Why Publish With How2Conquer?

We get excited about the smell of bookstores and discovering a new book on the shelf, and learning about a new manuscript is no different. After reviewing your submission, if we feel your project is a good fit for us, we send you our initial feedback and a contract offer.

During this stage, we get to know you and your book and catch your enthusiasm for the subject. We invite you (our new author!) to a project kick off meeting to make sure we’re all on the same page about project goals, the editorial plan, and our schedule. We’ll also setup your logins for our collaboration tools, such as Slack, to facilitate communication and file sharing.

After you’ve reviewed our initial feedback, you let us know if you’d like to implement the edits or have us make changes. If we’ve discussed additional content, changes to structure, or if you still need to finish writing the book, this the time where you’ll do so.

Once we receive your author photos and Author Questionnaire response, initial marketing begins.

As one of our new authors, you’ll receive our Marketing: A Guide for Authors booklet to help spark ideas for platform development and ways to promote your book.

At the beginning of this phase, we’ll start defining our initial marketing plan using your answers from our Author Questionnaire. This form collects as much information as we can about you and your experience – from your elevator pitch to what inspired you to start writing – and helps us better support and market your book.

We’ll also research comparative titles, consider primary and secondary audiences, and help you refine your author biography. On our website and social media, we’ll announce your forthcoming book.

This phase starts when we receive your full manuscript, incorporating any edits and new content you’ve written since our initial review. At this stage, we are plotting a course for your book. We review your manuscript, considering grammar, structure, and tone, as well as any other developmental work that may need to be done.

This is when we really start to get down into the weeds of the project. We settle in and review your book in its entirety, wherever we are. (And we’ve edited in a lot of places – from comfy chairs to transcontinental flights to British trains.) Taking into account the changes made after our initial feedback, we look at the structure again, considering any restructuring that may need to be done or ideas that could be expanded. We copyedit and proofread, checking grammar and polishing as needed.

At the end of this phase, we start our final reviews and approve the book content for production.

Our design phase actually occurs alongside the first three phases of our project schedule, starting as soon as we receive your author photos. This is so we can adjust and develop our illustrations plan as we move the book content through our editing process.

With your author photos, our fantastic illustrator creates a cartooned image of you, which we’ll use in the book and marketing. (See the Authors page on our website for examples of previous author graphics.)

We’ll also develop the cover design, illustrations, and infographics for your book. At the end of this phase, we complete final reviews and approve all design elements for production.

Now we start shaping your book into the final product, pulling together all the pieces we’ve been working on. We add the content and imagery into layout and perform a final review of the digital proof, before setting up a time with you to discuss the marketing plan and your early reviewers.

Next, you’ll see what your book will look like once it’s in print! We’ll send you the page proofs to approve for publication.

While we wait for the print proof, we’ll perform final checks and optimize the ebook. With the digital proof, you’ll be able to start recording the audiobook – a very popular format with nonfiction readers.

Most trade reviews require books to be submitted for review at least 3-4 months before release, so this phase tucks in nicely with the time you’ll spend recording the audiobook. Meanwhile, our marketing plan kicks off in earnest as we make Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) available, set up pre-orders, connect with marketing partners, and start posting pre-launch ads.

During this time, we’ll also begin creating marketing collateral and other digital assets to promote the book, which we’ll share with you via Dropbox for your marketing efforts. We’ll finalize metadata, review retail page information, schedule marketing content, and finish wrapping up other details that ensure your book is ready for launch.

Then we start shouting about your book on social media. With your author and book pages going up on our website, how could we not?

Your book is going out into the world now! After approving the print proof, the initial print run is on its way to us. We finalize any launch event details, and then it’s here – the official publication date!

Your book becomes available from our website and a number of bookstores and retail sites, including Barnes & Noble, Powell’s Books, IndieBound, Amazon, and more!