Everyone
is a Publishing Consultant/Professional … really?

Years ago, I was a financial planner … before financial
planning was a profession. Starting as stock broker with EF Hutton, I learned
that savvy investors did something besides buy and sell stocks and bonds. An
early bird in the CFP arena (Certified Financial Planner), I eventually left Hutton
to start my own company, where I specialized in overall financial planning.
Then a national study was done on up-and-coming professions … and being a
Financial Planner (now with caps!) was at the top of the list. In fact, the
fellow who headed up the study was so impressed with the results that he quit his
day job and became a Financial Planner.

Fast forward to today. I’ve been coaching and shepherding
authors for almost 20 years now. But it wasn’t until last year that I formally
tossed in the day-job towel and embraced Book Shepherding full-time.

Ironically, I’m now hearing more and more people saying
that they are publishing consultants. With the explosion in the self-publishing
fields, it seems as though everyone and their distant cousin is laying claim to
being an expert. But are they, really?

The answer is a resounding NO. Someone who wrote a book a
year ago is not an expert—or even ten years ago if that’s their solo effort.
Sure, lessons have been learned throughout the process. Usually, those lessons
are one-dimensional, their own experiences. They haven’t walked the paths of
others that, guaranteed, deliver a variety of twists and turns.

In financial planning, I always warned clients to never,
never, never trust someone with their
money unless that person had been in the “business” for a minimum of five
years, be it stocks, annuities, insurance, real estate, commodities,
fill-in-the-blank. Why? You want them to make their learning curve mistakes
with others … and their money, not yours. Most people in
the “advising” professions don’t survive—80 percent drop out the first year and
another 10 percent the next. That’s why I’ve always recommended the five-year
mark. There’s a reason they are still there.

The same principle holds true in publishing. You want to
work only with someone who knows the path, has worked the journey, has survived
through the maze of obstacles and detours that surface. This applies to a
printer, publisher, designer, coach or consultant, or anyone else in the book
business. Are there new entries into the field? Absolutely! Just think of the
electronic publishing world. Even with that, eBooks are not new … they’ve been
around for many years. It’s just now that the world is paying attention.

Don’t get suckered in to someone’s siren call to you. The
odds are that they don’t have the depth and moxie to get you through the ups
and downs that are sure to come your way. Never, never, never trust someone with your publishing issues unless they’ve been
in the business for a minimum of five years.

 

Judith
Briles
is known as The Book Shepherd (www.TheBookShepherd.com) and the Founder of
Author U (niversity (www.AuthorU.org), a membership
organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously
successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing
since the 80s. She’s the author of 28 books including Show Me About Book Publishing, co-written with John Kremer and Rick
Frishman and a speaker at publishing conferences. Follow
@AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” AuthorU and
TheBookShepherd on Facebook. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact
her at Judith@Briles.com.

  If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching … call in to Judith’s Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 … have your questions ready–there’s a full hour to ask and listen.