Tag: book editing

What Is Your Next Step On Your Book Publishing Journey?

September 14, 2026 / Greg Dixon

Greg Dixon ~ What Is Your Next Step On Your Publishing Journey

The first question is, why would you want to write and publish a book?

As Marie Forleo says:

“The world needs that special gift that only you have.”

Many say that a book can open doors and attract customers and clients.

And I say writing and publishing bring the Joy of Creation to you and share your visions with the world.

Homer, Sophocles. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Benjamin Franklin, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Carl Sagan, Ian Fleming, Frank Herbert, Gene Roddenberry, Mother Teresa, Stephen Covey, George Lucas, Stan Lee, Julia Cameron, and millions of others over the millennia have written things that still entertain, enlighten, and inspire us today.

You are joining a long-lived and esteemed club of writers.

Where Are You On Your Journey?

Do you have a finished manuscript that needs a structural review and editing?

Editors and beta readers can help. This is a good point for me to help with suggestions and editing.

Is your manuscript ready for formatting for submission to Amazon and other platforms?

In my experience, further editing refinements come at this stage, with a flipbook being a good way to review the text and formatting before finalizing.

I use Atticus for formatting and update a flipbook for review. I am still using this process to improve my books, including Publish Your Book Everywhere That Pays and Build Your Golden Publishing Sales Machine.

Are you working on recording the audiobook?

One of the best ways to spot awkward passages and the need for transitions is reading it aloud.

Recording the audio while finalizing the formatting will make the book read better, and you can release the print book, eBook, and audiobook at the same time and include them in a Digital Experience Edition you sell directly.

I can help with the recording process and use the recording to promote your book, too.

Do you have front and back covers that meet the formatting guidelines of Amazon and other platforms?

Amazon will generate a cover template based on trim size, paper quality, and colour choices. The spine width will vary based on your choices.

Amazon has a cover generator, there are book cover services, and I have created and adjusted many covers over the years.

Are you interested in creating a course or membership program related to your book?

A multimedia Digital Experience Edition with supporting media plus a membership program can be a Golden Ticket for you.

This is my specialty and the heart of the Golden Publishing Sales Machine.

Do you have a collection of previously published books and courses that are not performing well?

Bundling into a Digital Experience Edition can breathe new sales life into your Golden Content.

I can create and market a Digital Experience Edition of your Golden Content with you on retainer or as a Joint Venture collaboration.

I am releasing The Greg Dixon Gold Vault of my books, videos, courses, recordings, and other content

Do you have a marketing plan before, during, and after publishing?

Early, ongoing marketing will establish your authority and attract people to your books and offers.

How I Can Help.

I have experience, tools, and strategies to help you with all of the steps or just one or two.

For example, you may be at the final stage of editing, formatting, and submitting your book.

I can help with that with an affordable one-time retainer.

Or perhaps you want guidance and help with this book and more in the future.

My superpower is specialized experience and a creative approach across many areas, including writing, publishing, marketing, and story production.

The best way to work with me is through a modest monthly retainer, where we discuss and implement the best steps together.

For bigger projects, I will provide a proposal with pricing options.

Let’s start with discussing your publishing and marketing goals.

Discuss Publishing and Marketing with Greg Dixon

When you book the meeting, you will receive access to my Build Your Golden Sales Machine Digital Experience Edition, with a wealth of golden content.

Greg Dixon, Chief Enabler
Shared Visions Unlimited
Multimedia Publishing, Marketing, and Story Productions

Book Collaboration with Atticus ~ A Wish Fulfilled

December 18, 2024 / Greg Dixon

I have used Atticus to format books for clients and for my own projects for a few years.

Atticus does a great job formatting all of the standard trim sizes for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark, as well as an eBook format for Kindle and other readers.

The Atticus platform is also great for writing. It is chapter-oriented, and reorganizing chapters is as simple as dragging up or down in the side panel.

Using Grammarly or other writing assistants provides a powerful writing and editing environment.

There is no extra step between the writing and formatting stages. All done with grace in Atticus.

Collaboration

Atticus creator Dave Chesson said he was working on the ability to collaborate on book projects. It has been on my wish list for a long time and would simplify the editing and review process.

A few weeks ago, Atticus sent a notice about a major update to the software. Dave Chasson didn’t say what the update was but said we could probably guess.

Sure enough, that was it was the collaboration feature that was new.

While it is too late for this year, here is how the collaboration feature would have saved A LOT of time and trouble with Tales From The Turkey Table by Bill Allman.

See Tales From The Turkey Table

Why The Collaboration Feature Would Have Helped

Watch the Presentation on LinkedIn

Here is the scenario:

Bill called me in late November last year to say he was ready to go with Tales from the Turkey Table.

Given that we often were able to take a finished manuscript to formatted and submitted for printing in a few days ago, I said we could do a quick edit pass and format for printing.

Given that Bill is a good writer and editor himself, we assumed it was ready to go. And for what we were doing, it was.

The writing style and punctuation was quirky, but very readable. I certainly was not going to be heavy-handed with editing.

Although the formatting was tricky, I created PDF that I sent out for review.

Some of the most minor things like the table of contents not fitting on a single page became a sticking point.

Then various friends started complaining about minor things. Editing by committee is usually a bad idea because people have opinions that are often wrong and not helpful.

Assuming that the author had done a thorough read of the review copy and considering the time crunch, we submitted, printed, and sold copies.

After Christmas, the author decided to do a close review and edit to make it better.

Nearly a year later, he said he was done with the edit comments in a PDF with comment tracking enabled.

I spent a good week applying some 550 minor changes.

Now we have time to print for Christmas and get into retail shops.

Now that the collaboration feature is available, here is what we could have done last year and this year that would have saved much time and trouble:

I would have set up the author and editors as collaborators and reviewed the text and formatting within Atticus.
Atticus would track and report changes and comments.
The author could have made most of the changes himself, which is far easier than explaining the changes.
All collaborators and editors can review the formatting within Atticus and export PDFs for closer review.
Once approved, the formatted book will be ready for submission and printing.

Working With Book Clients Moving Forward

The writing and formatting features of Atticus are all I need for my books.

The collaboration feature makes working with new book clients easier regardless of stage. I can help with book development, writing, editing, and formatting.

So I will encourage, if not insist, to get the book project into Atticus as soon as possible and collaborate there. That means that the author and editors would need their own Atticus accounts.

Learn About Atticus.io

We can add other editors as needed.

Do you want help with your book?

Chat with Greg Dixon