Dept. 01I
Ghostwriting
You talk. We write. Structured interviews become chapters in your voice, not ours, with every page approved by you.
SCENE 02 — THE DRAWER
Half of your book is already written.
It's time it had a spine.
Half of your book is already written.
It is in the stories you tell at the table. The letters you never sent. The notes in your phone at two in the morning. The forty years of work nobody wrote down. That half is yours, and it is the hard half. The other half is a craft. You bring the life. We bring the pages.
Where are you? Pick one and the call sheet remembers.
SCENE 03 — THE STUDIO
Every department. One roof.
Every craft a book needs, in the order a book needs it.
A film needs a writer, an editor, a designer, a lab and a release date. So does a book. The Author Office runs every department, in order, with one producer who answers your calls and knows where your book is on any given day.
all of it, in order
- Dept. 02II
Developmental & Line Editing
The shape of the book first, then every sentence. Marked on the page, with the reason beside each mark.
- Dept. 03III
Cover Design
Original typographic and illustrated covers built for a shelf, a dust jacket, and a thumbnail on Amazon.
- Dept. 04IV
Interior Typesetting
Chapter openers, running heads, margins and type chosen to be read for hours without strain.
- Dept. 05V
Publishing & Distribution
ISBN, copyright page, metadata and listings on Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and Barnes & Noble, set up in your name.
- Dept. 06VI
Fine Printing
Hardcover. Linen cloth. Foil-stamped spine. Dust jacket. Ribbon marker. Short runs for family or full editions for stores.
- Dept. 07VII
Audiobook Production
Narrated by you or a professional voice, directed, edited and mastered to retailer specification.
- Dept. 08VIII
Launch & PR
A release date, a plan, press outreach and a launch event, so the book arrives instead of simply appearing.
SCENE 04 — PRODUCTION
From the first call to the first copy.
Seven scenes. You will always know which one you are in.
- Frame 01 / 0700:01:00:00
The Call
A free, unhurried conversation about your story, your reader, and what a finished book looks like to you.
You do: talk ·We do: listen
- Frame 02 / 0700:02:30:00
The Outline
We map the book together: chapters, arc, and what each one has to do for the reader. You hear a voice sample before we commit.
You do: remember ·We do: map it
- Frame 03 / 0700:04:00:00
The Draft
Written by you with an editor beside you, or written with you by a ghostwriter, on a schedule you can keep.
You do: tell it ·We do: write
- Frame 04 / 0700:06:00:00
The Edit
Developmental, line, copy, proof. In that order, on the page, with a reason next to every mark.
You do: read ·We do: mark
- Frame 05 / 0700:07:30:00
The Design
Cover, interior, dust jacket and the spine your name sits on. You approve printed proofs, not screenshots.
You do: approve proofs ·We do: design
- Frame 06 / 0700:09:00:00
The Press
Proofs in your hands before the run. Then the run: hardcover, cloth, foil, jacket, ribbon.
You do: hold the proof ·We do: run the edition
- Frame 07 / 0700:10:30:00
The Launch
Listings live on Amazon, IngramSpark and Barnes & Noble, press out, copies shipped, a date on the calendar.
You do: sign copies ·We do: ship, list, press
Seven scenes. One producer. You will always know what is happening, what comes next, and who to call.
Book the first callSCENE 05 — THE PRESS
Printed like it matters.
The part you will hold for the rest of your life.
A hardcover that will sit on a shelf for fifty years should feel like it in the hand. Choose the cloth, the foil, the jacket, the ribbon, the stock. We print proofs, you hold them and approve them, and then we run the edition.
- I
Linen cloth boards
Real cloth over board in ink, oxblood, forest, navy or sand. The cover under the jacket, and the one people keep.
- II
Foil-stamped spine and cover
Gold, copper or silver foil, or a blind deboss. Your name pressed into cloth, not printed on it.
- III
Dust jacket
Full-color, laminated, with flaps for your biography and the book's description, designed with the cover.
- IV
Ribbon marker and head bands
The small things that tell a reader the book was made with care before they read a word.
- V
Cream or bright-white stock
Cream for memoir and fiction, bright white for photographs and business books. We will show you both.
- VI
Short runs to full editions
Twenty copies for the family or a stock run for stores and events. Same materials, same proofs.
SCENE 06 — THE STAR
Starring: you.
Not a writer by trade. The lead, all the same.
This studio is built for people who are not writers by trade: the surgeon, the founder, the grandmother, the pastor, the pilot, the person who has heard 'you should write a book' for twenty years. The story is the part you already have. The rest is production.
pick one
Stays on this page. Nothing is sent until you ask us to call.
SCENE 07 — THE EDIT
Editing you can see.
Red ink, with a reason beside every mark.
Most editing happens somewhere you never look. Ours happens on your page, in red, with a reason written beside every mark. Drag the line.
SAMPLE PASSAGE — FOR ILLUSTRATION
I was born in a small town in Ohio in 1954 and my father was a man who worked very hard at the steel mill for his whole entire life and never once complained about it to anyone.
I was born in 1954 in a steel town in Ohio. My father worked the mill his whole life. He never once complained.
- I
Developmental edit
Structure, pacing, what is missing and what is in the wrong place. The shape of the whole book.
- II
Line edit
Rhythm, clarity and voice, sentence by sentence. Your voice, sharpened, never replaced.
- III
Copyedit
Grammar, consistency, names, dates and the facts you have stated, checked against each other.
- IV
Proofread
The final pass on the typeset pages, before the proofs go to press.
SCENE 09 — THE CALL
Let's talk about your book.
No pitch. Just the story, and what it would take.
A free consultation with a producer from The Author Office. No pitch deck. We ask about your story, where you are, and what a finished book means to you. Then we tell you plainly what it would take, how long, and what it would cost.
- I
We listen
You do: talk · We do: listen
- II
We map it
You do: decide · We do: sketch
- III
We quote it
You do: choose · We do: price it
SCENE 10 — Q&A
Questions authors ask first.
Plain answers, before the call.
Plain answers. If yours is not here, ask it on the call.
Yes. Ghostwriting starts with conversations, not pages. We record, we ask, we structure, we write, and you approve every chapter in your voice.
Yes. You hear a voice sample before we commit to a draft, and you read and approve every chapter. Your voice, sharpened, never replaced.
You do. Your name, your copyright, your ISBN, your royalties, your files. The Author Office is the studio, not the owner.
A traditional publisher chooses you and keeps most of what the book earns. We work for you, on your schedule, and the finished book and its rights stay with you.
It depends on where you start. A finished manuscript moves faster than a blank page. You get a written schedule after the call, not a guess.
Every book is quoted after the consultation, for exactly the services you choose. The call itself is free.
Yes. We set up Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and Barnes & Noble so your book can be ordered online and by any store that uses Ingram.
Yes. Short hardcover runs for family and friends get the same cloth, foil and proofs as a full edition.