil, please); if you want the photos back, include a stamped envelope containing the address where the photos should be sent). For advice about creating and selecting better photos, click here.

Step 5. Proofreading: After we've typeset the text and inserted the photographs, somebody needs to read the local content (usually, this content will be approximately 40 pages in length). You'll need to tell us where to mail this content for final proofing (you may want it returned to you, or you may want it sent to a school). Corrections, if any, should be e-mailed to elpart@comcast.net (Total suggested time to complete: 1 hour).

Step 6. Initial Printing and Sales: Now it's time to decide how many books you want to order. If you think you'll sell 500 books, it's probably smart to order 250, because you can always reorder more books later. When the books arrive at your doorstep, it's then time to sell the books and collect the money. If your book is being sold to an organization, we suggest that you pick a convenient time with the powers that be and set up a place to sell books (Total suggested time to complete: 4 hours).

Step 6A. Subsequent Print Runs, if Necessary: Since you (hopefully) ordered fewer books than you needed in Step 6, it's now time to order more books and collect more money (Total suggested time to complete: 3 hours). 

Step 7. Final Accounting: Now that your book has been successful and you've collected buckets-full of cash, it's finally time to settle up. You'll receive two invoices via e-mail: one from the printer (directly) and one from ELP for its services. Please pay those invoices promptly and keep the rest (Total suggested time for final accounting: 1 hour).