A Writing Coach for All Seasons Asks...

Is Your Writing Career Worth $1?

I have been a writer for 40 years, with 10 books published, and a publisher for the last 15 years, with 24 books published by 18 authors. If I, John Schmidt, had the opportunity when I started out to employ an expert writing coach for $1 for the first week and a reasonable monthly fee thereafter, which can be canceled at any time, I would have jumped at the chance. Please read my credentials below, how I and my publishing company can help you, and so much more. I will make this as brief as possible.

My writing credentials include:

♦ Ten books published, six through my company and four through other publishers.

♦ Forty years as a writer, starting with poetry and expanding into other genres — nonfiction, short stories for middle readers and teens, plays, articles, and more.

♦ Master’s degree in English, and a second master’s in drama with an English minor.

♦ Several years as an English teacher — high school and university.

♦ More than 2,000 poems written, with some published in the days when I was submitting to magazines and anthologies.

♦ Continue to market my other works, especially plays.

Credentials as a publisher:

♦ Have been a book publisher for more than 15 years.

♦ Possess a sincere desire to help others, especially writers, reach their dreams. I love authors. Since I am a writer, I feel for their needs, trials, and successes.

♦ Given consultations to more than 220 writers and would-be publishers.

♦ Follow the Golden Rule in all relationships.

How I can uniquely help you:

Publishing is a complicated business. And I assume your goal is to get published, or that is at least one of your goals. You need to have someone who can lead you to your goal while avoiding many of the pitfalls. Even if you simply desire to learn how to write one book and self-publish it, I can cut six months to a year off the process.

Since I have contacted dozens of printers over the years, employing several for the books I have published, I can lead you to the right printer. I can send out bids in the language of printers, saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Hint: Never, or very rarely, should you go to you local printer for book printing!

As a publisher, since I have the heart of a writer, I have always taken new writers under my wings, helping them grow as writers (and people), enabling them to get their unique works to the world.

I am also very picky. I am a publisher who markets books, unlike many of the Web publishers who make their living as printers. They may charge thousands of dollars or ask you to buy thousands of books up front or at least lock you into a contract so you cannot go any place else to have your book printed. They feel little responsibility to sell you book since they make their money by printing. Many an author has gone to them and had a book published, but would be happier in the long run if he or she had waited, worked on it more, fine-tuned it to fit a niche, and sold thousand of copies to hungry readers, not a few to family and friends. However, some of the Web publishers have distributor contacts that a self-publisher usually lacks.

I know these companies have to survive, so I am not criticizing them, just saying, as your writing coach, to let me help you get through the pitfalls without feeling some of the sorrows that can be associated with publishing. After 40 years I think I’ve been through or checked out about everything, and I want to save you a lot of, well, grief. Your purpose is to fulfill your mission in life, your passion, so please let me direct some of your steps along the way.

It is also sometimes hard to distinguish between a traditional publisher’s Web site, a Web publisher who is mostly a printer, and a vanity press. So be careful. Investigate, join a writers’ group or attend a writers’ conference and ask around.

My publishing company, Path Publishing, Inc., may decide to publish your book. We tend to specialize in these areas, though we are open to other suggestions as well: general nonfiction, self-help, Christian, autobiographies, and poetry. We are proud to be listed in or approved for future listings in these publications: Christian Writers’ Market Guide, The Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses, and The Writer.

Path Publishing has accounts with Barnes & Noble and Baker & Taylor, one of the two largest wholesalers in the world. So if your book warrants publication through Path Publishing and a national audience, we will attempt to add your book to their lists. Please realize that 180,000 books are published in the United States every year. These two companies cannot accept all of them; they are looking for the top 5 to 10 percent to add to their lists.

In addition, I am also a literary agent. If your book is accepted and I have the time, I will be your literary agent for two months for only $100. But that includes a bit of polishing on what we will submit to the publishers, a professional cover letter, and promising leads. As you probably know, some publishers can only be reached by agents. If we find a publisher, I know an extremely experienced literary agent, my mentor, who can handle contract negotiations for us, if you wish.

I am not just a writing coach helping with grammar and punctuation, though I have taught those at the college level. I can show you about everything you need to assimilate in order to realize your success. I can literally cut years off your search. Yes, I can help with editing, but I will also show you how to generate ideas that sell, search for markets, write a query letter, and know how many publishers to submit to at one time, while keeping everything polished, very professional. I mean, as a publisher I get some really far-out proposals or letters that are dismissed immediately.

If you love fiction, on our staff is an outstanding story editor, one who helped me get my ninth book published — that collection of short stories I told you about. And she also helped me on my latest nonfiction book, which has fiction techniques throughout. Yes, I have a fiction coach! The result: two published books in 2008!

Tiger Woods has several coaches and support staff. Phil Mickelson had a great first round in a tournament in February, followed by a poor second round. He flew in his swing coach overnight, winning the tournament by a single stroke!

I leave you with a final story and some attending thoughts. Most birds, when it’s time for the baby bird to leave the nest, unceremoniously push it out — but there could be a cat or dog down below, resulting in a dead bird if it is not able to make it on the first try. I have heard that eagle parents fly off a cliff with the young bird and will catch it if a predator — or the ground — approaches. They help time after time until the fledgling can fly. Path Coach is like that.

Still more ways we help:

♦ Toll-free telephone conversations once or twice a month. At the beginning I learn about you and your most important project. We take it from there, catering a unique curriculum/plan for your growth.

♦ Multiple projects — we will show you how to have two or more books going on simultaneously and marketing all at once.

♦ Marketing for additional revenue streams — can be very lucrative for all concerned — like speaking engagements that may bring in top-dollar revenues.

♦ Writing psychology — help you overcome any mental or lifestyle obstacles that are hurting your progress, as you increase in confidence, overcome time constraints, develop clear skills, grow as a balanced person, and thus become happier and more financially successful.

Eventually, your writing career becomes “joy upon joy,” as it says in the Bible. When I completed a CD in 2004 that contained more than 30 years of writing, the stories had come home, all in one place, a joy of a lifetime. At some point in your life I want you to experience such a joy. But you have to let me help you.

At some point everything will come together — where your life melds into a professional success that is balanced with the dream you had when you first started — or even surpass it. When I began as a writer I just wanted to get a poetry book published. As a publisher I imagined publishing three or four books. To date, 10 of mine have been published and I have published more than a dozen other authors, with more in the works! I have been greatly blessed.

I believe I have blessed the authors I have worked with — they have certainly brought me tremendous satisfaction as I watch them grow.

So that’s my story and here’s my offer:

Only $1 for the first week and $100 for each subsequent month, billed automatically until you cancel — with no obligation at any time.

Go to the link below, which will take you to our PayPal shopping cart at the Path Publishing Web site.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best!

John Schmidt

(Art creations above: Sun art by Rachael King and open book by Joni Becker, two of the five illustrators in my ninth book. Flying book by Cleta Miller, artistic consultant for Path Publishing — click here to check out her personal page at pathpublishing.com.)

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