Frequently Asked questions

I can be reached by telephone at 615-293-5771 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central. I also check my email from time to time outside those hours (miketowle2013@gmail.com).

Prices for book projects are based on the condition and length of the manuscript (based on word count). If you bundle certain services, you get a discount on the total price. You can ALWAYS find someone cheaper to edit, typeset, proofread, etc. your book, but that usually means you get what you pay for. Editing is much more than just a spellcheck and fixing punctuation. Strong familiarity with Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is essential, and that’s just for starters.

Yes. But there is a charge if this goes beyond about 15 minutes upfront. I charge $100 an hour, billed every quarter of an hour after the first hour. For a long time I didn’t charge for this: I was glad to meet for coffee or talk over the phone with anyone wanting my advice. In recent months, though, on numerous occasions I have spent several hours, or more, talking with an author wannabe and freely offering lots of specific, useful information and suggestions, and then they disappear. No more.

No. I hire highly skilled, third-party designers. That said, I work with the designer in matching the layout to the printer’s template/specs. I also help with the writing, editing and placement of cover and spine copy. In some extreme cases, where an author needs to save a few dollars and just wants a barebones cover, I can do that.

That’s where I help the author construct the basic premise and outline for the book, then I take it from there and write the entire manuscript, subject to their review during the process. The author will need to supply me with extensive notes and then be available for interviews as needed to fill in the blanks and bridge gaps.

No. I don’t ghostwrite fiction – I wouldn’t know where to start. It’s not my story, not my characters. I am available for nonfiction genres such as history, sports and recreation, health and fitness, media subjects, memoirs, biographies, and Christian subjects. If I’m unfamiliar with the subject, I will tell you upfront and not waste your time. One project I turned down a number of years ago was with a well-known professional athlete, and if I said his name, you might understand why I gave it a thumbs-down. I want to be able to sleep at night.

Price is negotiable depending on factors such as expected length of manuscript, extent of resource materials provided by author, author access, etc. Fees range anywhere from $7,500 to $50,000 or more, with at least a third of that upfront. If the book has been contracted with a publisher and there’s an advance involved, my fee is the greater of $15,000 or a third of the advance. Typically, it takes at least four to six months to write a credible book, usually more. I offer no guarantees on whether or not a publisher will buy the book, only that the author will be content with the finished product.

By law, your work is already copyrighted once you have written it and even before you’ve had it printed, sold, etc. If you still want to register your copyrightwith the Library of Congress, I'll help you do it.

Neither. In fact, we are not a publisher. You, as self-publishing author, are the publisher – unless you decide to sell it to a publisher, which of course you are entitled to do. Win-Win will help you with writing a book, editing it, typesetting it, designing the cover/jacket, getting it printed, etc. But we will not put our name on your book; we won’t have you sign over the publishing rights or the copyright; and we won’t ask for a share of future profits. We won’t even make you buy copies of your books back from us with some sort of discount – companies that do that are ripping you off. Win-Win gets you all set up to print, and then you can buy books for yourself at COST.

You submit to me a complete manuscript and I edit it electronically, on computer. I check for basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation start to finish – and that’s just for starters. I look for and fix things such as breaks in the narrative, redundancies, inconsistent voice (first person vs. third person, for example), time elements (such as chronology, verb tenses, etc.), organization of the manuscript and adherence to Chicago Manual of Style. When I’m editing, I work in Word, track my edits and insert margin queries. Once I’m done, I send back to you two versions of the edited manuscript – one is the “tracked” version showing the editing changes in red, and the second a “cleaned” version with all tracked changes saved. The cleaned version is the one you then work off of.

Companies, C-level executives, organizations, etc. (I know, I use “etc.” a lot – sorry, but it serves a purpose) want to write and publish online blogs – commentaries, if you will – that in some way tout their business or organization. They want it to be polished and pleasing to their prospects, clients, customers, employees, etc. Each blog can take hours to research and write, so they hire someone like me to ghostwrite the pieces. This might be once or twice a week, or more in some cases. Blogs should never be one-shot deals, though. They are essential to engaging desired audiences; posting fresh material on a regular basis is pretty much mandated.

Sorry, but I’m not your guy. That is a different profession with a different dynamic. I've done some very limited agenting for clients whom I'm already working as their editor, but that's it. Likewise, I don’t perform sales or substantial marketing services either. What I can do is hook you up with a professional specialist or a hybrid publisher, such as Fitting Words in Hendesonville, Tennessee. Back to your question about agents: I can refer you to several or tell you where to look them up, but keep in mind that securing an agent has become extremely competitive. Agents get swamped with hundreds and even thousands of queries or proposals a month, and they might choose a handful – yes, up to five or so – a month to rep. Remember, they get paid only when they sell your book to a publisher, which is why they are very, very picky.

Certainly, yes, but, again, no guarantees. My standard charge is $2,000 minimum, provided you have at least a thorough outline, a good understanding of your book’s marketing pitch and at least two sample chapters written to be packaged with the proposal. If there is editing to be done on the sample chapters, there will be an extra charge. For a bit more money, I’ll help you get your proposal into the hands of a few agents and/or publishers, at least the publishers that accept unsolicited proposals or nonagented books.

I’m always available and on the lookout for magazine pieces, mostly ones that are about sports, health and fitness, and current events or trends. I also occasionally cover major sporting events held in the Nashville area for newspapers/online entities when they prefer hiring a freelancer to spending five times as much in travel and lodging expenses to send their own writer/reporter.

Yes, more than 20 of them, in fact. All nonfiction.