What happens on your Scribe consult The whole call, in advance.
It is a fifteen-minute sales conversation, and this page tells you exactly how it goes. What your strategist asks, what all three packages cost by the month and in total, what to bring, and what happens after, including if the answer is not Scribe.
Your consult is a fifteen-minute sales conversation: we ask what the book is for, tell you the price, and say whether you fit.
Four things happen in those fifteen minutes, in this order.
We ask what the book is for. Your strategist opens with the question that matters: what do you want the book to do for you, your practice or your company? Then where the manuscript stands, from nothing yet to a finished draft, and how much time you have each week. Gui Costin had fifteen years of principles in Word documents and no book. He has since written two with Scribe.
We tell you the price. All three packages, by the month and in total. Publishing is $4,833 a month for six months, $29,000 total, for a finished manuscript. Professional is $4,667 a month for twelve months, $56,000 total, and a Scribe writer builds the book from interviews with you. Elite is $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total. A $1,000 deposit at signing comes off the first payment.
We tell you whether you fit, and we will say so if you do not. Your strategist recommends one path, or none. Rachel Williamson is the kind of author who fits: thirty years running stores for large retailers, clients already asking where the book was, a manuscript she wrote herself. Six weeks after launch a retail CEO left her book-signing line to hand her his card and hire her.
When Scribe is the wrong choice. If you want to sell copies as the business, if there is no company, practice or platform for the book to feed, or if you need the book in under nine months, we will tell you. Self-publishing serves many good books well. Dr. Richard Harris chose Scribe for expert help without giving up control. His verdict: five stars, and he would do it again.
What do most book consultations not tell you until you are on the call?
Every publishing consult is. The difference is whether the price comes before or after. Scribe puts all three prices on this page, from $4,833 a month for Publishing to $9,000 a month for Elite, so the call is about fit.
Your strategist will say so if a $56,000 book is wrong for you. Three cases come up most: no business or platform to feed the book into, selling copies as the business, or a deadline under nine months.
You leave with one recommended path. If you want to go ahead, an agreement follows, the $1,000 deposit comes off the first payment, and a Publishing Manager is assigned on day one to run the project through launch.
Jim Sholler on why he could not have produced Solved in 7 on his own.
What these authors say the book did, in their own words and numbers
Every number below comes from a published success story on scribemedia.com, and each one links to the page it came from.
These are the best documented results among authors who told us. Every one of them had a business or a stage the book could feed. Most authors do not track a number, and a book without a business behind it should not be bought for a financial return.
Gui Costin, founder and CEO of Dakota, had fifteen years of sales principles in Word documents and no book. The Dakota Way got finished, by his account, because a partner with a process kept him honest and on point. He came back for a second book, Be Kind, and says the return is authority and brand, not book sales.
He wanted expert help without handing over control. Weeks after launch, readers he had never met were writing to him.
Read the story →A retail CEO left her signing line at Ohio State to hand her his card. His assistant called two days later.
Read the story →New clients came from five regions worldwide after Stress-Free Money, and the book returned more than three times its cost, his figure.
Read the story →Prospects arrive at calls having already read Common Financial Sense. 401(k) plan acquisitions accelerated after the book.
Read the story →He mails Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations to prospects as his firm's lead magnet. A copy arrives before the first call.
Read the story →You would be in good company
From first-time authors to number-one bestsellers, these are books our teams helped create.
Questions people bring to the call
You will know by what happens on the call. Your strategist asks what the book is for before anything else, tells you the price of all three packages, $29,000 to $135,000, and tells you if you do not fit, which costs us a sale. After that, every project has a Publishing Manager from day one, an Executive Editor and QA, and you interview three matched writers and choose. Gui Costin came back for a second book. Dr. Richard Harris called it a five-star experience and would do it again.
It is a sales conversation, and we say so. The difference is the order. The prices are on this page before you book: $4,833, $4,667 or $9,000 a month, with the totals beside them. So the fifteen minutes go to what the book is for, where your manuscript stands, and which path fits, if one does. If none fits, your strategist will tell you that and point you to a better option, including writing it yourself.
Three things, none of them a manuscript. A sentence on what you want the book to do for you, your practice or your company. An honest picture of where the writing stands, from an idea to a finished draft. And a sense of your time: Professional asks about 50 hours in total, one to two hours a week over nine to twelve months. If you have a draft, talks or articles, mention them. They are reviewed inside the interview sessions.
If clients already come to you for insight, the material exists. The process is built to draw it out and organize it: four roadmapping sessions fix what the book is about and who it is for, then ten interview sessions of two hours each with a writer whose job is to ask. Harris Nydick carried his book in his head for 10 years before he wrote a word. The call is where you find out whether there is a book in there.
Every book is custom and you have direct access to the team. On Professional you interview three hand-selected senior writers and choose one, you approve the voice in two checks before the full draft, and you approve every line in revision. Many senior writers have been with Scribe 5 to 10 years. If the pairing is not right, we re-pair you. One Publishing Manager runs the project from day one through launch.
Your strategist recommends one path: Publishing at $29,000 for a finished manuscript, Professional at $56,000, Elite at $135,000, or Compass at $5,000 if the idea is not ready yet, credited in full toward Professional or Elite. If you want to go ahead, you read the agreement before you sign, a $1,000 deposit comes off the first payment, and a Publishing Manager is assigned on day one. Ask us what could cost more and what happens if you stop, and we will show you the agreement before you sign.
When Scribe is the wrong choice
We would rather say this here than on a call.
- You want to sell copies as the business. Most Scribe authors give more books away than they sell; the return is clients, speaking and authority, not royalties.
- You have no business, practice or platform to feed the book into, and this is personal money. A $56,000 book should not be bought for a financial return without one.
- You need the finished book in under nine months. Professional runs nine to twelve months from first call to launch, and every step has a purpose.
The real numbers, before you talk to anyone
Every package is one price, paid monthly, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. You own every right and every dollar of royalties. The monthly figure and the total are both here, before any call.
You have written the manuscript. Editing, cover, interior, audiobook and global distribution are handled for you.
You talk, a Scribe writer turns about twenty hours of interviews into your book (about 50 hours of your time in total), and it is published under your name.
A premier ghostwriter and a dedicated team, built to the standard of a major-house book: twenty in-depth interviews, research, ten revision calls, and a $25,000 launch budget.
Five coaching calls over four to six weeks produce your North Star, table of contents and chapter roadmap. You keep all of it. If you continue into Professional or Elite, the entire $5,000 comes off your book.
Keep your fifteen minutes
It is a sales conversation, and it is short. Your strategist asks what the book is for and where the manuscript stands, tells you the price of all three packages by the month and in total ($29,000, $56,000 or $135,000), and tells you whether you fit. If you do not, we will say so.
Why we put the whole call on a page
Most people who book a consult with a publisher expect to be sold to, and many of them are right. That is one reason so many of those appointments are missed. We would rather you show up knowing exactly what the fifteen minutes are for. Your strategist will ask what the book is meant to do, where the manuscript stands, what one new client is worth to you, and how many hours a week you can give it. Those answers, not a script, decide which of the three packages is recommended, or whether the honest recommendation is to write it yourself or to wait.
The prices are already here because a price you hear for the first time on a call is a price you cannot think about. Publishing is $4,833 a month for six months, $29,000 total. Professional is $4,667 a month for twelve months, $56,000 total. Elite is $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total. You keep 100 percent of the rights and royalties on every one. Gui Costin, who runs Dakota, pushes back when asked for a dollar return; the return, he says, is authority and brand, and he came back for a second book. Rachel Williamson was hired out of her own book-signing line.
The most useful thing that can happen on the call is a no. A $56,000 book without a business, practice or platform to feed it into is the wrong purchase, and your strategist will say so. If you fit, you leave with one recommended path, the agreement to read before you sign, and a Publishing Manager on day one. Any question you send is answered during business hours, usually the same day. The next step is the fifteen minutes you already booked, or the button above if you have not booked yet.