Early in my career in publishing, I started a small press called Columbus Press. The first book we ever produced was Seven in a Jeep by Ed Gaydos.

Ed originally hired me as a developmental editor. He wanted me to help him improve his manuscript before he sent it out to agents and publishers.

I did the job he asked. We improved the story structure, the descriptions, and cut unnecessary stuff from the manuscript.

I really enjoyed working with Ed so much and I loved his story. There was something very genuine about Ed and that authenticity came through in his book as well. I’d been toying with the idea of launching a small press for a while, so I floated the idea by him that I could publish his book. He agreed!

We hired a cover designer, a copy editor, and a publicist. Ed was great to work with through the whole process.

I learned a lot with that book. One of the things that struck me hardest at the time was that we produced a first-class book, and it really wasn’t that expensive.

Keep in mind that this was 2012-13, but we spent a couple of thousand bucks and we produced a title that belonged on the shelf with books coming out of the world’s biggest publishers like Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. The production quality was as good as anything at Barnes & Noble.

I couldn’t help but wonder: why are so many self-published books so poorly produced when you can produce an exceptional book with such a small investment?

Why wasn’t self-publishing better?

I learned that part of the problem was education. Many writers didn’t (and still don’t) understand that while writing is an art, publishing is a business. Like any business, publishing well requires investment. No matter how good the art is, to effectively distribute that art into the world, the published product has to match the market and the infrastructure has to be in place to get into reader’s hands.

A bigger problem was bad actors. The biggest “self-publishing companies” and vanity presses were charging astronomical prices and producing crap. All of the covers looked the same, the books were poorly edited and designed. And they trapped self-publishing authors into distribution mechanisms that made it nearly impossible to make any money. Imagine spending $10,000 to have your book edited and designed, but then only making pennies for each book you sell. How could anyone make money that way?!

Self-publishers were right to avoid those companies. You’re guaranteed to lose.

So like any decent business person, I solved it.

A new solution for authors

If I could produce an amazing book for less than $2,000, why couldn’t I charge just a little bit more than that to account for my time, and give self-publishers access to the same professionals that I was working with? So I started a company called Columbus Publishing Lab that did exactly that.

To fix the education issue, I published a short book, practically a pamphlet, called The Self-Publishing Handbook. (You can get a copy on Amazon, or you can get it for free on my website here.)

Then we went on to help hundreds of people publish great books and exceed expectations. Even other publishers started using our services to produce their books.

Because of the quality of work that we were producing, before long we were working with authors who had opportunities to traditionally publish, but would rather self-publish with our help instead. They looked at the numbers and the way traditional publishing works, and it just made sense to them. I started a second company called Boyle & Dalton to help bridge the gap for these authors.

Publishing is always a high risk business. But when authors worked with our team and followed the steps that I outlined in my book, the majority of them at least recovered their investment.

Creating real win-win opportunities

God has given me a talent to see how processes work, and then to find win-win solutions.

Like with publishing, which seemed to be this big, undefined, complex thing. I saw that there were really just five processes that needed to happen in order for a book to be its best. So we defined those five processes, and then we helped authors connect with people who could do a really great job.

That’s an opportunity that God has opened up at The Company too. Part of what we teach our apprentices is to do four of those five publishing processes. We teach them how to do:

• developmental editing
• copy editing
• interior design
• proofreading

(We don’t teach the fifth process: cover design. That’s just a whole different skill set.)

In the first year of our apprenticeship, each apprentices gets training and some experience in each of those four processes. In the second year, they pick the ones they really like and get lots of experience doing it.

And we don’t do pretend. We don’t make them do made-up projects that they’ll just throw in the trash later. Instead, they work with real authors and publishers. They do it all under my instruction and supervision, so the apprentice continues to learn and improve, and the author or publisher gets the same quality of work as if I had done the work myself.

A real-life example: A Seat at the Table

We recently worked with Michelle Nezat to produce her book, A Seat at the Table, which she self-published. In no way do I want to discount Michelle’s hard work and the smart decisions that she makes, but less than a few months after release she’s already sold more books than most self-published books will sell in the lifetime of the book.

I take on a few coaching clients each year, and I worked with Michelle on the writing of her book. She started with a rough draft of a manuscript that we mostly thew out, then we reimagined the story together and walked step-by-step through the writing process. (You can hear more about our work with Michelle in two podcasts I did with her: The Company Podcast and The Novel Matrix Podcast.)

After that, we helped her with each step of the publication process. Our apprentices did the work, I helped them to improve their skills and made sure Michelle was getting the quality of work she deserved.

Our apprentices didn’t design the cover, but we worked with an artist in our network to give Michelle something that she really liked and would appeal to her target reader.

It was a win-win. Michelle got the book she deserves at a very reasonable cost. Our apprentices got the real experience they need. If they want to provide these services to someone in the future on their own, they have a real book (a successful one no less!) that they can show future clients.

And I think there’s something of the Kingdom in that. There’s a practical component of what the Church is supposed to look like: people helping people. How like God is it when it works in both directions?

Michelle’s book is just one example. Our apprentices are working with these types of projects every day.

It’s more than just fun practice

Our apprentices ability to do these types of tasks is a financial safety net for them when they graduate.

In publishing, we have a saying, “the editor always gets paid.” Even if you’re doing a great job with your own books, royalty payments can be fickle. It can take a while to get stable income from your writing. Our apprentices are encouraged to pursue whatever method of publishing best suits their goals, and for traditional publishing with one of the Big-5 publishers, consistent royalties can be years away.

However, if you can design the interior of a book, do a copy edit, or write the text for someone’s website, then you can earn a living. You can have a guaranteed payment today.

We can find these kind of win-win situations just by being good, strategic business people. But it’s even better when God sets them up.

This is for you

If you’re a writer and you’d like to kick butt with your writing, and it would also be cool to learn these types of skills in a real-world environment, please apply to the apprenticeship. We’d love to talk to you.

If you’re on the other side of this, and you’re thinking about publishing a book, and working with our apprentices sounds interesting to you, send us an email (or just reply to this one). Let’s talk about it.

When I started those companies when I was younger, I would pretty much just work with whoever wanted to pay (within reason). One of the things I love about what we do at The Company is that we get to work with authors that we really love and root for, with the confidence that something of the Kingdom is represented by all of our work.

Part of what I see The Company doing, almost by accident, is providing a more fair and equitable publishing world for our members. Between the work that our apprentices do and what we’ve been developing with The Pearl, there’s only more good in our future. All glory to God.

Thanks for being a part of this community of Kingdom writers.

*Note 1: Is this “self-publishing” and “traditional publishing” stuff new? Grab our free guide using the form below.

*Note 2: I no longer own or operate Columbus Publishing Lab or Boyle & Dalton. I exited those businesses when I started this ministry, and they are now owned and operated by the woman that I trained to replace me.