The 3 Most Important Publishing People for Any Author

I’ve seen a lot of confusion online about who does what in traditional publishing.

So today I’m going to define the three most important roles that my clients encounter on the path to a book deal.

Please remember that these roles only pertain to folks who are writing nonfiction how-to books, since that’s what I do. (If you’re writing something else like fiction, memoir, or a children’s book — your results and experience WILL vary.)

Person #1 — Independent Editor / Collaborator / Ghostwriter / Publishing Expert

This is me. I am all of these things and do all of these tasks on an average day at work.

Like any unregulated industry, these roles often vary person to person because there’s no universally accepted definition of what these titles mean.

But in general — these folks work for themselves or an independent company — NOT a publisher — and charge you money in exchange for helping with your work.

What they do for you also varies a lot so hiring anyone in this category, including me, is a buyer-beware situation.

Personally, my team and I edit, collaborate on, and ghostwrite book proposals and manuscripts.